Here’s a question. Is it better to weed one bed thoroughly or two beds less thoroughly? I’ve been gardening for years now and I still don’t know the answer.

I think the so-called experts would say it is better to do one bed properly, and in a smallish garden I would be inclined to agree. But in a large garden, with limited time and energy, I’m not so sure.

I’ve tried both ways. Thorough, methodical weeding and quick, instant gratification. Frankly neither seem to work that well as the weeds always return.

This year I’m trying a new strategy. At the end of the day weeds are just plants. They need a reliable source of nutrients, water and sunshine just like anything else. If these are removed or disrupted, dead plant. Easy.

Well it sounds easy anyway, so here’s my plan. I’ll weed a bed moderately well, but instead of leaving it weeks before I weed it again, I will go back to it in just a few days and repeat the process, and again in another few days and so on.

Each time I’ll wait just long enough for the weeds I’ve left behind to think they’ve won, long enough for them to get their feet down again, and then I’ll be back. If I do this on a regular basis, surely they’re going to become weakened, not to mention fed up, and hopefully they’ll die.

The principal sounds very simple, but it will take a certain amount of determination on my part when I have lots of other things to do, so it remains to be seen whether I can see it through.

Anyway in the spirit of this idea, I re-weeded flower bed 2 today. If I can trial this method just on flower beds 1 and 2 this year, and it proves to be successful, I might feel inspired to extend the method to the rest of the garden, who knows.