Chris Cooper, a lawn expert at Hayter, said: “Weeds first begin to rear their heads in spring before they have fully matured.” This means now will be the best time to remove weeds as the roots are fairly fragile. Donning a pair of gardening gloves, Chris advised to “dig out perennial weeds with your fingers” – making sure to pull out the root.
“The same goes for annual weeds, catching them before they fully seed… if the root is longer than you’d expect in spring, you can always use a weed fork.” Mr Cooper explained: “These longer tools can help you pull long roots out of grass or soil with precision, mitigating damage to a lawn or soil bed.”
“Hoeing” is another way to remove weeds from the lawn. “Take your hoe and simply run it over a soil bed or between rows of grass,” Mr Cooper instructed.
“This can be a very tiring task for large gardens, so make sure to take regular breaks if you need to.”
While this requires a certain amount of effort, the task is “very effective at killing weed seedlings yet to germinate”.
Mr Cooper added: “It’s best to hoe on a dry day, as this will avoid damaging the soil and prevent seedlings from drying out on the surface.”
While weedkiller isn’t recommended, as it can be “quite damaging to your lawn, soil and plants”, sometimes it’s needed.
Mr Cooper explained: “A riddled lawn needs all the help it can get… as a general rule, the less-damaging weedkillers have ‘lawn-safe’ or ‘garden-safe’ somewhere on the bottle.”
Having spent more than a decade in the gardening industry, there are also tasks you can do now in the garden to prevent weeds from growing in the summer.
“There are two very simple changes you can make to your garden routine to ensure for the rest of spring and into summer, your lawn remains weed-free,” Mr Cooper promised.
“Raise your petrol mower’s cutting height until summer is here,” he advised.
“You should always leave approximately one-third of the grass length, as very short grass encourages lawn weed growth during sunnier stretches of weather.”
Mr Cooper added: “Make sure to spot-treat any weeds in areas of grass that you plan to seed. Only then should you seed, mow and fertilise the grass.
“Follow this order and your grass will look fuller, thicker and greener into late spring and summer.”
