I don’t know how to do weeding. Please help.

[The3]

The garden is completely overgrown. Occasionally I will pull out a weed but I’ve been busy for the last couple of years - or actually since my eldest was born (and he’s now in Y7).

I want to be able to do the gardening basics. I’m not bothered about growing anything (yet) but I’d like some tips on how to do weeding. Are there any tools which would help?

I found that just digging or forking over the soil and removing what I didn’t want growing was the most efficient way.Some weeds I wanted. However my brother sorted his weeds out with a controlled burn from some sort of flamethrower thingy. That worked and left him a blank canvas to play with.
Once you’ve cleared a bit and sorted out the soil, the weeds come up a lot more easily.

If it’s real wilderness territory, you might be better paying professionals for a one-off blitz.

First identify your weeds. Some will be annuals, taking hold by setting seed, such as willowherb, dandelions. Internet images will help. These weeds can be pulled up and discarded in the bin. But before you do that, if time is short, just remove the flowers and seed heads.
Other weeds are more persistent, such as, ground elder, bindweed, and couch grass. These have long root systems and take a while to remove, by digging out and systemic weed killer.
I find tacking weeds after the rain helps, as they’re easier to pull up. As for tools a garden fork and hand fork are useful, there are several specific weeding tools on the market. But many gardeners find something that suits their needs such as an old dinner fork, or kitchen knife.

Make sure you remove weeds completely, including the roots or they will grow back.

www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/soil_dealingwithweeds1.shtml
Might help.

Thank you all! I have found the link very helpful too. I have just spent an hour tackling about half a square metre of garden, and pulled up a lot of willowherb and some dandelions and a thistle. And what look like ash trees. Please can anyone identify the plant with the long spiky leaves in this photo: I’m not sure if it’s a weed or meant to be there.

Some sort of hellebore maybe? It looks like you have some Herb Robert in there too, to the right of the mystery plant - the feathery leaves and pink seed head. That can be viewed as a weed because it is invasive, but also a pretty ground cover in a shady spot.

Like the ironing, weeding is never done, you just have to keep on top of it.

• once your flowerbeds are planted up, full of herbaceous perennials or similar, there is less room for weeds to thrive.
• There are ‘Weed and Feed’ products to use on the lawn, after mowing, but you may prefer to avoid weedkillers.
• I got a long handled wire brush that is good for ‘brushing/destroying’ weeds in paving cracks without bending down.
• try to catch things like dandelions before they seed and grow more
• if you keep spotting something cropping up it is probably prolific and you should try to remove all of it or kill it off.

I've always been rubbish at weeding and relied on planting a lot of wildflower seed.

I suspect the mystery plant is a lupin. They self seed easily and look very pretty, so I would keep it for now.

Mystery plant is a type of Hellebore, which have multiple white flowers on a thick stem. Sometimes called Stinking Hellebore, not that they smell, unless you crush the leaves. I think you can just see the remains of the flowers at the bottom of the picture. I like them because the flowers are more upright and stately than the usual sort.

@JT05 aha yes, not lupin at all... silly me.