My Garden Beds Are Overgrown and Full of Weeds
The fabric is showing through in strips, the mulch is a crust, the weeds are winning and you cannot tell the plants you planted from the ones that moved in. Weeding stopped working a year ago. The bed needs a reset, and it is a one visit job. Lumen Landscaping resets overgrown garden beds across Hamilton: call (905) 906-0671 or send the form for a free written quote.
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The problem
What you are seeing
The front beds used to be the first thing people noticed about the house. Now they are the thing you avoid looking at. Weeds come up faster than you can pull them, the mulch has turned into a grey crust with dirt on top of it, there are strips of old landscape fabric showing through, and grass has crept in from the lawn so there is no edge any more. Somewhere in there are the hostas and the spirea you planted, swallowed by things you did not. Every spring you spend a weekend on it and by July it looks like you never did.
A bed gets to this point for a simple reason. Mulch breaks down into soil. After a few years there is a layer of soil on top of the old fabric, and weeds root in that layer, above the fabric, where it cannot stop them. The grass walks in over the edge. The keepers get crowded. Pulling weeds from a bed like that is pulling them from a bed of their own making, and they come back from seed in weeks.
The fix is not more weeding. It is a reset: the top layer stripped off down to clean soil, the plants you want left exactly where they are, a sharp edge, new fabric and fresh mulch. It is one visit, and the before and after photos below are what it looks like.
Our Work
Beds we have reset, before and after
Why the bed got away from you
None of this is neglect. It is what a bed does after a few seasons unless it is reset.
- Mulch turned into soil: Mulch breaks down. After a few years it is a layer of soil on top of the fabric, and weeds root in that layer where the fabric cannot stop them.
- Fabric torn, lifted or never there: Old fabric tears at the plants, lifts at the edges and shows through in strips. Once it is exposed it stops weeds about as well as a tarp with holes in it.
- No edge: Without a clean cut between the lawn and the bed, the grass creeps in a few inches a year, and the bed and the lawn become one weedy border.
- Weeds with roots that stay: Some weeds spread by root as well as seed. Pulling the top leaves the root, and the bed is full again in a month. They have to come out with the layer they live in.
- Keepers that outgrew their spot: The shrub that was knee high is now at the window and shading everything under it. Part of a reset is deciding what stays, what gets cut back and what goes.
- Leaf litter and shade: Under mature trees, as on the older streets in Ancaster and Dundas, leaves pile into the bed every fall and rot down into exactly the soil layer weeds love.
Google reviews
What our customers say
“The owner was professional, communicated well, and his crew especially Ari did a great job. I really enjoyed the experience of choosing each plant with the owner's help and now our yard feels like a true oasis.”
“Great experience with Lumen Landscaping. They completely transformed my front yard with a great mix of trees, hydrangeas, and flowers. They brought the yard back to life and did a really clean, professional job.”
“Great job having small grass lawn replaced with wood chips. Didnt know we could get a machine through the small gate - the top layer, weed barrier cloth and thick layer of chips. They cleaned up after and were done in a day.”
The fix
How we reset an overgrown bed, in order
We excavate and dispose of the top layer of landscape fabric, mulch, weeds and any unwanted plants, keeping the wanted plants in place. That is the whole trick: the keepers never leave the ground, and everything around them goes, down to clean soil, roots and all. Then we deep shovel edge the bed for a cleaner, more defined garden border, a crisp cut instead of aluminum edging, so the grass and the garden read as two clean shapes. Everything is hauled away and the bed is left ready for fabric, mulch or planting. See our garden bed cleanup, mulch and edging page for the scope in full.
Then the bed is finished the same day. New premium landscape fabric goes across the bed, carefully cut and tucked around the existing plants and edges for a cleaner finish and better weed suppression. Mulch, in any colour or type you prefer, is delivered and spread to an even depth, with the edges tidied on completion. If you want river rock instead of mulch in part of the bed, that goes over the fabric the same way. The mulch and the rock are billed at what they cost us.
If the bed needs new plants, we help you choose them, with several options per area based on your preferences, the soil and the light, pick them up from a cost effective nursery with an excellent selection, and bill them at cost with the nursery discount passed on. Our gardens and planting page covers plant choices in full, with designs available on request. If what is swallowing the bed is a shrub rather than weeds, read our page on overgrown shrubs and hedges first, and if the problem is weeds coming through stone, our page on weeds in river rock is the one.
