Your mobile home is an investment, and as such, you want to make sure it stays in the best possible condition. That doesn’t just mean the inside… your outside matters too. Many people don’t even consider their yard when they first buy their mobile home. But chances are you’ve started to consider what to do with that space now, or you’ve already started and are running into the usual problems people have when planting a garden.
Weeds are an exasperating and frustrating part of managing a garden. They seem to come out of nowhere and where there is one, there are a dozen to follow. You could go from having just one small, stubborn weed to having your garden suddenly overrun with insects, sucking up the nutrients your plants need to grow and creating an eyesore in the process.
How do you tackle this green threat? Here are some tips for keeping weeds out of your yard and caring for them when they do find their way into your mobile home yard.
Weeding your mobile home yard
The first step in managing a weed problem is to deal with the one that already exists. Throwing them away is the most effective way to get them out because jerks pull out the root that, if left, would allow them to grow back. Brushcutters can uproot some of them, but others will only cut at ground level. The problem will only keep repeating itself.
Wait until you have watered your garden or there has been significant rain and the soil is moist and soft. If the soil is too hard, you will break them without the root when you pull them up. If you have harder soil that won’t break in, use a hand shovel or other gardening tool to break up around the root of the weed. Be sure to wear heavy gardening gloves, as many types of weeds can be harsh on your skin and even cause rashes or cuts when you pull them up.
What do you do with the weeds when you pull them up? You can just throw them away, sure, but then what good have they ever done? In fact, you can make weeds work for you by adding them to your compost. They will break down and nourish your garden like any other plant matter.
Another (high maintenance) option is to use cattle to eat the weeds. Many will buy chickens or goats to eat the weeds in their gardens. However, this also means taking care of the animals correctly, feeding them, etc. There are benefits like fresh eggs or goat’s milk, not to mention the aspect of keeping them as pets. But make sure you’re ready for the responsibility before taking this route.
You also need more space. Mobile homes come in all different shapes and sizes and are placed on different sizes of land. So if you have a fair amount of garden, you should be fine. If you only have a small space in the front or back of the house, skip the cattle.
The last option is scalding. This doesn’t work for the garden itself, as it can damage the plants or the soil and wreak havoc in your garden. But if you’ve been growing for weeks in other places, like through concrete or crawling between the slates of your mobile home, you can burn them again. Just boil some water and pour it over the weeds. It will burn them down to the roots and prevent them from growing back if they go through a couple of “treatments”.
Prevent weeds from growing
If you’ve dealt with your weed problem, or if it hasn’t developed yet, you can prevent weeds from growing in the first place.
Possibly the best advice is to paper and mulch your garden. Dig a few inches into the ground. Layer the newspaper to cover the entire area. Keep in mind that newspaper is used specifically for this purpose because it is lighter than most papers and won’t weigh down plants trying to grow. Once the area is covered, mulch down enough until you can no longer see the newspaper.
At first, the weeds are stronger and can break through the newspaper and continue to grow. Another layer of paper and mulch should take care of this and prevent more weeds from growing. That’s because you’re suffocating them, preventing them from getting the sunlight and oxygen they need.
You can prevent weeds from growing between the plants by drowning them out. Just plant things closer together, even if they are different species. You can also grow a weed-dominant flora among your main plants, such as Golden Fleece or Herman’s Pride.
natural herbicides
Herbicides are never pretty and can harm your mobile home landscape or the insects and animals that help it thrive. You want something that works without killing everything else around it. Luckily, you can make your own.
The popular recipe that has been used by gardeners for generations is made with just two ingredients: about a gallon of vinegar and about thirty milliliters of dish soap. You mix the two and cover the weeds…in two days they will be dead and gone.
Some people will also add a cup of salt, but this can be dangerous for your garden. Salt in the soil can stunt growth, especially of the more delicate plants. Think carefully before adding it to your herbicide.
This herbicide has the added advantage of also repelling many pests. Then you’ll be killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.
Protect your mobile home yard from worrisome weeds!
Work hard in your garden, don’t let weeds ruin it. Use the above methods to jerk suckers, keep them at bay and maybe even prevent them from growing up and putting your beautiful garden at risk.