A weed-free yard is a beautiful thing, but it can be a lot of work to achieve!
If your lawn, backyard, or garden beds have become overwhelmed by pesky weeds, getting rid of them may seem impossible considering they spread like crazy.
However, with the right tools and know-how, you can get the upper hand on those pesky plants and reclaim your beautiful yard.
Stick around to learn about the best ways to remove weeds from a large area and to find out if you should use bleach, salt, or vinegar in your war against weeds.
Where Do Weeds Come From?
Before we get into weed removal strategies, it helps to understand where weeds come from. Knowing the source of your weeds can help inform your prevention and removal tactics.
Weeds are opportunistic plants that spread aggressively by seeds or creeping roots. Common culprits like dandelions and clover spread as windblown seeds, landing in bare soil areas and sprouting new weeds. Other culprits, like mint and ivy, creep outward via underground roots or rhizomes.
Weeds are often introduced intentionally. Their seeds often hitch rides on our clothing, vehicles, and gardening equipment. They’re often carried by animals and birds as well!
It’s also worth noting that neglected areas with bare, disturbed soil are prime real estate for weeds to take over.
5 Effective Ways to Remove Weeds From Large Areas
Now that you know a little bit about where weeds come from, let’s talk about how you can get rid of them using a few tried-and-tested methods!
1 – Use a Garden Hoe
My garden hoe is one of the first tools I turn to when you’re dealing with weeds. Generally, garden hoes are great for helping you turn the soil over and get rid of large swathes of weeds at once.
You can use a garden hoe so long as you’re dealing with a large area of land that is on level ground. If you’re dealing with a different situation than this, you’ll need to use another method.
It isn’t that tough to get rid of weeds using a garden hoe. This is actually going to be one of the easiest and most effective methods to use when you’re trying to clear a large garden area of weeds in a timely fashion.
This will work brilliantly for helping you to get rid of annual weeds so that you can plant things in a specific part of your garden. It won’t be as good for dealing with perennial weeds or areas that have very tall weeds.
2 – Use a String Trimmer
String trimmers, also referred to as weed eaters or weed whackers, will be a lot better at helping you deal with tall weeds.
You can use the string trimmer to cut off the tops of the weeds and make the parts near the ground easier to deal with.
There are many different types of string trimmers on the market, but buying even a standard model that uses a lithium-ion battery will do nicely. Speaking from experience here.
You’ll be able to clear a large area in a timely fashion once you get used to handling a string trimmer.
The only downside to the string trimmer is that this won’t be getting rid of the weeds. It’s more for making things manageable and helping your yard to stay presentable.
If you want to get rid of weeds, you’re going to need to kill them off or pull them out by the roots. Even so, a string trimmer can be an invaluable tool when you have a large area of tall weeds to deal with.
3 – Consider Using Weed Suppressant Ground Cover
It might be worth your time to use a type of weed suppressant ground cover. This can essentially smother the weeds and keep them from being able to grow.
Weeds need to have access to light so that they can keep on growing. Putting this type of suppressant cover over the top of the weeds will deprive them of the light!
Many people will buy special weed suppressant fabric from a retailer to do this job. You can purchase this type of fabric in rolls that will be easy to place in a garden area.
When you’ve covered the weeds completely, you’ll just need to secure the fabric to the ground. This is most often done using stakes or tent pegs, but you could also simply place bricks on each corner of the fabric.
With the fabric in place, you’re just going to have to wait for the weeds to die out. This method is good if you place it down for an entire season and just let it sit throughout the winter.
You should have a large area that is clear of weeds by the time you’re ready to plant things in the spring. It’s a method that works quite nicely, but it does require some patience.
Notably, you could choose to use cardboard instead of purchasing special fabric at a retail store. The cardboard will work in the same way that the fabric does, but it’s going to break down over time and you won’t be able to keep using it after it has done what it’s supposed to do.
You might find cardboard preferable in some ways, though, since it allows you to repurpose old cardboard that you have lying around the house. It’ll save you some cash, and it’s a way to recycle some cardboard that you have in your recycling bin.
4 – Use a Gas Burner to Kill the Weeds
Another idea that you should consider involves using a gas burner to kill the weeds. If you’re dealing with pesky perennial weeds, this might be one of the best things that you can do.
A gas burner allows you to apply a flame directly to the weeds that will go all the way down to the root. This flame penetrates the root cells and damages them so much that they won’t be able to photosynthesize.
