Search - Articles

, removing every piece of ground elder root that's found.Apply systemic weedkiller to the foliage as soon as it appears in spring. Re-apply throughout the growing season at four- to six-week intervals, or as soon as any re-growth appears

in from surrounding gardens, fields and waste ground.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. Pull out young

or ruining your display, it might not be worth fighting it. This grass can make itself at home all around the garden, particularly in beds, borders, the lawn and paving. It has fluffy flowerheads that disperse seed and keep the weed coming.Use a handfork

based on sulphate of iron. When the moss has blackened (after two or three weeks), use a spring-tine rake to remove it. Apply it in calm conditions when there is least risk of accidentally damaging nearby garden plants.all over the garden

into the garden through the compost of new plants purchased from nurseries or garden centres. It spreads from neighbouring gardens and the seed is capable of remaining dormant in the soil to germinate when it's turned up to the surface by cultivation.Quick growing

foliage. Remove seedlings and young plants on freshly cultivated ground before they get chance to establish and spread. Dig out established clumps, ensuring that all of the thick, yellow roots are removed. Where growing nettles to encourage beneficial

Creeping thistle, Cirsium arvense, is a pernicious weed that will quickly take over your garden unless kept in check. Winter is the only time of year that offers a reprieve, but for the rest of the year the best way to tackle it is to dig it out

Valerian, Centranthus ruber, is a pretty plant that produces bright pink-red, fragrant flowers from late-spring to late-summer, but it also produces masses of seed that germinates all over the garden. Butterflies love it, so if you want to encourage

Willowherb, or fireweed, Chamerion angustifolium, is a pretty plant that looks at home in a wild garden, but will take over any domestic garden, spreading by seed and tough underground roots. Left unchecked, it will invade the space of other plants

Yellow sorrel, Oxalis corniculata, is a low, creeping weed that will happily grow anywhere - it's as happy in the bone-dry cracks in paving as it is in the damp garden and around the tops of containers. Although small, it's tricky to pull out