Have you ever walked outside and looked at the landscape beds where all your beautiful perennial plants live or where you park the camper and noticed that the weeds have made it their home instead, even though you put a weed mat down? Let’s talk about what it looks like to keep your landscape beds weed-free with our Landscape Bed Care Program. 

In a lawn, healthy grass can out-compete incoming weeds, but in your rock/mulch areas or your gravel driveway, there is nothing to compete with them. Rather than continuing to pull or spray weeds all summer long, we offer a service where we can prevent over 80% of weeds from growing in these areas without having any negative effect on perennial trees & shrubs.

How it works:

• Step 1 –  is a pre-emergent (weed-preventer) that works as a root pruner to block over 80% of weeds from germinating. Once those new seeds push out their first feeder roots, the roots simply dry out and the plant can’t grow. Because this only impacts the first ½ inch of soil, there is no impact on existing plants with a deeper root system. 
• Steps 2-4 – We spot-spray the 20% or less that make it through.

How much it costs and what you get:
For the average in-town home with rock/mulch beds around the house or maybe along a fence (about 2,000 sq. feet worth of area), it’s $245 for the season. This includes the spring application of pre-emergent (weed preventer) and three spot treatments to hit any weeds that pop up. All estimates are based on the total square footage of the area being treated.

Where to use it and where not to:
Customers love this service on their rock/mulch landscape beds around their homes, gravel parking areas, and anywhere else you have weeds and don’t want them. However, this doesn’t work well if you are trying to plant anything from seed, because the pre-emergents job is to prevent seeds from growing, or if you plan to disturb the soil (pre-emergent only impacts the first 1/2 inch of soil, so once moved around, it’s no longer effective).

How long does it last?:
Roughly six months, which in Montana gets us through our growing season. In more southern parts of the country, they require a second prevention application.

The results:
You no longer need to spend hours being miserable pulling weeds. Every year gets better, once the existing weeds are cleaned up we can continue to prevent new growth. I recommend spending your time doing this instead: 

What if we discontinue the service?
After six months, it’s like we were never there. Slowly new weeds will continue to germinate with no competition for growth.

A few things we want you to keep in mind:
We come close to being magic, but depending on how long these areas have been neglected there may be some cleanup. We can only treat existing weeds within 12 inches of existing plants and all treated weeds once brown will need to be pulled or weed whacked. All of this would have to be done regardless.

We believe our services should give you back your time to do things you love. Give us a call today if you have rock/mulch beds that need some Yard Guard care!