Monty Don shares his secret for getting rid of garden weeds – for good

Admired for his talents on BBC Gardener's World, the green-fingered celebrity Monty Don regularly influences our floricultural habits with his clever tips and ingenious gardening hacks – but this may be his most useful technique yet.  

The beloved horticulture expert first shared his weeding tip in a video for the Gardeners' World website some time back. However, as the first, long-awaited glimmer of springtime is on the horizon, there is no better time to remind ourselves of Don's ingenious tip.

In the footage, Monty Don encourages you to get 'down on your knees' and to get 'up close and personal' with the weeds in your garden. He reminds us that a 'weed is simply a plant in the wrong place. So things you might be quite happy with elsewhere are no good if they're not working'.

See: Monty Don's warning about compost – heed his advice or risk attracting rats

Restoring a bed of peonies in his tutorial, Don treated a selection of stubborn weeds, including dandelions, nettles, and chickweeds, and instructed viewers to use an 'implement of some sort'. 

The gardener continued: 'What matters is getting in there. Also, it's a very good way of getting to know your soil, getting to know your plants, it's a very intimate process.'

His tips come at a time when an increasing number of people are working on their garden, perhaps for the first time, as a therapeutic activity that can improve your physical and mental wellbeing during the pandemic. 

Monty Don used a sickle to remove the weeds from the bed of peonies by digging in the ground underneath the weed. Once the plant eased in the soil, he maneuvered the sickle upwards to loosen the root. He then pulled the weed upwards to guarantee he had removed all the roots.

See: Tour Monty Don's beautiful Longmeadow garden in Herefordshire

He added how the root might snap when removing it from the ground if there is more to come out, so look out for any signs of cracking. Don urged viewers to prevent leaving any root, so they can't seed and take over your garden, before encouraging them to tackle weeds 'a little bit at a time'. 

'Do one meter properly,' the gardener shared. 'That's far better than doing ten meters half-heartedly.'

While the respected British broadcaster opted for a sickle to remove his weeds, gardeners can use whatever tool is most useful for them.