By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Right now in early spring, as you start gardening is also your best chance to stop weeds from starting. Pre-emergent weed preventers don’t let weed seeds germinate, and there’s a great natural weed preventer that’s also a fertilizer. It’s called corn gluten meal, an organic weed preventer that’s a by-product of the corn milling industry and naturally contains nitrogen so it helps plants green up too.

Unlike some weed preventers that can be toxic, corn gluten meal is safe to use around children and pets – plus it won’t hurt the birds, butterflies, or other critters in your yard.

Corn gluten meal is easy to sprinkle on your lawn or in garden beds by hand or with a spreader. Do it right before it rains or water it in lightly, to create a coating that makes it hard for seeds to sprout, so you’ll have a lot fewer weeds this spring if you get it out in your garden now.

You can use corn gluten meal on established lawns, around trees, shrubs, and in any garden bed where plants are already growing. Anywhere you aren’t planting seeds and you don’t want weeds.