Help! Grass is taking over my flower beds

[sweetptater]

I can deal with dandelions and the pricker weeds, but the grass is seriously killing me. It is all over the flower beds and I have to pull it out blade by blade. I can only weed for so long each day before I feel like I'm dying (see ticker), so I've been doing it in small areas. The problem is that when I go out to weed the next area the following day, it's already starting to come back up in the area I did the day before. It would honestly take at least 8+ hours of weeding to get it all done in one day. The previous owners put in TONS of beds.

Is there anything I can do to kill the grass without killing the plants? I know that mulching will help, but before we put down the mulch, we need to get the weeds all pulled. We bought some roundup to spray on it and at this point are thinking we're just going to be careful when spraying so that we avoid the hostas and day lilies as much as possible, then replace any that we accidentally kill. I hate to do it that way, but I can't think of any other way for us to get ahead of it. Are there any other options that people have had luck with?

[dirtyred]

Put sheets around the plants you want to save and tuck the edges under the leaves. This will keep the RoundUp off of them and you'll be able to get rid of the grass.

[FoxInFiji]

May 23, 2012 14:22:31 GMT -5 dirtyred said:

Put sheets around the plants you want to save and tuck the edges under the leaves. This will keep the RoundUp off of them and you'll be able to get rid of the grass.

Yes exactly smother them with something. Lots of layers of newspaper or cardboard weighted down by rocks should kill off the grass in a week or two. Better yet mulch right over the top. You'll still have some weeds come through but most of the work will be done for you.

[ringstrue]

Put your grill cover over it. That's how we kill random spots in our yard since the dang thing always blows off.

[treedimensional]

If it's wire grass or knotweed, it grows by sending out long runners below ground. Sparying with homeowner-strength Roundup will not provide effective control. You really should dig it all out, create a border barrier, THEN plant inside the bed.

[auntie]

Also, watch how you mow. If you're mower is discharging into the beds, you're planting seeds. I find Preen helps with this, too. But you have to put it under the mulch.