At the last house we were in we actually had some garden to enjoy. However due to the previous tenant being rather non-green fingered it would seem, the front lawn was less grass and more dandelions!

Now I don't actually hate dandelions....sometimes. They offer bees and butterflies nourishment at a time when other flowers are not yet in bloom and they do look very sunny with their bright yellow faces. Of course eventually they turn into clock dandelions (great fun when you are a kid, bloomin' nightmare when you are a gardening adult) spreading their seeds in my flower beds.

Digging said weeds from a lawn or border beds it can be a little back breaking as you wrestle with the powerful root and crumbly leaves that snap in your hands.

Enter the Speedy Weeder!

~Appearance~
This tool is a lightweight, tall piece of equipment. At the bottom are metal prongs. The middle is just a long grey pole and then at the top there is a hand-bar and a plunger. Mine is actually grey and green, not grey and yellow like the picture above.


~Use~
Simple and quite addictive to use, you basically align the prongs at the bottom so they sit around the "rosette" (centre) of the dandelion leaves. With a little pressure, press down until the prongs insert into the earth.

Take hold of the two hand-bars at the top and twist sharply. Usually it is good to do a full 360 degree turn.

Once done, pull the Speedy Weeder out of the ground. You (should) find that there is a lump of soil and the weed now free from the earth and trapped in between the prongs of the weeder. Point the bottom of the weeder over your garden sack, trug or wherever you want to dump the weeds and then depress the plunger at the top. The weed and soil lump will plop out neatly.

It takes seconds to do and if you have loads in your lawn can clear a great deal in a very short space of time.

Note: It does claim to remove dandelions, roots and all. However dandelions are hardy things and can have 18inch roots. So in some cases, especially with the larger well defined dandelions you will instead snap off the root. However this can still be good as a plant needs leaves to photosynthesis and will take longer to grow back. It does also weaken the root.


~Benefits~
Great for your back as there is no bending down, both when inserting the tool and then pushing the captured weed out, you are upright all the time!

It is good fun and I find children enjoy it so a once annoying task can become a game to your kids.

Great for creating bulb holes - I used mine to create nice sized holes in my back garden lawn so I could drop in crocus and snowdrop bulbs. Once holed, a bulb is dropped in and a handful of dirt is added. The grass eventually grows over and the bulbs push through adding a splash of colour to the lawn.


~Cleaning~
Because only the very bottom goes into the earth you only need to clean this part really. I just run mine under the garden tap and use a stiff bristle brush on any hard to release mud. However because of its plunger method, very little gets stuck.


~Durability~
I have had my Speedy Weeder for over 5 years now. It may have looked gimmicky when I purchased it but it has been through the rigours of my last house's garden and now the new one. It has captured many weeds (not just dandelions) and been dropped several times due to natural clumsiness. While it is light weight, it does have a sense of durability to it - though treating it well is the best way - I certainly don't recommend flinging it about.


~Summary~
A great tool to take the back break out of weeding the lawn and flowerbeds.