Advice on weeding and aligning height of trees

Hi!

Looking for 2 bits of advice...

1) Basic weeding
We just had a new planter put in. It has just started to get some weeds... first time i've owned a garden! so looking for some basic advice on weeding!
Is it best to pull them out by hand? or use weed killer (at the moment they seem too small to kill with weed killer?) or maybe buy a tool to get them out?



2) Tree Growth alignment
We have 3 trees, the one in the middle was slightly taller than the others when it was bought.
The 2 either side were more or less the same height.... it made for a nicely aligned view!
A few months on and the tree to the right is slightly higher than the one on the left... possibly because it gets slightly better sun?
Is there anything I can do to keep them aligned? maybe put some kind of plant feed down for the smaller one?


Many thanks!

 

Removing weeds before they become established is easy @collinsc. Pull them out by hand or use a hand trowel to remove them if they are deeply rooted. If you don’t have any garden tools at the moment, you could improvise with a kitchen spatula, knife, fork or spoon, preferably old ones .

Your trees are simply responding to the amount of sunlight they are receiving. Try not to get too concerned about growing rate, nature doesn’t work to precise time schedules. Eventually as they get taller and the fronds get more sun they will catch up.

Don’t feed them at the moment as they will become dormant soon. In early spring, apply a few handfuls of blood fish and bone around the base of each plant and incorporate it into the soil with your hand or trowel. They look like good healthy plants. They can grow quite large but the size of your planter will restrict their height. Good luck with them!

 

Great advice - thanks so much!

I'll buy some "blood and fish" ready for spring, and get weeding!

 

Hi

you may have to fleece them over winter ,where roughly are you in the UK

you could use bark as a cover to stop the weeds from growing plus it makes it easier to pull out if they do grow

 

Hi
I’m in swindon area (south west)

great idea for bark!

thanks