How to use a weeder, and the weeds it will not get out

A weeder is a simple tool with a forked or notched tip that you drive down beside a weed to lever the root out of the ground, and on the right weed it is genuinely satisfying, because the whole thing comes up in one piece and does not come back. On the wrong weed it will make more work for you than doing nothing would have, and nobody ever mentions that part, so it is worth starting there.

The weeds a weeder is actually for

Weeders are built for weeds that grow from a single fat taproot, and around here that means dandelion, catsear, plantain, dock and thistle. Those all have one root going straight down, they will regrow from what is left if you snap the top off, and levering them out whole is the only thing that finishes them.

They also work well on anything with a single crown sitting in lawn, where you want the weed gone without a bare patch the size of a dinner plate left behind.

The weeds it will not beat, and one it makes worse

Couch, kikuyu and nutgrass run underground and every piece of runner you break off is capable of starting again, so going at a patch of running grass with a weeder is a way of planting more of it. Those need either patient digging that follows the runners out, or a spot treatment, or smothering.

Oxalis is the one that really catches people. Under the clump sits a cluster of tiny bulbils that detach the moment the plant is disturbed, and a weeder shoves straight through the middle of them and scatters the lot, which is why the patch comes back thicker a few weeks later. If you are digging oxalis out, lift the whole thing on a trowel with a good ball of soil around it, get it into a bag rather than a bucket, and keep it well away from the compost.

Using one properly

• Water the ground first. Dry soil grips a root hard enough that you will snap it, so a soak the day before, or waiting a day after rain, does half the work for you.
• Go in beside the crown, not through it. Aim the tip about 20mm out from the base and angle it in underneath, because a tool driven straight down the middle usually just shears the top off.
• Wiggle before you lever. Push the tool in, rock it a couple of times to break the soil grip, and only then lean on the handle.
• Lift steadily rather than yanking. A slow steady pull brings the taper of the root with it. A hard fast one leaves the bottom half in the ground.
• Firm the hole back down. A weeder leaves a neat little shaft behind it, and an open hole dries the surrounding roots out and gives the next weed seed somewhere ideal to land.

Where the weeds go afterwards

Anything that has gone to seed goes in the green bin rather than the compost, because a home compost heap rarely gets hot enough for long enough to kill weed seed and you will spread it back through the garden yourself. Same for oxalis bulbils and for any piece of couch or kikuyu runner, whatever state it looks to be in.

Soft green weeds pulled before they flowered are fine in the compost and are good nitrogen, so there is no need to be precious about the whole lot of it.

Hand weeder or stand up weeder

A hand weeder gives you the control, and it is the one for a crowded bed where you are working between plants you would rather not damage. A stand up weeder with a foot plate and a lever does the same job on lawn without you getting down on the ground at all, and if your knees or your back have opinions about gardening it is worth every cent.

Neither of them is a substitute for the other, so most people who garden a lot end up owning one of each.

The bit that saves you the most weeding

Bare soil grows weeds. That is the whole mechanism. Every patch you clear and then leave open is a seedbed, so mulch it straight away to about 75mm and the great majority of what would have germinated never sees light.

Get the small ones while they are small as well. A weed pulled at 20mm takes 2 seconds and a weed pulled at 200mm takes a tool, a soak and a swear, which is a lesson I have had to learn more than once.

Shop related products

• Easy Wetta Garden Mulch, 50L. Covers the ground you just cleared.
• Neutrog Whoflungdung Mulch 20kg. A finer mulch that feeds the soil as it breaks down.
• Brunnings Weed Kill For Lawns Spot Spray RTU 1L. For lawn weeds you do not want to dig a hole for.
• Brunnings Path Weeder Concentrate 1L. For paving and gravel, where digging is not an option.
• Brunnings Glyphosate 360 Weed Killer Concentrate 1L. For running grasses that a weeder will only spread.

Did you know we also stock the weeders themselves in store, a Garden Master hand weeder, a stainless steel hand weeder and a Cyclone stand up steel and timber one, along with Dutch hoes, swan neck hoes and hand cultivators. None of the hand tools are on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on the shelf.

The mulch and the sprays are in the garden centre, and the hand tools sit with them on the shelf.

Keep reading

• No till gardening, how to start it and what it will not fix
• Soil pH, how to test it and what to do about it

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