So this week I've started spending a bit of time tidying up my flower beds and small vegetable plot, when I say 'tidying up', I mean getting rid of Weeds mostly. All this rain has been great for plant growth, but of course the catch is that the weeds grow too.
The funny thing is, winter always makes me forget just how much of a problem weeds were the previous summer, and then they strike with a vengeance making my heart sinking as it all comes flooding back to me!
The horrible thing with weeds is that we can never beat them completely, but we can certainly put up a good fight, though I'm afraid to say that does mean labouriously picking them one at a time.
However, because I'm feeling particularly helpful today I've compiled a list of 7 tricks I've learned over the years that can make the Weeding process just that little bit less painful!
1. Make sure you can distinguish between a weed and a seedling to something that you actually want to keep - it can be difficult to do this, especially during early stages of growth. A simple way to double check is to keep hold of the packet that you bought your vegetable or plant seedlings in so that you can cross reference and double check.
2. Make sure you dig the weed right out, roots and all! This is imperative, otherwise you could literally just be 'scratching the surface' in terms of your weed annihilation practice, and they could well re-grow from whatever remnants you inadvertently leave behind. Bear in mind that for some weeds you might have to dig down quite deep to get them out fully (20-30cm or more), so a trowel or spade is a useful tool when weeding.
3. Use a hoe. This tool is specially designed for digging into top soil, so it could make your life a lot easier, especially when dealing with weeds that don't grow down as far, for those the trowel will still be needed!
4. As long a you've dug the weed out you could save time by just leaving them laying on top of the soil to cook in the sun. Obviously this only works in the summer time, and won't be particularly aesthetically pleasing either!
5. Weed a little and often! Like many things in the world of gardening, and life in general for that matter, weeding is a lot less of a chore if you just dig them up as and when they crop up, rather than eventually being faced with the daunting task of a garden full of them
