Now that the rain has come and the weeds have carpeted my garden overnight in a foot high swath, I am interested to know whether our gardening community hoe or hand weed. Hand weeding kills my back but hoeing doesn’t seem to catch every weed and I often slice through the stems of something precious. Also, does anyone have a secret weeding weapon? My preferred killer of choice is a Wilkinson Swoe and a Japanese hand tool like a curved knife but they both require serious concentration to avoid random decapitation of plants. Patti B.
Question for Monty
Friday May 19, 2017 by Fiona H
7 Responses
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I was thinking the exact same thing, Patti!
Not sure this really should have been a question for Monty as it’s probably best answered by a gardening expert. However here goes-
I generally pull them out by hand or with the aid of a trowel. Our planting is quite close so using a hoe is difficult. I do have a secret weapon in Mrs Monty though. A withering look from her and no weed would dare.
Mrs Monty herself recommends guinea pigs. She says like rabbits they will eat everything but have a number of advantages, namely, unlike rabbits they won’t eat your precious big perennials (can’t reach them); they can get into those hard to get at small spaces under shrubs and their love of dandelions makes them ideal for keepings lawns in trim as well, though I have to say stripes are difficult as keeping them moving in straight lines is very tricky.
On the subject of weeds I should also say we don’t believe it’s necessary to have a totally weed free garden. To be honest we have some areas where we’ve just let them get on with it. The most successful chokes out all the rest. This we now refer to as “ground cover”.
My pet hate in bindweed. Now does anyone have any suggestions for dealing with that?
Hope this helps (though I’m sure it won’t)
Monty
I think I need a lesson from Mrs Monty as my weeds pop up as soon as I’ve walked past them.
Well Monty, I have been lucky enough to spend some time today with the head gardener at Renishaw Hall so I put the same question to him. He says he uses a ladies border fork and occasionally a hoe. However, I did notice that he has lots of bare earth between his plants whereas I allow most promiscuous self seeders to have their wanton way filling every available gap which make a border fork almost impossible. Perhaps it’s time to grow up and be a neat and tidy gardener.
I suspect he uses a team of gardeners as well! 😀
Four and a part time!
Part time. My kind of gardening! 😀