Weeds everywhere

Hey
So we just moved into property and there's weeds everywhere, dandelions galore. They are Around all paths, the walls round house, growing through stones around bushes and I don't know where to start. We have pets so don't want dangerous chemicals around them. Please help

 

There is no easy way, you'll have to dig them out using a long trowell so that you get as much of the roots out as you can. It's going to be a long job but I don't think there's another way.

If you want to use a weed killer spray you could do that and then cover them with a tarpaulin or something until they are dead. That way your pets will not be harmed.

 

I use a border fork for removing dandelions and a lot of the root without too much bending, the long handle gives good leverage and the tines are easy to push in even in hard ground.

 

I use a long, sharp carving knife A deft twist and most of the root comes out. They give up eventually

 

Another vote for border forks, they're fantastic tools and although they're not much narrower than a digging fork, it's really surprising how much more control they give you and how much less damage they cause to nearby plants when digging out parts of a crowded border! @Kelc It may seem like a huge task ATM but if you do half-a-dozen a day you will soon have an impact on them and start feeling much better about the situation!

Nick

 

Thankyou so much, I will get a border fork for sure

 

Thankyou!

 

Thankyou, will buy one. Worth having one in the shed

 

Thankyou Micheal

 

Strimming some sounds good as there are some huge ones out there. Thanks

 

Don't give up, just do a small area each day so you can look back and see where you've been.

 

To an extent maybe dandelions would be choked out by something rampant and pretty like Campanula portenschlagiana or Campanula poscharskyana? Erigeron karvinskianus is also quite rampant when it gets going. These plants are good for growing in nooks and crannies, probably better adapted to those than dandelions and with a bit of initial help could push dandelions out. All are good for pollinators. For what its worth, it seems dandelions are also good for giving bees the nectar they need early in the spring when not much else does. Plants fight for light and soil nutrients, and there should be plenty of plants that can help fight too many dandelions, though they would need help to get started.

 

Sometimes these can be harder to get rid of than the weeds, I have the first of the Campanulas well the neighbours did and I've been fighting a border war for the past 15+ years.
Also dandelions have deep roots and get nutrients and water from lower levels than ground cover plants.