In Guelph, where the city's drinking water comes almost entirely from groundwater and outside water use is restricted from April through October, a reset bed with fresh mulch matters more than most, because mulch holds moisture in the soil and a bed under it needs far less watering.
Check this yourself first
A few minutes in the bed with a trowel will tell you whether it needs a tidy or a reset.
- Pull a weed and look at the root: If it comes out whole with its roots in loose, dark mulch soil, the weeds are living in the broken down mulch layer above the fabric. That is a reset. If it snaps off, the roots are deeper and the layer has to come out with them.
- Find the fabric: Dig down with the trowel until you hit fabric, and measure how much is on top of it. More than an inch or two of soil over the fabric means the fabric is doing nothing.
- Find the edge: Look for a line between lawn and bed. If the grass has walked into the mulch, the edge is gone and it has to be cut back.
- List the keepers: Walk the bed and decide what you like. Those plants stay exactly where they are during the reset. Everything else is on the table, and we are honest about which shrubs are worth keeping.
- When to call: A bed that is more weed than plant, fabric showing through, or a weeding chore that has stopped working is worth resetting this season, in one visit. Call (905) 906-0671 and we will take a look.
Planning
What a lasting reset includes, and what changes the price
A lasting reset always includes
- The top layer out: old fabric, mulch, weeds and unwanted plants, down to clean soil
- The plants you want left exactly where they are
- A deep shovel edge between the lawn and the bed
- New premium fabric, cut and tucked around every plant
- Fresh mulch, or rock, spread to an even depth with the edges tidied
- Everything hauled away and the bed left clean
What affects the price
- The size of the beds, and how many there are
- How thick the layer to come out is, and how much is hauled away
- The length of edge to cut
- Mulch or rock, and how many yards, at cost
- New plants, at cost, with designs available on request
- Shrubs to remove with their stumps, if any
- Access: a front bed by the driveway or a back bed through a narrow gate
A typical job, in plain words. Picture three front beds, grown together with the lawn, with a lilac and a few hostas worth keeping. We strip the layer around them down to clean soil, cut a deep edge along the lawn, tuck new fabric around the lilac and the hostas, and spread black mulch to the edge. The beds are back by midafternoon, and the keepers look like they were planted yesterday because they finally have room. One of our customers had a small lawn turned into a mulched area over weed barrier the same way, through a gate she was sure no machine would fit, in a day.
Every quote is written and free, and materials are billed at what they cost us with no markup.
Related
Related pages
Services: garden bed cleanup, mulch and edging and gardens and planting. Related problems: weeds in river rock and overgrown shrubs and hedges. Areas: Hamilton and Guelph. More answers on our FAQ page, and more problems we fix.
FAQs
Overgrown garden bed questions
Yes. That is the whole method. The plants you want stay in the ground exactly where they are, and the layer of old fabric, mulch and weeds comes out around them. New fabric is cut and tucked around each one. Tell us the keepers on the day, or mark them with a stake.
Because the weeds are rooted in the broken down mulch soil above the old fabric, and more mulch on top gives them more to grow in. Pulling the tops leaves the roots and the seed bed. Stripping that layer out and starting on clean soil under new fabric is what makes the weeding stop.
For most beds, yes. The strip, the edge, the fabric and the mulch all happen the same day. Large beds, several beds, or shrubs coming out with their stumps can take longer, and your written quote gives the timeline.
Mulch feeds the soil as it breaks down, holds moisture and suits planted beds, and it is the cheaper of the two. Rock lasts for years without topping up and suits borders and strips. Both go over new fabric. Many beds get mulch around the plants and rock along the house wall.
Yes. We help you choose plants with several options per area, suited to your soil and light, pick them up from a cost effective nursery, and plant them during the reset. The plants are billed at what they cost us with the nursery discount passed on.
A reset lasts for years when the fabric is new and tucked properly. After that, a top up of mulch every couple of seasons and a fresh edge keep it looking new. When the mulch has broken down to soil again and weeds are rooting above the fabric, it is time for the next reset.
How it works
Getting started is easy
- 1
Call or send the form
Tell us what you have in mind. We reply fast, usually within the hour.
- 2
Get your free quote
We look at your project and send you a clear, written quote quickly.
- 3
We build it
We start quickly and back our craftsmanship with a 1-year warranty.
Get Free Quote
Get a Free Quote to Reset Your Beds
Tell us how many beds there are and roughly how big, and send a photo of the worst one. We will tell you what is worth keeping and get back to you fast with a free written quote.