Alan Titchmarsh, one of Britain’s most loved gardening experts, has shared a nifty trick for those of us who are waging a never-ending war against pesky garden invaders – weeds. If you’ve got weeds coming up through your patio slabs or sneakily growing in your prized veggie patch, Alan reckons he’s got the just the tool for the job.
In a video talk with Waitrose and Partners on YouTube, Alan let slip his garden secret for maintaining a pristine flowerbed border while holding the line against those unwanted green gatecrashers.
“Once your border plants have fattened up and covered the ground there’s hardly any room for weeds to grow but until they have, you’ve got to keep that bare soil clean,” he advised keen gardeners.
He then revealed the genius behind the common garden hoe: “A little hoe like this skimmed across the surface will chop up annual weeds, separate the roots from the shoots and they’ll fry in the sun.
“So, with a bit of dead-heading and pruning, supporting those plants that need it and weeding your bare patches, you can have a border that looks brilliant right the way through the summer.”
Fancy that, no more dandelions, herb bennet, or couch grass turning your garden into their personal playground. Ruth Hayes, the green-thumbed expert at Homes and Gardens, agrees with Alan, citing the trusty hoe as a top-notch weed executioner for almost all common British weeds, barring a few stubborn holdouts.
“This is better than forking and digging as it doesn’t activate buried weed seeds,” she shared with the publication. “I make an exception for perennial weeds such as dandelions, which need digging up root and all.”
However, other gardening aficionados suggest utilising salt to parch the weeds, by stopping them from soaking up the nutrients essential for their survival.
Harry Bodell from PriceYourJob previously revealed to The Mirror: “Salt interferes with the weed’s ability to absorb essential nutrients such as potassium, magnesium and calcium. The disruption in nutrient uptake weakens the plant’s overall health, leading it to wither due to dehydration and die.”
According to Harry, a straightforward concoction of one part salt to two parts water should do the trick.
But there’s a warning for the green thumbs – this approach can also spell doom for your favourite blooms, unlike the gentler hoe or digging techniques.
And adding to the cautionary advice, Kendall Marie Platt from Adventures with Flowers has also weighed in, warning: “Salt can be used to kill weeds but it damages the soil so badly that nothing else will grow not even plants you want to grow there.
“It’s much better to dig up weeds by hand.”
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