Segment: Tackling Weeds with Ruck
Episode: Autumn 2020, Ep 4
Presenter: Nigel Ruck
TX Date: 14th March 2020

While it may not be the most glamorous job, weeding will help keep your garden looking fantastic.

• Weeds can get out of control very quickly, and aside from looking ugly, they compete with your desirable plants for water and nutrients, harbor pests and diseases and can completely smother and kill your plants.
• Hand weeding can be very effective, especially when dealing with a lot of weeds when the soil is nice and soft. Some weeds are fairly effective if you get onto them quickly – be sure to get the root and stem as you dig them out.
• In lawns, where it is harder to get rid of weeds with spraying, hand weeding can be very effective. There are all sorts of weeds you can find here, including bindi eye, catsear and cudweed.
• Spraying with a herbicide is very effective on a lot of weeds, and is a lot quicker than. Handweeding. Be careful not to get the herbicide on your desirable plants – a drift guard can be helpful. It can also stop the herbicide getting on to you.
• Add some wetting agent to the herbicide, as this helps it stick to the plant and be more effective.
• You can also smother weeds by laying down some wet newspaper and covering it with mulch. By doing this, you’re blocking off the light, and the weeds will slowly die. This is handy for stubborn weeds like onion weed.
• Remember the old adage – one year’s seed, seven year’s weed.