i have moved house and have a new garden now. there are things starting to grow and i dont know what are going to be plants/flowers and what are weeds. i would like a simple way of detecting a weed before thay start to take over my garden!!!!

julie, January 2010

A weed is anything growing where you don't want it to. Leave everthing in the garden until mid summer at the earlist and if you see something you don't like pull it out. Most people class things like dandilions as weeds but some people like them and encourage then to grow the same can be said about daisys growing in lawns some people like the look of them and leave them to grow, others hate them.

Gaz the garden doctor, February 2010

Normally when you move house you have to have a little experiment and leave plants for the first year to see what happens. This way you can see what you've got and what needs doing. Difficult to tell in just one season.

Jay, February 2010

www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/weeds

just found the above one on a search.

Or type in your search engine weed identifyer

Peccavi is right though experience takes a number of years.

Bob, February 2010

Flowers pull up easily - weeds generally do not.

There is no rule other than this - experience helps in weed recognition but takes years - buy a good Dutch Hoe - use it regularly and keep the edge sharp.

Good luck...

Peccavi, January 2010