I was so fed up of pulling out weeds in my garden – a £6 buy stopped them growing in the first place & improves my soil

The Sun

15-05-2025

A GARDENING expert has revealed how to drastically reduce the time spent trying to get rid of weeds.
Pollyanna Wilkinson shared her must-try tips for thriving borders without hours of work.
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Wilkinson spoke about managing weeds with Jojo Barr in an episode of their podcast The Ins & Outs.
The conversation began when listener Tiff complained about the amount of time spent working on her garden.
'We recently bought a house and have inherited a large garden with well-established borders and a south-facing garden next to a field,' Tiff said.
'The garden brings me endless joy and I love nothing more than filling my house with lots of gorgeous flowers all year round, very lucky.
'However, all my husband and I seem to do is weed and repeat.
'Any top tips for keeping weeds at bay, is wood chip any good or is it just a matter of keeping on hoeing?'
Wilkinson said all of her clients hate weeding but it's impossible to avoid the tedious task.
She revealed there are two effective ways to minimise how often it must be done.
New borders will have more weeds than 'very established' ones because of the way weeds germinate.
1. Fill your borders
'The number one thing I say is just to make sure there are enough plants in your borders so the weeds don't have enough space to thrive,' she said.
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'A lot of people make the mistake of having quite gappy borders and then basically you've just got a soil bed sat there waiting for weeds to seed into them
'You can also look at having plenty of ground cover as well.
'It's about choosing the right plants, you're not just choosing things that are rising out of the soil and the soil beneath is bare.
'Make sure you've got things like hardy geraniums or grasses or oh my gosh so many different things pachysandras, vincas and all sorts of ground covers to basically drown them out.'
2. Add mulch
Wilkinson said the next step is having a 'nice, thick layer of mulch' to suppress the weeds by stopping the seeds from getting light.
She advised against using wood chips in favour of using a material that's finely ground.
'I prefer to use something like mushroom compost as a mulch, or basically anything really nice and fine,' she said.
'We don't want the big chunky like play bark that you put in a kid's play area on your borders, that's not the dream.
'Think how long that's going to take to break down and add anything to the soil as well."
Mushroom compost can be purchased from garden centres and online.
Nick Hamilton owner of Barnsdale Gardens has shared his favourite plants and flowers you should consider adding to your garden, borders and pots.
Tricyrtis
A spectacular plant that gives a real exotic feel to any garden with its orchid-like, spotted flowers giving the impression that this plant should be tender but it is 'as tough as old boots!'.
Penstemon
I love this plants genus of because most will flower all summer and autumn. They'll grow in sun or semi-shade in a well drained soil and produce a non-stop display of tubular flowers in an array of colours and colour combination to suit all tastes.
Luzula sylvatica 'Marginata'
With the evergreen leaves edged with yellow it's great asset is that it
will grow in sun or shade in any type of soil and is great as groundcover in the hardest spot to fill - dry shade.
Eryngium x zabelii 'Big Blue'
A stunning, nectar-rich plant that will feed the beneficial insects in your
garden. Leave the flowerheads once they have turned brown because they look stunning with winter frost and snow, extending the plant's interest period.
Sarcococca hookeriana 'Winter Gem'
If you need winter scent then look no further than this compact, evergreen shrub. The scent is stunning and the evergreen leaves create an excellent backdrop for the summer flowers.
Cornus sanguinea 'Anny's Winter Orange'
A dwarf version of 'Midwinter Fire' the very colourful stems create a stunning winter display, particularly on sunny days.
Rosa 'Noisette Carnee'
A very well-behaved climbing rose that is perfect for training over an arch, pergola or gazebo. The small, 'noisette' flowers are blush-pink and produce the most amazing clove scent constantly from June to November.
Sanguisorba hakusanensis 'Lilac Squirrel'
I've never seen a squirrel with a drooping, shaggy lilac tail, but this variety will give your garden an unusual and different look throughout summer. It does need a moisture retentive soil but will grow in sun or semi-shade.
Woodland Horticulture Mushroom Compost 60 Litres, for example, is £5.99 from Tates of Sussex Garden Centres.
As for what mulch does, it "suppressed weeds, improves the soil, and helps with moisture level"s so there's a myriad of reasons to use it.".
Wilkinson said many people use a membrane fabric to suppress weeds but they aren't a good option for plant borders because of how they rot.
'When you're trying to dig plants, if you're trying to put bulbs in a border it's an absolute nightmare,' she said.
'So, no I would much rather you do a nice thick layer of mulch than this cutting out of holes and putting things in.'
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