You can also use gas burners to target weeds with precision while trying not to damage other plants. It makes it a pretty versatile tool that is worth having in the battle against weeds.
5 – Use Weed Killer
It probably won’t surprise you to hear that using weed killer is a very effective way to get rid of weeds in a large area. You can simply spray a large area of weeds and expect good results.
There are many types of weed-killing products out there that you can consider. Some are simple sprays that come in spray bottles, but the stronger ones might need to be applied with a stronger nozzle and in higher volumes.
You might have such a big weed problem that you will want to get professional help. Some people will call in landscaping companies that can use very powerful weed-killing sprays that will get good results.
Whether or not this will be necessary might depend on how bad your weed problem is. If you have weeds all over the place and need help, then it might be good to get professionals to spray your yard and garden areas.
Of course, some types of weed sprays can also be harmful to plants and your grass. This means that you’ll need to weigh your options carefully to determine what you should do.
Bleach Can Kill Weeds
It’s no surprise that many people have used bleach to kill large areas of weeds. When you have many weeds in your yard, it might seem like a good idea to just do whatever you can to get rid of them.
You might even have stubborn weeds that seem to keep coming back even after using standard weed-killing sprays. As annoying as this is, it might not be the best idea to decide to use bleach.
Bleach can definitely kill weeds, but it’s also going to kill other vegetation as well!
If you’re trying to get rid of weeds on your lawn, you should know that the bleach will also kill the grass. The same can be said of any other plants that happen to be nearby.
When you pour undiluted bleach on the ground, it’s going to leave behind a hazardous chemical in your soil that can be very detrimental to your yard. This could wind up killing animals and it’ll definitely harm nearby vegetation.
Technically, bleach will kill weeds in a large area, but it isn’t a solid idea to use bleach for this purpose when other options will be much safer.
What About Using Salt?
You might have heard your neighbors talking about using salt to kill weeds, but this can be a bad idea as well. Salt can help you kill weeds, but it’s also going to change the soil in your garden.
When you use salt in your garden area or on your lawn, it’ll alter the chemical composition of the soil. This could wind up having unforeseen negative effects on your plants and grass.
If you want to get rid of weeds without harming the vegetation in your yard, you should avoid using salt. Consider using standard methods to get rid of weeds and avoid doing anything too drastic.
It wouldn’t be good to harm your plants and your lawn accidentally. You can get rid of weeds in a large area without resorting to using things such as bleach and salt to get the job done.
Can Vinegar Kill Weeds?
Vinegar is another thing that people have used to kill large areas of weeds. The problem with this is that pouring vinegar into your garden or on your grass is also going to have a negative impact on the vegetation.
Essentially, the vinegar will kill your grass along with the weeds that you’re trying to get rid of. This could be useful if you’re just trying to start from scratch and grow new grass the next season, though.
You can mix up vinegar along with some water and put it in a spray bottle. It’s very easy to use, but you just need to know that it can harm the grass as well as the weeds.
Final Thoughts
Getting rid of weeds in a large area isn’t all that tough if you know what you’re doing. Several different solutions will allow you to get things done in a timely fashion.
For some people, simply using a tool such as a garden hoe will suffice. If you’re only dealing with annual weeds, this is going to get the job done nicely without causing any harm to nearby vegetation.
When you’re trying to get rid of weeds that are tall and perennial, it’ll be good to have a string trimmer that you can use. These are great for keeping your yard tidy and they can also help you to cut tall weeds down to manageable sizes.
Another quick and effective way to kill weeds in a large area is to smother them over time using cardboard or some type of weed suppressant fabric. It takes a good while for this method to work, but you can prepare your gardens for next year by laying down cardboard or fabric that will deprive weeds of light.
Using weed-killing sprays is also a very practical way to get the job done. Stubborn weeds might require more powerful sprays, and you can even consider calling a professional company to get your yard sprayed if you feel it is necessary.
Just avoid using options such as bleach or salt for the sake of your soil. It’ll wind up having a negative impact on your yard, which you don’t want.
Make good decisions and you shouldn’t have a hard time dealing with the weeds in your yard. You know the best options that you have available to you and can plan accordingly.
Ben has a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering. When not constructing or remodeling X-Ray Rooms, Cardiovascular Labs, and Pharmacies, you can find him at home with wife and two daughters. Outside of family, He loves grilling and barbequing on his Big Green Egg and Blackstone Griddle, as well as working on projects around the house.
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