Weeds automatically make gardens look overrun and overgrown, with common areas like between paving stones and on pathways often looking untidy. While herbicides are often touted as the most effective way to banish them, there are plenty of reasons why gardeners might not want to use a chemical treatment – particularly those who have kids or pets. Fortunately, there are a variety of natural ways to get rid of weeds, and they can be just as helpful when it comes to achieving your ideal garden.
A weed isn’t so much a class of plants as it is any sort of plant that’s growing somewhere that you don’t want it to.
Gardeners will often find them growing alongside existing (and desired) plants and trees, as well as throughout lawns.
When looking for natural ways to get rid of weeds, it’s often important to know exactly what class of weed you’re dealing with.
That helps you determine whether you can simply treat the visible part of the weed or if you’d be better off removing the entire root system so that they don’t simply pop up again the following year.
READ MORE: ‘The easiest and cheapest’ way to kill weeds without using chemicals
“To do it, all you really have to do is pull them out from the ground, making sure to rip out both the flowering portion above the ground and the roots below.”
Not only does this lead to an immediately better looking garden, it also helps ensure that weeds won’t come back.
The best way to rip out weeds is with a weed puller, according to the expert.
She suggested: “Look for standing weed pullers, which don’t require you to hunch over for hours at a time.
“If you don’t want to buy anything new, you could also use a trowel from your existing garden supplies, but they’re a little less precise and could aerate additional soil thus making it more likely additional seeds will spread.”
