Gardening expert on how to keep your garden free of weeds
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Weeds can be a nuisance as they love to appear in most places of the garden such as in driveway cracks, patio areas, lawns as well as between plants. In order to maintain a healthy and thriving garden, weed removal is essential. While there are a range of chemical weed killers on the market, experts have suggested a faster and natural way to remove them.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Daniel Carruthers, Director of Sales at Cultivar Greenhouses said: “Weeds can be a real pain and keeping on top of them is a long and dubious task that many dislike.
“The most common garden weeds you are likely to find in your garden are ground elder, dandelions and nettles, all of which can be tricky to get rid of.”
To remove them the pro advised digging them up rather than using any chemical or homemade weed killer.
Daniel said: “The most important thing to remember when tackling weed removal is ensuring you dig them up by the roots.
“Most weeds have creeping roots or underground stems that will just regrow if you don’t remove all parts of it, so ensure you use a garden fork or trowel to gently lever the weeds out of the soil, aiming to remove the whole root system. Any roots that are left behind may result in the weed quickly reappearing.”
He explained that by weeding little and often, this will help keep on top of things and “prevent any troublesome weeds from returning and taking over your beds and borders”, also making it a “much easier” task to complete.
Once gardeners have removed the weeds, the gardening guru shared that mulching is “a great way to keep them at bay” while helping your plants flourish.
He said: “Biodegradable mulches such as compost, leaf mould, and wood chippings will suppress the weeds while releasing beneficial nutrients into the soil.
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“As mulch breaks down over time, it will need replacing every now and then, but is proven to be very effective.”
Jamie Shipley, Managing Director at Hedges Direct agreed with using this approach to weeds as he claimed that using “harsh chemicals” will destroy your soil and can “kill all the plants they come into contact with”.
He said: “Hedges Direct’s viewpoint on removing weeds would be that, rather than using chemicals and potentially affecting the soil’s biodiversity, the most ecologically-friendly approach, where possible, is to dig them out and pop them in the green waste bin.
“Once weeded you can put a mulch or bark chippings down which helps retain the moisture and nutrients in the soil but also keeps light out which helps to suppress weed growth thereafter.”
Experts at Install-It-Direct were also in favour of removing weeds by hand and claimed that it is the “best way” to get rid of weeds “fast”.
They said: “Most gardeners search for natural ways to kill weeds specifically because they do not want to pull them.
“However, this old-fashioned weed-removal method is a tried-and-true way to get a weed-free yard. But this is the best way to get rid of weeds fast.
“Most importantly, you need to get rid of weeds that are starting to go to seed. When weeds go to seed, they produce hundreds of seeds and expand their lifespan significantly.”
Once current weeds start to seed, those seeds are going to scatter throughout the garden and make weed removal “much more difficult”.
After the weeds have been removed, Genna Lorraine, gardening expert at Fantastic Services, agreed that mulch should be used to “inhibit their growth”.
She said: “To manage weeds, mulch the soil. It blocks sunlight from weeds, inhibits their growth, and helps retain moisture.”
Mulch could be garden compost, wood or bark chipping used to lay over the soil as a covering. It could also be homemade leafmould, used from gathered leaves over the past couple of years.
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