Removing weeds

You will have to deal with it sooner or later in your garden: weeds. There are different ways to remove weeds. You can also have a gardener carry out the project, for example during a garden maintenance job. This page tells you all about weed removal and control.

What does weed removal cost?

What the cost of removing weeds depends on several factors. Important factors are whether you do it yourself or hire a gardener, whether you use pesticides and what the area of your garden is. The table below gives an indication of the cost of weed control and/or removal.

Why do you remove weeds?

For several reasons, it is wise to remove the weeds in your garden (in time). Firstly, weeds can become a pest and proliferate. As a result, you will have to put extra time and effort into removing weeds the moment you wait longer.

A second reason to remove weeds is related to the first one: the moment weeds start to proliferate, it will be at the expense of the beautiful plants in your garden. At best, you won’t see your plants as well; at worst, the weeds will crowd out your plants altogether and they will die.

The last argument to remove weeds is aesthetic: weeds in your garden are not necessarily beautiful.

Cognising different types of weeds

If you want to control weeds in your garden, the first step is to recognise them. Here, you normally look at the shape and size of the leaf, but you may also need to look at the plant’s flower. Here, remember that a mature plant is often easier to recognise than a young plant. The importance of recognising the different types of weeds is great. A limited number of weeds are relatively common in the Netherlands:

• Sevenleaf This plant is also known as gardener’s sedge because it is difficult to get rid of. Moreover, it is a plant that proliferates quickly. The name ground elder says it all: this weed can be recognised by its seven leaf parts.
• Thistle A plant you recognise by its vicious thorns. When the thistle is in flower, it has a purple flower.
• Dandelion The dandelion is a small yellow flower. This weed is particularly considered a weed because it spreads so quickly through your garden.
• Brand nettle Can be recognised by its rough, hairy stem. The leaves are oblong in shape. On the top of the leaf are the stinging hairs.
• Haagwinde This weed is not recognised as a weed by many people because of its pretty trumpet-shaped flowers. But beware: this weed is highly proliferative!

In addition to the above-mentioned types of weeds, there are countless other types of weeds that occur in the Netherlands. Do you doubt whether a plant in your garden is a weed or not? Then it is always a good option to google.

One-year and perennial weeds

With weeds, a distinction is normally made between annual weeds and perennial weeds. The main difference between these types of weeds is the way these little plants reproduce.

One-year weeds spread via seeds, which are airborne. These annual weeds are relatively easy to control. You can easily pull it out by hand, or hoe it.

Perennial weeds are more difficult to control because they spread via roots. The moment you start removing these weeds, you will have to do it thoroughly. If you leave small pieces of roots in the ground, they can grow back into a mature plant.

Manners to control weeds

Weeds can be controlled in various ways. Above you have already read that the method of control depends partly on the type of weeds. However, for all types of weeds, a number of methods, techniques and means have been proven effective:

• Using a weedkiller. You can buy these at the garden centre, for example, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Always be careful when buying a weed killer, as these agents can be quite toxic. Application of a weedkiller can therefore have a negative impact on the plants in your garden, but can also be toxic for any (domestic) animals.
• Weeds can also be burnt away with a weed burner. This works especially well for weeds growing between tiles.
• Pull the weeds out of the ground by hand or with a weed cutter. Especially the moment you also pull the roots out of the ground, this is a very effective method of removing weeds from your garden. The disadvantage of this method is that it is relatively labour-intensive.
• In addition, you can also apply various home gardening remedies. These include using boiling water, vinegar and salt. In general, these remedies are not recommended. They are often only marginally effective and often have a bad influence on the soil quality of your garden.

Weed removal between tiles

A characteristic of weeds is that they grow and flourish everywhere, including between the tiles in your garden. In principle, you can use any of the techniques mentioned above to remove weeds between tiles.

But each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. One advantage of using a weed burner is that it is fast. The disadvantage is that the roots often do not die. The most effective method is to remove the weeds by hand or using a special weed brush, because you then also remove the roots. Then again, this method is very labour-intensive.

Frequently asked questions