Garden cleanup before and after: an overgrown bed weeded and mulched

Nothing in this bed needed replacing. The garden cleanup was about getting the weeds off plants that were already there and giving the soil a cover so they don’t come straight back.

What did the garden bed look like before and after?

Before, you could barely tell there was a bed. It runs along a weathered wooden fence with a lattice top, behind a brick bungalow, with a grey shed and a teal plastic chair at the far end.

Long grass and tall weeds gone to seed filled the strip from the fence out to the lawn. A small tree had one stem leaning hard toward the grass, and a shrub further along was half buried. Variegated hostas were in there too, with weeds growing up through them. The lawn ran straight into it with no edge.

The after photo is taken from almost the same spot on a cloudier day. The weeds and long grass are gone, and dark brown mulch covers the soil right up to the fence boards.

The tree and shrub stand clear now. The hostas sit in a neat row along the front, which gives the bed a clean line against the freshly cut lawn.

Why do weeds take over a garden bed?

Weeds take over when a bed goes a season or more without weeding and they’re left to set seed. This one looked like it had missed at least a season.

Once tall grasses and weeds go to seed, the seed drops into the bed and next year there’s more. Lawn grass along the front creeps in sideways at the same time, until the bed and the lawn run together.

What does a garden cleanup with weed treatment involve?

It’s clearing, treating, edging and mulching, in roughly this order:

1. Work out what stays. Here that was the hostas, the small tree and the shrub, so everything was worked around them.
2. Clear the bed. Tall weeds, long grass and seed heads come out with as much root as possible. Pull only the tops and the roots grow straight back.
3. Treat the weeds. In Ontario the cosmetic pesticide rules limit what can be used. The Government of Ontario bans ingredients such as glyphosate and 2,4-D for cosmetic use on lawns and gardens, so only biopesticides and certain lower-risk products on its Allowable List are an option.
4. Rake the bed level and recut the line between bed and lawn so grass isn’t left growing into it.
5. Spread fresh mulch over the bare soil, with a gap left around the tree and shrub stems.
6. Bag the yard waste and tidy the lawn.

There was no reason to dig the bed up or replant it. Clearing around healthy plants is far less work than starting over.

Why put mulch down after the weeds are out?

Mulch goes down last because bare soil is where new weeds start. A layer of shredded wood or bark blocks the light that annual weed seeds need to sprout, according to Cornell University’s weed science guide. It also holds moisture for the hostas through a dry summer.

The order matters. Mulch mainly stops new weeds coming up from seed, and Cornell’s guide says to clear weeds before mulching. Grass and perennial weeds left rooted in the soil just grow up through it.

The published numbers for a bed like this one:

Scroll sideways to see the whole table.

Iowa State explains the trunk gap: mulch piled against the bark can encourage fungal cankers, root rot and rodents. Our mulch guide covers how much to buy and when to put it down.

How do you keep a garden bed weed-free?

Pull new weeds while they’re small and keep the mulch topped up. A few habits do most of the work:

• Walk the bed every couple of weeks in spring and early summer. Young weeds come out root and all, especially when the soil is damp.
• Don’t let anything go to seed. Every seed head like the ones in the before photo means more weeds next year.
• Recut the edge between lawn and bed a few times a season, since grass spreads in from there.
• Top up thin spots in the mulch. The Morton Arboretum says to wait in spring until the soil has warmed and drained.
• Rake mulch back if it gets pushed up against stems and trunks.

Our spring cleanup checklist and fall cleanup checklist show where this fits in the year. The guide to low-maintenance garden beds explains how to set a bed up so it needs less weeding.

Getting help with an overgrown bed

We do weed removal, clearing and mulching like this as part of our spring and fall cleanups across Markham and nearby. If the bed needs new plants or a full refresh, that’s our garden bed and mulching service.

If your bed looks like the before photo, text us a photo at (437) 684-2535 or use the form below to book a free garden cleanup quote.