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Daily gardening tip · Southern hemisphere · Thursday 15 October 2026 · mid spring

Hoe Young Weeds on Warm Dry Mornings

Clearing tiny weeds before they establish saves hours of heavy weeding later in the spring.

Hoe Young Weeds on Warm Dry Mornings
5 minuteseasyweeds
  1. Choose a warm, dry morning when no rain is forecasted.
  2. Take a sharp Dutch or draw hoe to your garden beds.
  3. Slice the hoe gently just beneath the soil surface to sever weed roots.
  4. Leave the cut seedlings resting on top of the dry soil.
  5. Let the midday sun dehydrate and kill the loose seedlings.
A garden in mid spring

Why it works

Severing young roots isolates the plant from soil moisture. On a hot, sunny day, exposed seedlings lose water rapidly and dry out within hours, removing the need to collect and dispose of them manually.

Dai Ngan Bamboo

Plant of the day

Dai Ngan Bamboo

Bambusa eutuldoides

Bambusa eutuldoides is a graceful, medium-sized clumping bamboo native to southern China, known for its dense upright culms and vibrant green foliage. It forms non-invasive clumps, making it an excellent choice for privacy hedges, windbreaks, and tropical land

Read about it →

Gardening news

Gardening news

Stiga upgrades Vista robot mowers with new software

A garden equipment company is updating the system on its automatic lawnmowers so they can better steer around objects, follow schedules for different areas, and send live video to users.

The Dirt · 2026-10-14
New research

New technique lets scientists study proteins inside living plant cells

University of Delaware researchers developed a fast method to analyze proteins inside intact plant cells. Plant cell walls usually block scientists from studying these internal proteins directly. This breakthrough helps experts identify early signals of plant diseases so growers can protect their crops.

udel.edu
On this day

American botanist and plant collector Elmer Drew Merrill was born

On 15 October 1876, renowned botanist Elmer Drew Merrill was born in Maine. He spent decades studying plants in the Asia-Pacific region, collected over a million plant specimens, and named thousands of species. He later served as director of the New York Botanical Garden and Harvard's Arnold Arboretum.

en.wikipedia.org

Written for the southern hemisphere. Gardening north of the equator? See the northern edition

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