Weed Control Without Chemicals

Many of the weeds that are commonly controlled with herbicides can also be controlled by other more environmentally friendly methods.

In a turf situation the best defense again weed invasion is maintaining a think, dense healthy turf where voids are not present allowing weed seeds to germinate. This can be accomplished through proper fertility and cultivation. When weeds do become present, there are now organic chemical controls available that will eliminate certain weed species. If organic chemicals are not an option then the good old fashioned way still work by physical removal of the weeds.

In landscape situations other methods of control are also available such as the use of flamers. Flamers are actually modified gas torches that burn or melt the cell walls within the plant and kill them without chemical use. These work great, but great care must be taken while using these devices due to fire danger in our extremely dry climate. Another great method of controlling weeds in landscape beds is the use of mulch products. These mulch products are available in numerous colors and materials. Mulches actually serve two purposes when used in a landscape situation; the first is sunlight deprivation to the weeds and secondly they provide moisture retention to the desired plant materials.

Any one of these alternatives to synthetic chemicals is worth a try and by doing so you will be helping in keeping the planet a little greener.

New Mulch

In addition to improving some of the plant materials in the landscape beds at the clubhouse, we have begun the process of re-mulching all of the beds. This year we are replacing all of the mulch that is located in the landscape areas with a new dark cedar material that has a nice smell and great color to it. This new mulch will help to visually enhance these areas.
Mulch Pile


Mulch Being Spread

Clubhouse Landscaping

We have started improving some of the clubhouse landscape areas. Most of the existing vegetation that was planted at the time of clubhouse construction was less than inspiring with a lack of color and texture. The predominant plant materials that were used were Juniper ground covers that tend to become overgrown very quickly. These plants offer little in the way of color and are rather plain.
Old Landscape Beds


The new landscape plans for these areas contain many different types of materials that range from ornamental grasses, specimen scrubs and significant perennial flowers. With our short season we cannot safely plant annual flowers until the last week in May due to late season frost issues. The addition of these perennial flowers will now give us some early season color that we have been lacking. This also marks a direction we are trying to go with reducing the amount of annual flowers that are planted yearly. Some of the areas that would receive annuals will now be filled with perennials that will offer more interesting shapes and textures as well as more season long color.

Perennials Being Installed