Quick-talking Doug (good name for a weed puller) at ExpertVillage teaches you in a matter of seconds (one minute and twenty-three seconds to be exact) how to pull weeds so they don’t re-emerge in a matter of days. His talk forms part of a series of videos on How to Set Up A Low Maintenance Garden.

Doug says he gets away with weed-pulling for just half an hour a week in his small garden. The main thing is not to hoe the weeds as this simply stimulates growth. “Use your cultivator and work the weed so you can get the root out with the rest of the plant, otherwise the root if it’s left behind will simply sprout another weed,” says Doug. A cultivator, for those who haven’t yet got their hands dirty, is a hand fork for the garden that has bent-in prongs so you can get right under the plant (I mean weed, but hey, a weed is just a plant in the wrong place ).

Another important point Doug makes is that you should not just toss the weeds onto your lawn “or it will just produce another weed right there.” Throw them in trash.