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and produce thousands of plants in its short lifetime, quickly spreading through the garden. Pineapple weed will spread and root in any open ground - even in compacted earth and paths - competing with plants for nutrients and space.Hand weed or hoe out

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

Chickweed, Stellaria media, is best thought of as a delicious rather than a pernicious weed. Its young leaves are packed with vitamins, so it makes a healthy addition to salads. However, it can also harbour greenfly and spider mite, so remove

. Couch also produces flowerheads that are followed by seeds, allowing the further spread of this weed.Couch grass spreads easily to form dense mats of underground stems. It grows among cultivated plants, competing for water and nutrients and reducing crop

. freshly-cultivated ground, established borders, undisturbed ground, old walls, cracks in paving spring, summer, autumn, winterMore advice on removing weedsPineapple weedField bindweedCreeping thistleJapanese knotweed

Dock, Rumex crispus, appears in the garden in large spreading groups, and is characterised by coarse, battered leaves. It spreads via seed produced by tiny brownish-green flowers, which appear in abundance in summer and are loved by seed

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

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

Cleavers grows rapidly during warm weather. The sticky stems are able to scramble around the garden, smothering small, cultivated plants and setting masses of seed. It's usually introduced on the coats of animals, birds' feathers or human clothing

further applications as necessary. If treating in summer, cut down foliage and apply weedkiller to the regrowth that appears. established borders, uncultivated groundspring, summer, autumn, winterMore advice on removing weedsDandelionFungiBramblesYarrow