Weeds in winter.

[Anji]

I went out yesterday and pulled a few weeds out of the garden, thinking that if I pull them now, they have less chance of spreading in the spring. Now my pal tells me that I don't need to weed at this time of year, as the frost will kill the weeds during the winter. I've always thought weeds just lay dormant in the winter, ready to leap into life again at the first sign of Spring.
I'd love my pal to be right, though, for the sake of my frozen fingers. Do any of you know for sure?

[Scunner]

If you pull the weeds out, then you're sure, and no spread of seeds. I say keep weeding.

[Anji]

Thanks for that, Scunner, though I'd rather you'd have said the frost killed the weeds. I thought it was too good to be true.

[fotcom]

Just a little thought,if the frost did kill the weeds we all wouldnt have any.

[Anji]

Now why didn't I think of that?
I think I did know in my heart really, that there was no quick fix, but what my pal said got my hopes up and sent common sense out of the window.
Ah well, back to the cold fingers, I suppose. But maybe not this weekend. I'm not that keen!

[Beat Bug]

The secret is to pull them up before they go to seed, that way fewer will grow!

[unicorn]

If you pull them out surely the frost will kill the roots though? Bonus :D

[Anji]

I don't think so, unicorn. I think the roots just lie dormant. I've kept weeding over the winter when the weather let me, but I have a big garden and I never get to the stage where I have no weeds left. At least I have a lot fewer than I had this time last year, and I'm hoping to keep on top of the weeding this year.
Hoping, I said!

[Scunner]

Perennial weeds will reappear, year after year unless you try and remove the roots. Annual weeds, disperse their seeds and they pop up as new plants as soon as the soil warms up. However weeds are only flowers growing in the wrong place.

Remember years ago digging up dock roots and chopping them up without removing them, Oh what lovely dockans we had for years afterwards. A rotovator is ideal tool for spreading seeds and roots.[lol]

[Anji]

I had an awful lot of weeds to begin with and started with the various long rooted weeds and couch grass. I dug them all up. Then I concentrated on things like groundsel, which had flowers, as I thought they probably seeded and spread fastest. Now I only have one bad weed, the wandering buttercup, and I'm not about to give up on it. Apart from that, it's just the ordinary grass type weed (Sorry, don't have time to look up the proper name just now) and I don't think it's possible to ever get rid of all of them. No matter how hard you try, there will always be a bit of root left.