5 Ways to Get Rid of Grass in Your Flower Beds

Removing grass from your flower beds can seem like a never-ending battle. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Join garden expert Briana Yablonski to learn multiple methods for removing these common weeds from your garden.

Written by Briana Yablonski Horticulture review by Sarah Jay Last updated: July 19, 2024 | 6 min read

Close-up of female hands in white and blue gloves pulling out grass and weeds on a flowerbed.

Contents

While a lush green lawn may be part of your greater garden plan, nobody likes seeing large crabgrass clumps or creeping Bermuda grass stems pop up in their flower beds. After dealing with weeds for more than a decade, I’ve learned that grasses can be some of the trickiest problem plants to deal with. Some go to seed in under a month, and others spread by rugged stolons and rhizomes.

However, you don’t have to turn to herbicides to keep your garden grass-free. Treating unwanted plants with the appropriate removal strategies can help rid your beds of these noxious plants without costing you tons of hours or a sore body. Here are five chemical-free ways you can keep your flower beds free of grass.

Pull the Grass by Hand

Close-up of a gardener's hand in a white and blue glove with a handful of pulled leaves in the garden. — Pulling grassy weeds is easier in moist soil.

Pros: Allows you to remove weeds precisely, requires no tools, simple
Cons: Physically difficult, time-intensive

Let’s start with the simplest (but not always the easiest) removal method. Grabbing a clump and yanking it from the ground is a time-tested way to remove these misplaced plants. Plus, nimble hands allow you to remove grassy weeds tucked between two closely planted flowers.

Since this method is physically tiring and time-intensive, it works best if you only have a few in your flower bed. If you’re dealing with a large area filled with grass, I recommend choosing another removal method.

Pulling weeds is easier when the soil is slightly moist instead of fully dry. However, wet dirt can stick to the grass’s roots as you pull it out of the ground. Shaking helps it fall off the roots and remain where it belongs. If the weather is dry and the grass doesn’t have rhizomes or stolons, you can leave it in your flower bed. However, since moist soil allows them to reroot, move uprooted plants to the compost pile on wet days.

If you’re dealing with rhizomatous grass like Bermuda or Zoysia, make sure to remove all of the rhizomes that creep under the surface. Leaving even an inch-long piece of rhizome behind will allow the plant to regrow. Since pulling the above-ground stolons and foliage often leads to broken rhizomes, consider loosening the earth before pulling. Making a few passes with a digging fork or broadfork will make it easier to tease the roots and rhizomes from the earth.

Use a Hoe to Remove Small Plants

Close-up of a gardener in blue jeans using a hoe with a long wooden handle to weed a bed of growing hostas. — Use a sharp hoe to cut plants at the soil surface.

Pros: Allows you to remain upright, quickly removes small grass
Cons: Not great for tightly planted areas, can disturb the top few inches of soil

Hand-pulling is great if a few large clumps are scattered throughout your flowers, but it doesn’t work well if your garden looks like a lawn rather than a flower bed. Rather than spend hours pulling each tiny blade, a hoe will quickly cut down the unwanted plants. Although hoeing works best on small grass, it can remove larger species if you select the proper type of hoe.

There are many different types of hoes, and each has its ideal uses. For example, stirrup hoes work well for quickly slicing through a pathway filled with small to medium plants, and chopping hoes are great for taking down larger grasses. No matter which type of hoe you use, remember to keep the blade sharp. Hoes are designed to cut them at the surface rather than pull them out of the ground. I find that a sharpening file is the best and simplest tool for maintaining a sharp edge on my garden hoes.

One of the benefits of using hoes is their ability to improve your ergonomics. Hoes with long handles allow you to remove unwanted plants from an upright, standing position rather than hunching over or crawling on your hands and knees. However, they’re not great options for tall raised beds. Instead, look for a hand-held hoe with a handle that’s one or two feet long.

Since hoes cut rather than pull, avoid using them to remove grasses with rhizomes and stolons. If you see the grass sending creeping stems or roots, chopping it up with a hoe will only cause it to spread.

Tarp the Soil

Close-up of soil with dried grass covered by a tarp in a garden for grass and weed control. — Use a tarp to kill grass and weeds by blocking sunlight.

