Taking the time now to pull weeds will prevent a summer of headaches

Question: I had a lot of weeds in my garden last year. They seemed to be everywhere. I have several flower beds, a few shrub areas around my house and a small vegetable garden. Is there anything I can do now to control the weeds this year? I don't want to be invaded again, and hand-pulling them is a lot of work. I'll take any advice you can give me.

Answer: There's no doubt that battling weeds is high on the list of the most-hated chores for many gardeners. And, while I don't suggest you drive yourself crazy by trying to remove every single weed from your landscape, it is important to keep them at a tolerable level. Weeds, after all, compete with desirable plants for sunlight, moisture and nutrients.

First and foremost, never allow weeds to go to seed. If you do, you'll soon find you have a thousand plants where you once had one. Many common weeds are prolific seeders, so pulling them out or cutting them down before they can disperse their seeds will greatly cut down on weed numbers over time.

Right now is a great time to head outside and start tackling weeds, especially those that have sprouted during this most recent run of warmish weather. Bittercress and hen-bit are two notorious early spring weeds that produce an abundance of weeds. Spend a few hours pulling them out now, and you won't be fighting them all season long.

Dandelions are also easy to pull out right now, but you must get to them before they go to flower. My favorite dandelion-pulling tool is called the Fiskars Stand-Up Weeder. It's available on Amazon and at some local hardware stores. This tool has four prongs that are pressed into the soil around the dandelion. A simple tilt of the handle pops the taproot right out of the ground.

Aside from early season hand-pulling, another essential yearly chore for weed prevention is mulching. During the month of April, I spend many hours mulching my gardens. In shrub and tree beds, I suggest using a 2- to 3-inch layer of shredded hardwood bark mulch. For extra weed control, before you lay down the mulch, spread a layer of newspaper, 10 sheets thick, over the soil. Then, cover the newspaper with the bark mulch. Weeds can't grow up through the newspaper, and you'll have season-long weed control. Add a new layer every year.

In the vegetable garden, I suggest using leaf compost and/or straw as mulch. Apply 3 inches to the top of the soil, after tilling, and plant your veggie crops right through it. For added weed suppression, you can do the newspaper trick in the vegetable garden as well. The same goes for flower gardens, where I prefer to use compost mixed 50-50 with mushroom soil as a mulch.

Mulching is incredibly good at weed suppression, but it won't work if you simply toss the mulch on top of existing weeds. Many common weeds will easily poke through a layer of mulch. It's essential that you pull out any weeds before adding the mulch to your beds.

One final suggestion: If the weeds you face are primarily annuals that sprout from seed each year, including purslane, wood sorrel, crabgrass, chickweed and others, you can use an organic pre-emergent herbicide based on corn gluten meal. Brand names include Espoma Organic Weed Preventer, WOW! Supreme Pre-Emergent Weed Control, Concern Weed Prevention Plus and Orland's Safe-T-Weed.

These products prevent all seeds from germinating, and if they are applied according to label instructions in the spring, they'll keep weed seeds from sprouting for many weeks. Do not use these products in areas where you want to grow things from seed, such as in the vegetable garden, as it will stop those seeds from germinating, too. Corn gluten-based pre-emergent herbicides are often suggested for organic crab grass prevention in lawns, but they are safe to use in flower and shrub beds as well.

Horticulturist Jessica Walliser co-hosts “The Organic Gardeners” at 7 a.m. Sundays on KDKA Radio with Doug Oster. She is the author of several gardening books, including “Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control” and “Good Bug, Bad Bug.” Her website is jessicawalliser.com.

Send your gardening or landscaping questions to tribliving@tribweb.com or The Good Earth, 503 Martindale St., Third Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15212.