Conquering Weeds
How Team GreenSpace conquers and prevents weeds in our client’s gardens with determination and sustainable methods.
Team GreenSpace to the rescue!
You probably know by now that something gets done in only a couple of ways: do it yourself or hire someone to do it.
When we do something ourselves, we save money and gain satisfaction. We also spend a lot of time and energy on a project that often takes a long time to complete.
When we hire out a project, people who specialize in the work get it done! It’s money worth spending for a feeling of satisfaction and relief.
This GreenSpace garden care client enjoys gardening but was overwhelmed by the volume of work required to remove and manage the weeds and tend the numerous perennials. Never fear – Team GreenSpace is here!
Methods for removing & preventing weeds
After we eliminated the weeds and tree saplings, we spread newspaper on the cleared soil.
The newspaper will prohibit weed seeds from germinating and will decompose into the soil over time. Mulch was spread on top of the newspaper to hold the paper in place, retain moisture, and provide the garden with a finished look.
Now our client can spend a reasonable amount of time enjoying tending her garden! Take a look at the transformation from a weed-choked mess to a neat and tidy garden where plants can thrive.
Almost every plant you see in this photo appears to be a ground cover but is actually a weed.
Most of these plants are weeds, including the menace Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolate).
Newspaper placed on top of weeded gardens serves to prevent weeds and weed seeds from growing.
Mulch is placed over the newspaper to keep the paper in place, retain moisture, and provide a pleasing, finished look to the gardens.
GreenSpace offers a range of garden care services from seasonal clean-up to ongoing maintenance. Visit our SERVICES page to learn more.
Woodland Garden Wonders
Native plants in a woodland garden that stopped us in our boots this spring!
Plants that stopped us in our tracks this Spring
Sometimes we just have to stop in awe to observe for a moment the wonders of Nature. We’re privileged to be tending the native plant garden shown here for the fourteenth year! The garden changes – from year to year, season to season, and week to week.
This spring we were stopped in our boots by the bounty of woodland plants we observed. Notice the whorls of Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) flanked by a stately stand of Meadow Rue (Thalictrum).
Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) provides shade for violets (Viola sororia), Virginia Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum), and other shade-loving woodland plants.
Project Highlight: Solving a Slope
This backyard slope was directing water straight into the house but solving tricky drainage issues is a GreenSpace specialty.
The Challenge
Our client had a backyard that sloped toward the house. In heavy rains, the rain came pouring through her back door and down her basement steps!
The Solution
Regrade the back yard in order to the water to two rain gardens in front of a future retaining wall and
Install a new walkway with a channel drain near the back entrance to capture any water moving toward the door and move it into waiting swales directing it to the rain garden.
This solution essentially created a closed system, moving the water away from the home, but keeping it on the property to benefit future plantings.
An Effective and Aesthetic Solution
What this project demonstrates is our ability to grade and build hardscapes of various types while achieving water remediation and a pleasing aesthetic--essentially, good comprehensive design.
After the completion of the hardscape installation, the client did her own planting work with some plant suggestions from GreenSpace.
A Wrap on Spring Cleanup: Clearing, Tending, and Preparing the Gardens for a New Growing Season
The GreenSpace Team in action with spring garden cleanup.
Getting Started, Safely
We began the 2025 season on April 10 with glee, anticipation, and reminders about safety. A fully stocked first-aid kit is always with us in the pick-up truck and work van.
For “extra credit,” we learned how to check the oil in the van.
It’s All About Timing for Spring Garden Cleanup
The timing for doing spring clean-ups is a balancing act. We make sure soil is dry enough so our footprints don’t compact our clients’ lawns. And we wait to remove leaves with a light touch of a wire rake to avoid disturbing perennials that are beginning to sprout.
One job we can always do in early spring is to take apart the decorative arrangements we created last fall!
We’re always on the look-out for our wildlife friends. Here, a woolly bear caterpillar (Isabella tiger moth—Pyrrharctia isabella) makes its way toward a clay pot in a client’s yard.
Native Garden Cleanup Without Feeling the Burn
By pruning and digging non-native plants, our work is an alternative to a controlled burn in this native plant garden.
This is year 14 for Green Space to tend this native plant garden whose focal point is this magnificent old Bur oak tree (Quercus macrocarpa).
Spring Cleaning Feels Good Inside AND Out!
