Instructions on how to have a flower garden without weeds
Tired of pulling weeds but love a flower garden? Me too. Each year the weeds would grow so high around the perimeter of my country home that I was using a ton of weed killer. So here's what I did.
We needed gravel for our driveway, so we purchased a truckload full and my husband shoveled some of it all around our house and then placed retaining blocks all around to edge it off. Colored stones can also be used as well as bark or mulch, but for us, it was cheaper to do the gravel and the white set off our log house very nicely.
The heavy work being out of the way, I then got busy gathering some containers from our shed. Filling half of them with gravel for drainage, I then planted my flowers and filled the rest of the pots up with potting soil. I found that the double petunias looked best. Also the larger variety of marigolds make a gorgeous cluster. Since I had quite a few pots, filling them half way up with gravel saved a little bit of money on the potting soil. If you don't have gravel, rocks will do.
Then I placed the potted plants all along the front of the house. In between the pots are garden statues of frogs, turtles, bird feeders, garden fairies and other small garden decor. On my front stoop is a small garden bench just big enough to hold my two potted geraniums. On the corners of the stoop are two big pots filled with the large marigolds.
The best part of all is "NO WEEDS". Occasionally, but not very often, a small weed may pop up. Just spray it with weed killer. Also, if you plant bulbs such as tulips, they will push their way through.
For around areas where the weeds and brush crop up and you don't want to bother planting flowers, plant a couple of the creeping vine type of plant. There are some quite attractive ones with variegated colored leaves. The vines smother the weeds and spread rapidly. I planted only two plants one year and it spread to an area of 12'x4' in no time. If planted in an area, such as around a tree, you will have to contain it with an edging to keep it from creeping into your lawn. It is especially pretty on a steep bank where it is hard to mow and you don't want the trouble of planting a rock garden.
