How to deal with weeds

08:51 16th July 2008

Weeds in a garden can quickly spoil hours and perhaps even days of hard work spent perfecting the landscape of the perfect outdoors space.

But while weeds are typically very aggressive in asserting their dominance over the garden there are nevertheless many ways to get rid of them, and it depends on whether they're annual or perennial weeds.

Annual weeds, despite their name suggesting they'd arrive in your garden at the same time every year, may not be visible each time their season comes around.

Instead, their seeds can lay dormant in soil for years before conditions are right for them to begin growing, according to BBC advice.

And in order to rid your garden of such pests it's best to rip them out when they're seedlings, in order to stop them spreading further seeds.

"Most hoe or pull out easily even when they reach a good size," the website advises.

"Put them on your compost heap, so long as they don't have seed-heads."

Annual weeds include Chickweed Purple Dead Nettle, Groundsel and - one of Britain's most common - the Annual Nettle.

All gardens would be better off for a keen eye making sure these pests are taken out as soon as they are spotted.