Before you start planting seeds in your garden or even start preparing the soil, you have to clear the garden patch. There could be various undesired plants and sometimes even small animals gathering in your garden that can damage or kill new plants. Instead of dragging out the garden clearance process over weeks, you can do finish it quickly with the following tips.

How to Clear Weeds

To clear weeds, you can do any of the following:

1. Mulch: Mulch essentially covers the surface and blocks air and sunlight from nourishing the weeds. This helps them kill quickly and effectively.
2. Pull: If the weeds growing in your garden are thick and easily spotted, put on a pair of thick rubber gloves and start pulling. This can be tedious but is a very effective way of weeding.
3. Dig: If after pulling, the weeds keep growing again, it usually means there is a branched, persistent root lying under the soil. Dig to remove the root.
4. Chop: Chop off the weeds and its branches to prevent it from seeding or spreading.
5. Cover crop: Sometimes, the best way to kill off a weed is to give it a bit of competition. Cover crops like buckwheat and rye can block sunlight and air to kill the weed.

How to Clear Moss

Moss is another problem that beginners have to face before gardening because poor drainage and compacted soil gives moss enough ground to hold on to. If there is an abundance of overgrowth, the moss will be protected from sunlight and will grow even better. Highly acidic soil also keeps moss up and flourishing even though it kills grass and other such weeds.

To kill moss, you need to do the following:

1. Buy a good quality moss killer. Gardening experts usually recommend buying products which are high on sulfate content, like ferrous ammonium sulfate or ferrous sulfate.
2. It takes a few days to kill the moss entirely. At this stage, you need to clear out the dead moss. Use a garden rake to clear the dead moss.
3. You have to plant some seeds in this soil now. If you want a manicured lawn, sow the grass seeds in the soil and keep it moist.
4. The seeds have to be kept moist until the grass starts growing.

How to Clear Slugs

Garden slugs are another brand of pest that eat away leaves. So these must be controlled before you start planting your precious saplings.

To get rid of slugs, you can try making a trap. Take a large, brightly colored cup and fill it with a mixture of honey, yeast and warm water. This will create a gluey mixture that will trap the slugs and keep them in.

Another method is to lure the slugs with cabbage leaves or moist orange rinds into a large jar that is left to rest on its side. This attracts the slugs and they come to settle in this jar. Place the jars all over the garden and collect all the slugs. Once done, discard them in a park or a long way from home.

Winter Garden Clearance

At the end of fall, the weather undergoes harsh changes which can negatively affect your garden. So it is necessary to condition your garden and clear it in a way that causes minimum impact. It also minimizes pest infestation and diseases. Before winter sets in, remove all dead leaves and plant parts in which fungal spores can accumulate and start growing in the spring. The compost you have so far produced should be spread on top of the plants that live throughout the winter to provide them with nourishment. To make sure this nourishment is not divided amongst weeds, spread a generous layer of weed killer on top of the compost pile.

For vegetable plants, start clearing the beds as soon as the last produce before winter has been collected. You can preserve bulbs by digging them up, snipping off the leaves and drying for a few days. Now store them in a paper bag until they can be re-planted in spring. Any plant that will not survive the winter must be kept indoors, in a warm environment.