Spring is a good time to prune stalks from perennials and to remove dead branches from shrubs while shaping them. As we remove last year’s stalks and overgrowth, we see the results stacking up.
We literally did a load of good work today!
From native plant gardens to urban oases, we love the variety of locations, tasks, plant types, tools, and challenges inherent in all of our work. We wrap up spring cleaning with the satisfaction that comes from tending gardens well and the anticipation of new designs and growth to come!
The Straight and Narrow: Positioning Linear Pathways
Getting the lines right is essential to a harmonious design as seen in this completed pathway.
We often use existing structures to determine line placement and square a new walk or patio off that structure.
Getting the lines right is essential to a harmonious design as seen in this completed pathway.
What's So Swell About Swales?
Despite being an effective, low-cost solution to drainage issues, swales are used infrequently.
Swales are shallow depressions directing water away from a property to minimize drainage concerns. Despite being effective and relatively low-cost drainage tool, they are not often used.
Purple Invaders (aka "The Devil Plant")
There is one plant that surpasses all others in terms of its ability to survive: Campanula rapunculoides or Invasive Bellflower.
There is one plant that surpasses all others in its ability to survive: Campanula rapunculoides, or Invasive Bellflower. With its attractive, bell-shaped purple flower and persistent blooms, the plant is appealing to many but behind those pretty blossoms lies a challenging invasive plant that can take over a garden.
How does this happen? Rhizomatous and tap roots, as well as hundreds of seeds, give this plant staying power like no other. At GreenSpace we refer to this plant not-so-fondly as “The Devil Plant” as even one’s best digging efforts can be insufficient in removing this stubborn plant. Because of its aggressive undesirable social behaviors, it’s important to be persistent in removal efforts AND educate our neighbors about the Bellflower’s true nature!
More information on Campanula rapunculoides: https://northerngardener.org/creeping-bellflower/
To Clean or Not To Clean? Spring Cleanup & Spring Beauty
How far should we go in spring cleaning our gardens? The answer to this question varies between gardens and the personal taste of the gardener!
The GreenSpace team using a light touch during spring garden clean-up.
How far should we go in spring cleaning our gardens? The answer to this question varies between gardens and the personal taste of the gardener!
If one asks Nature, a light touch is best. Leaving dry leaves and stem debris in the spring garden provides protection for our pollinators including the 70% of bees that nest in the ground. The genius behind this method is that leaving the organic material in place also helps the health of our soils long-term and, in the short-term, saves time and energy so you can enjoy other spring activities!
More information about the benefits of minimal spring garden cleanup:
https://xerces.org/blog/dont-spring-into-garden-cleanup-too-soon
Jobsite Safety
Safety on a jobsite is priority one for our team, clients, and people nearby.
Safety on a jobsite is priority one for our team, clients, and people nearby. We prepare our GreenSpace team members to address unexpected accidents with safety kits. Proper attire including leather boots and work gloves also helps to prevent injuries.
Protecting Our Tree and Shrub Investments
Don’t let the bunnies and deer eat away at your tree and shrub investments! Here are some of the protective measures we use at GreenSpace to protect young plants for our garden care clients.
Don’t let the bunnies and deer eat away at your tree and shrub investments! Here are some of the measures we use at GreenSpace to protect young plants for some of our garden care clients.
Fencing is one way to deter wildlife that may be interested in new and tender plants.
Each fall, we encircle vulnerable trees and shrubs with chicken wire to protect them from destructive chewing. We return in the spring to remove and roll up the chicken wire to reuse.
Another way we protect slim, young trees is to install white plastic corrugated tree guards. The guards fit tightly to keep out hungry critters and be used for multiple seasons. Careful installation is required to protect the tree’s bark.
Photos by GreenSpace team member Sue Filbin.
To Leaf Out or Not?
As temperatures continue to inch upward, trees are leafing out, and many garden and yard enthusiasts are out gathering up the remnants of last autumn's leaves and teasing out sandy deposits, which remain in our gardens and lawns. Is it wise to remove those leaves? The answer is that “it depends.”
As temperatures continue to inch upward, trees are leafing out, and many garden and yard enthusiasts are out gathering up the remnants of last autumn's leaves and teasing out sandy deposits, which remain in our gardens and lawns. Is it wise to remove those leaves? The answer is that “it depends.”