Pros: Easy on the body, works on rhizomatous grass, kills both large and small species
Cons: Requires you to fallow your flower bed, takes multiple weeks or months

If you have an entire flower bed that’s overrun, tarping is an excellent way to get rid of them once and for all. This method involves placing an opaque tarp on top of the soil and leaving it in place for multiple weeks or months. The tarp prevents sunlight from reaching the plants and causes them to die. Once they are dead, you can pull back the tarp and start planting.

A silage tarp is the best tool for this job since it’s designed to withstand UV rays without breaking down. You can use a standard home or construction tarp, but it may break down after sitting in the sun. Regardless of which type of tarp you use, make sure to secure it to your garden bed thoroughly. Use heavy rocks, sandbags, or other weights.

The main downside of tarping is that it will be out of production for multiple weeks or months. Small annual grasses like goosegrass, crabgrass, and quackgrass can die after two weeks of summer tarping or four weeks of winter tarping. However, creeping grass like Zoysia, St. Augustine, and Bermuda grass often take multiple months to kill fully. If you want to try tarping without sacrificing your spring and summer flower bed, lay a tarp in the fall. After removing the tarp in spring, all you have to do is amend the soil and start planting seeds or transplants.

Not only do tarps help kill grass that’s already present, but they can also help get rid of dormant weed seeds beneath the surface. After the tarp is on for a few weeks, pull it back, lightly water the soil surface, and recover. The combination of moisture and heat will cause weed seeds to germinate, and the lack of light will kill them. As long as you don’t till the top inch of soil after removing the tarp and before planting, very few should emerge after you remove the tarp.

Flame Weed

Pros: limits soil disturbance, easy on the body, quickly kills small grass
Cons: not effective on large plants, requires fossil fuels

When used carefully, fire can be a helpful tool. It kills unwanted plants quickly and efficiently, all without disturbing the soil. You can find specialty flame weeders designed specifically for use in the garden. You can also use a propane torch to carefully and accurately add fire to your garden. Remember to always use extreme caution when using fire outdoors. Be ready to smother any flames that appear.

Since your goal is to kill unwanted plants without setting anything on fire, flame weeding is best when grass is less than an inch tall. You can also do preventative passes along aisles and pathways to kill any grass that is germinating. A weekly pass with the flame weeder is much less effort than pulling grass on your hands and knees.

Flame weeding is especially effective when dealing with a heavy weed seed bank and direct sowing slow-to-germinate flowers. After you prepare your bed and plant your seeds, the top of the soil will look weed-free. But as soon as a few days later, seedlings will begin to emerge. Rather than pulling them by hand, run a flame weeder over the top of the soil to burn them. Since your flower seeds are tucked under the surface, they’ll remain safe.

Remember to only flame weed atop flowers if they have a long germination period. If your flower seeds have already sprouted underground, the heat from a flame weeder will burn your planted crops as well as the targeted grass.

Mulch Around Your Flowers

Close-up of a mulched bed with a hosta and bright pink hydrangeas growing. — Mulching prevents new grass from growing while improving soil moisture and texture.

Pros: helps prevent grass from growing, adds organic matter, and helps conserve moisture
Cons: doesn’t kill large grass, requires repeated applications

Removing grass from your garden is only the first half of the battle. The second half involves preventing new grass from appearing! Adding mulch to the top of the soil helps prevent new seeds from germinating. Mulch also provides benefits like improved moisture retention and cooler soil during hot summers.

Different organic materials work well as mulch, including wood chips, leaf mulch, pine needles, and straw. Although you have to spread these organic mulches over your soil, they will slowly break down over time and increase the organic matter. In turn, your soil will experience better moisture retention, drainage, and texture. However, some types will grow through even six inches of mulch.

If you opt to apply an organic mulch, aim to apply at least two inches. This thickness will limit seeds from germinating, and the lack of light will kill the grass that does emerge. Feel free to apply more than two inches of mulch—a thicker layer is better than a thin one.

You can also mulch with reusable landscape fabric. This plastic fabric sits flush against the surface and prevents the growth of unwanted plants, including grass. You can apply strips of landscape fabric between rows of plants or burn holes in sheets of landscape fabric where you want to plant your flowers. Avoid cutting holes in the fabric since this leads to frayed edges and lots of plastic shreds. And make sure to secure the fabric to the ground with landscape staples, sandbags, or other heavyweights.