How to Kill Cheese Weed or Common Mallow With Ground Cover

Overview

Common mallow or "cheese weed" (Malva neglecta and M. parviflora) is a weed with large, lobed leaves and pinkish-white flowers that produce round, cheese-like fruits. Common mallow can invade your lawn or garden, growing up to two to five feet tall and spreading by well-protected seeds. The hard seed coats that protect the seed from herbicides and vigorous nature of the common mallow make it difficult to get rid of. You can, however, choke out common mallow weeds using ground covers.

Step 1

Pull out the common mallow weeds by hand when they first emerge in the spring, or use a hoe to dig up the weed and its roots. Remove all the cheese weeds that you can find.

Step 2

Turn the soil in the entire area containing the common mallow weeds using a rototiller, spade or pitchfork. Till the soil to a depth of six to 12 inches.

Step 3

Select strong ground cover plants that have the appropriate sunlight requirements for the weed-infested area. Choose ground covers that are fast-growing with deeper root systems.

Step 4

Dig planting holes for your ground cover plants that are the same depth as and 1 ½ times the width as the planting containers. Space the ground cover plants according to their specific planting requirements. Plant the ground covers in rows, staggering the plants.

Step 5

Mix into the displaced soil some organic compost or aged manure. Add enough organic material so that you have half soil and half compost or manure.

Step 6

Set the ground covers' root systems into the planting holes and fill in the holes with the amended soil. Water the ground cover plants thoroughly, soaking the soil down to the root systems.

Step 7

Spread a two- to three-inch layer of dark-colored mulch, such as a brown or black bark mulch, on the soil around the ground cover plants. The mulch will help to prevent light from getting to any common mallow seedlings and stop its growth.

Step 8

Remove by hand any common mallow weeds that sprout up around the ground cover plants as soon as they emerge. Water your ground cover plants according to their specific requirements.