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climber, which invades your garden, smothering any plants in its path.Dig, dig and dig some more! Every piece of root left in the soil will grow into a new plant, and the roots can venture down as far as 5m. So you need to be really thorough as you dig

wildlife into your garden, keep a few stems of valerian for them. There is an ornamental white form of valerian.Stems of bright pink-red flowers that quickly spread across the garden, taking over in beds and borders.The best organic control is digging

Vinca major or periwinkle is a pretty, low-growing plant often with pale blue flowers that is used as a ground cover plant because of its mat-forming properties. However, it can be very invasive, and will rapidly spread around the garden

and restrict their growth. Willowherb will take over any domestic garden, spreading by seed and tough underground roots to form dense clumps. Keep digging the plants out. Willowherb can be forked out fairly easily - especially when the soil is loosened after

.In the lawn, your best bet is to dig out affected areas and replace patches of lawn with weed-free turf. In other parts of the garden, just dig it out. Mind you, it's worth bearing in mind clover has nitrogen-fixing nodules on its roots, so it acts

. It spreads by sprouting from thick, woody rhizomes, and can grow 1.2m in one season. Winter is the only time of year that offers a reprieve, but for the rest of the year it's a plant that needs tough handling as soon as it appears. This weed is especially

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

of nectar for bees. However, once it is established in your garden it will quickly spread, causing particular problems when it appears in the lawn. Plant spreads by underground stems and seeds and produces large drought-resistant patches in lawns, so grass

to grow again when the stems are cut down.Spreading thickets of thorny, woody growth, which compete with cultivated plants for light, water and nutrients. Cut back stems and dig out roots thoroughly. Pull out seedlings and young plants before they become

yields in vegetable beds. Dig out all the roots and underground stems of this grass, especially at the edge of infested lawns. Where couch is growing in permanently planted borders, it's easier to lift all the plants and tease out the weed from