Summer is here, and the sun is out, so naturally, many of us will head out to the garden to top up on Vitamin D and enjoy the fresh air.
However, getting your borders, lawn, and pots in order is much easier said than done and often requires a mammoth effort in the spring to get it ship-shaped and ready.
But when one ‘silent-killer’ takes over your garden it can make the task that much harder, slowly destroying your lawn and plants as it takes over the earth beneath it. The culprit – your standard garden weeds.
Gardeners for generations have been in an uphill battle trying to remove the annoying green shrubs as they quickly become an eye sore and ruin the potential of your outside plot.
What’s worse for hay fever sufferers, weed pollen can be a trigger for many people already battling with the sniffles and dry eyes making spending time outside that much harder.
The garden invaders could be having a much more serious effect on your pots and plants than you realise – way worse than just being rather unsightly.
Once weeds have infested your garden, they begin battling against your existing plants for space, air, water and nutrients – which can be particularly devastating for a once pristine lawn.
Chris Cooper, a lawn expert from garden machinery manufacturer Hayte told GB News: “Weeds first begin to rear their heads in spring, before they have fully matured. This makes spring the ideal time to start seeding, mowing and fertilising – in that order.
“Regular, well-practised lawn care will make it very hard for weeds to make strong roots in your lawn. This also makes spring a great time to remove lawn weeds physically, as removing weeds by weaker roots makes for light pulling. The same goes for weeds in soil beds, borders and more.”
Although they can be a huge pain, gardeners shouldn’t give up on their war on weeds, with three simple techniques being the key to demise and making sure they don’t return.
First, the classic, but perhaps most tough and time-consuming task is tackling them with your hands. The most effective method according to the garden guru. Being able to de-weed by hand means you can pull out all its roots, it also means you can avoid potentially damaging your desired plants when using strong chemical weed killer.
Another old-fashioned option is hoeing. The ripping out of the weeds can be an effective killer, and when done on a hot day can quickly dry out any seedlings and leave them with no chance of coming back.
If all else fails, you can always opt for the old faithful weedkiller. Many off-the-shelf weedkillers can tackle the weeds down to their roots with their chemicals slowly killing off the shrub’s bulbs.
However, if you do opt for the spray, make sure to buy the “lawn safe” and “garden safe” variety to give your lawn and plants the best chance of surviving.
