How to Kill Crabgrass that Invades Your Flower Bed

Crabgrass that has invaded your flower beds is your flower beds is not an impossible chore, but it is a hard one. There is no quick way to rid your flower beds of crabgrass, but there are some things you can do to prevent them from invading in the first place. If crabgrass still manages to creep into the garden, there are some measures you can take to remove it permanently in a way that is safe for the rest of your plants.

Reduce the Chance of Crabgrass Invading Your Flower Beds
If you are designing a new flower bed, there are several planning steps you can take to dissuade crabgrass from ever growing in your beds. Depriving crabgrass of what it needs to thrive is the surest way to keep your beds clear of the pesky grass. Because of the way crabgrass grows, outward like a vine across the soil, if you remove the space and soil that is needed, crabgrass will not go anywhere near your beds.

To start, pack your perennial or annual flowers in to your flower bed as much as possible. With annuals, you want to plant as many flowers in, leaving just enough space for them to grow. With perennials, some can take years to grow, but, try to plant as many into your bed as you can so that they create shade and reduce the space crabgrass needs. In both cases, you should add mulch or compost to your bed because this will stifle any space that crabgrass would find in your flower bed. Finally, make sure there is a clear and concrete division between your flower beds and grass so that it is harder for the crabgrass to even get into the beds in the first place.

Removing Crabgrass From Your Flower Beds
If crabgrass has already made its way into your flower beds, the surest way to remove it is through hand removal. While this might not be the fastest way, it is the only way to make sure that you kill the crabgrass entirely and remove it all from the soil surrounding your plants. Another common way of removing crabgrass is to kill it with boiling water. This is harder to do, especially when you are dealing with a flower bed that is planted and the crabgrass is between and around your flowers. To do this, pour boiling water on the entirety of the crabgrass which will kill it off and its roots.

The other common way to kill crabgrass without actually pulling it out yourself, is to pour vinegar and bleach on the plant, which will kill it. I find that the best way to achieve this is to add one tablespoon vinegar, one tablespoon bleach and one cup water to a squirt bottle. Spray the solution over the entire length of the crabgrass and in a couple days it will have died. If you do this over the entire area of your flower bed, you should be able to remove crabgrass from your flower bed entirely.