On lawns, one does not want to leave large accumulations of leaves, as it will challenge the grass, and likely create areas to be reseeded. Some leaves dispersed throughout a lawn will not harm the grass, and actually decompose to enrich the soils beneath.
What one does in their gardens depends upon the garden. Leaves can benefit a garden in many ways. Leaves act as a mulch to reduce weed growth and to moderate temperatures; add organic matter to feed microbes thus enriching your soil; leaves provide a haven for various beneficial insects; and it provides a barrier to the compaction caused by foot traffic in our garden spaces.
So, with abundant benefits, why would one remove their leaves from the gardens? Generally, it is best to leave up to 2” of your leaves on your gardens, but if one of your gardens is a rain garden or a boulevard garden designed to accept water runoff, then one needs to avoid the possibility of diminishing the water holding capacity of these specialty gardens as a result of ever increasing accumulations of various mulches.
If one feels compelled to remove the debris left behind by autumn and winter, I would recommend sweeping your driveway, sidewalks and curb/gutters, so that the spring rains do not send large accumulations of sediments and organic matter into our lakes, rivers, streams and the like. Last week, the efforts of the Green Space team on various properties kept several cubic yards of this left over litter from entering a metro water body, which once there, would only lead to undesirable green growths and hampered water quality.
Each of us can be more GREEN by keeping these things in mind, and truthfully, reduce the time we spend tending to our yards, as NATURE has a rather unique way of managing garden health, as long as we work with her in her efforts!
Edibles in Your Garden
One of my favorite treats is fresh fruit from the garden. In my own garden, I have strawberries, and so much more. I just finished harvesting my Honeyberries (sweet tasting), and soon, my Juneberrries (a.k.a. Serviceberries) will be ready.
Spring is a busy season for plants and people alike. The energy needed requires inputs to sustain one's stamina in the midst of all that is being planted and is growing.
One of my favorite treats is fresh fruit from the garden. In my own garden, I have strawberries, and so much more. I just finished harvesting my Honeyberries (sweet tasting), and soon, my Juneberrries (a.k.a. Serviceberries) will be ready. Both are pictured here, and they will be followed by my tart cherries and later my black chokeberries.
A large lot is not required to grow food for yourself. I live on a 30 x 150 foot lot with much of it consumed by a Bungalow and garage footprint, and quite honestly, my shrubs and trees feed me and many of my friends and neighbors too.
So, the next time you want to plant acid loving blueberries in our alkaline soils, consider one of the many options which grow incredibly well here. They are low input plants, but their output is colorful and "fruitabulous"!
Pathways Through our Landscapes
The pathways between winter and spring, and between here and there tend to meander. If that is a true statement, then how do we create a sense of certainty as we move through the seasons and our landscapes?
The pathways between winter and spring, and between here and there tend to meander. If that is a true statement, then how do we create a sense of certainty as we move through the seasons and our landscapes?
I believe it is important to create paths of a surefooted nature. To do this, we may consider many materials, but those with a flat surface laid to accommodate varying gaits will allow us to take in what is around us in our landscapes rather than moving our attention to our feet with each step taken.
A well laid path acknowledges that there are varying strides and each of us begins our journey with a different foot leading the way. Additionally, we do not walk in a tight rope or balance beam fashion, so paths are not effective if laid in this manner.
We can meander through our gardens and the seasons, while allowing all of our visitors to take in the beauty of the walkabout without hesitation. Enjoy the ever evolving experiences of your gardens with well laid paths guiding you into what is next!
Proper Mulching is Key
Remember that trees and shrubs like donuts, and do not like volcanoes or turtle neck mulching, as is pictured here. This practice is detrimental to trees and shrubs for many reasons.
Some of you will be mulching your gardens soon, and proper mulching is key. Remember to install 2-3" in perennial gardens and 3-4" around trees and shrubs. Please do not use landscape fabric or plastic, because as a barrier it only diminishes nutrients getting to plants, and it truly is ineffective long term for reducing weed populations. The right thickness of mulch and densely planted areas tend to be better strategies to reduce weed populations.
Lastly, remember that trees and shrubs like donuts, and do not like volcanoes or turtle neck mulching, as is pictured here. This practice is detrimental to trees and shrubs for many reasons. Instead, create a donut around your trees and shrubs and add light sprinkles of mulch to the middle near trunks.
