Gardeners’ World’s Monty Don names ‘real weapon’ against weeds he uses at Longmeadow
BBC Gardeners' World legend Monty Don has given his tips on how to deal with weeds, including how to define them
Famous BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Monty Don has revealed how he deals with weeds at home. Monty Don, 71, has been a feature of the BBC hit show since 2003 and has been offering advice to Britain’s gardeners on how they can deal with the coming and going of each season.
And one of the most irritating problems gardeners face is weeds, particularly with rain finally hitting the country over the last few days. Thankfully, Monty is at hand to help.
Monty said: “Well, if you take the premise that a weed is essentially a plant in the wrong place. I’m not being facetious. For instance, today, this morning I bought some buttercups, they’re a beautiful pale yellow buttercup and I will plant that.
"Buttercups are quite a big weed in my garden. So why would I plant a weed? Because it’s the right colour and I want it. So, it doesn’t take much to make a weed an acceptable plant or an acceptable plant not a weed.
“In terms of conventional weeds, we dig out perennial weeds, we burn the roots and we composte the tops. We hand weed in the borders were necessary and we mulch and mulching is the real weapon. The idea is all bare soil should have a mulch certainly by the end of April and ideally by the end of March everywhere.”
A mulch, if one wasn’t aware, are defined by the RHS as “loose coverings or sheets of material placed on the surface of soil” which they say can help “suppress weeds”.
Alongside suggesting two inches of mulch on “all bare soil” Monty explained how it suppresses the weeds.
He said: “It supresses weeds, because the light doesn’t get through, so the annual weeds don’t germinate and the perennial weeds are weakened as they have to come through it.
“It retains moisture because it stops evaporation, and if you use an organic material as most mulches are, that works into the soil and…improves soil structure.”
This isn’t the only tip Monty Don has given Britons as autumn approaches with the gardening guru also suggesting how gardeners can help their grass recover from weeks of heatwaves.
He said: “If it is just a worn area of thin grass, rake away all thatch and moss and remove all weeds and thinly scatter grass seed, watering well and keeping it damp. The seed should germinate and grow in days.”
Monty will be appearing on BBC Gardeners' World today (September 4th) at 8pm on BBC Two.
