Thinking of trying Preen out in the planters in front of the house. Its supposed to stop weeds by keeping new ones from germinating. Anyone use it, have any experience with it?

 

yes, I've used it going on two years now. It works pretty good in our flower beds. I've never tried placing it in a planter though. Its not as good as say roundup but a good solution for places where you can't really spray roundup. Make sure to spray it off any foliage it may get on. One thing I'm unsure on though is if squirrels like it. I've seen little holes and things from time to time in the mulch like something was trying to collect it/eat it.

 

Yeah, Roundup isn't an option in planters I was going to use it in. Well, maybe planters isn't the best word. The sidewalk leading from the driveway to the front door creates a fairly large, roughly rectangular area. There's 2 different varieties of boxwood and a large hibiscus in it. The boxwood is around the perimeter and the hibiscus is in the center surrounded by another boxwood hedge. The remaining area is a real pita to keep weeded so I'm looking for other solutions. The Preen seemed like a good idea, but if anyone has any better suggestions I'm open to them as well.

 

yeah, preen is a good option to try. do you have any type of landscape paper in the beds? it definitely helps too. However, I don't think there is one thing that's the end all.

 

There is, but its 15 years old so its beyond its useful life. Unfortunately when they did the bed they used that pea gravel so taking it up and reusing it is out of the question. I redid another one that had river rock and used 2 layers of the weed barrier cloth under it but they're growing through that too.

 

My wife spreads Preen in our landscaping beds every spring. I don't have to spend any time weeding them, so it must work.