How to get rid of weeds in flower beds

[Jessesgirl13]

We recently moved house and have inherited a lovely established garden. However, the previous owners really didn't look after it so we have a lot of weeds! They're predominantly in the flowers beds around all the shrubs, roses, peonies etc. Ive been digging them out but its quite a slog and they're back again before I know it!

Is there any sort of weed killer that I can use that wont affect the plants?

Roundup

if you get the weedkiller on the plants you want to keep it will kill them too, obviously, so you need to be really careful. Weedkiller won't get rid of everything, some weeds are tough and new ones will blow in on the wind. If you post a picture you can get advice on the best route to go.

Weeds do love a nice bare patch of fresh earth, the best way to keep them at bay is to plant nice stuff to smother them out.

"Weeds" are mainly UK wildflowers which will continue to germinate anywhere where there is bare soil. It's not a result of mismanagement by the previous owners.

You can get paint on weedkiller that you put on the leaves of the weed you individually want to kill and it won’t affect anything round about. Unlike regular weedkiller. Put that down and it’s likely to seep along underneath and kill everything.

Weeding is a slog. A necessary one. Some swear by bark or slate chipping around plants. I just weed. It’s rewarding when it’s finally all done. Hours later. Until next week…!

Ps I’ve not tried the paint on weedkiller so if anyone else has you can let us know if it works!

You either dig them out or you weedkiller them. Digging out is fine for wispy annual weeds and simple perennials (daisies, plantain), some perennial weeds are a far tougher proposition and are probably best sprayed with weedkiller.

Tricky weeds with taproots (dandelions, thistles) and spreading rhizomous roots (like nettles, bindweed) I prefer to control by spraying. Other plants around have to be protected but I can do this by spraying with a mister bottle and not a watering can (which is fine for large areas obviously). The worst weeds are the latter types which can regrow from even tiny sections of root, so unless you are sifting the soil continually you will never be able to clear it completely by hand.

Weeding is like vacuuming indoors, you don't do it once and it's fine forever more. Weed seeds are dispersed through the wind, animals consuming them then depositing elsewhere, etc. Also the soil generally does have weed seeds in it, which can lie dormant for years and only germinate when the ground is disturbed, plus seeds don't all germinate at once and can keep popping up randomly. Once you have cleared big weeds it's easier to keep on top of new baby ones though, there is that...

One thing to bear in mind: it's a lot harder to clear weeds out of a bed full of ground cover plants that you want, so make sure you've got rid of the real brutes before you plant anything like that.

Go all the way along and get rid of the ones with seed heads. Get rid of them first.

Then... you start at one end. Hands and knees and trowel. Next session, don't start where you left off, start at the beginning again. There will be fewer, so it won't take long. Then work on the next section.

Keep on doing that, and you'll get on top of it eventually.