BBC Gardeners' World

Your scrapbook

Weather forecast for London

Today
Minimum temperature: -4°C/Maximum temperature: 3°C
Tomorrow
Minimum temperature: -3°C/Maximum temperature: 4°C
See Gardeners'
7-day forecast

Change location

Save 25%

Subscribe now
Magazine offer

Gardeners' World magazine - 3 issues for £1

Save 25%

Subscribe now

Open/close - (javascript only)

Classifieds

Choose from a range of garden suppliers and services…

Outdoor & indoor living

Plant suppliers

Problem solving

Symptoms

A bushy weed that bears small yellow flowers and fluffy seedheads. Its leaves often have orange-brown pustules of rust fungus in summer and autumn, which can spread to cultivated plants.

Find it on: established flowerbeds, freshly cultivated soil, paving, walls

Time to act: spring, summer, autumn, winter

Groundsel

Groundsel is able to produce lots of seed, and several generations of this weed can grow in a single growing season. Plants can overwinter and act as a host for rust fungus. This weed is adaptable to a wide range of growing conditions. Seed can blow in from surrounding gardens, fields and waste ground.

Solution

Organic

Pull out young plants by hand before they get the chance to flower and seed. Alternatively, hoe through the surface of the soil to chop them off at the roots. Remove weeds and dispose of them (not on the compost heap) to prevent them re-establishing.

Chemical

Kill the seedlings and young plants by applying a contact weedkiller to the foliage. It's important to do this early in the weed's life, as weedkiller applied to plants in flower may not kill them before they are able to set viable seed.