If you remember nothing else about controlling weeds, keep this strategy in mind at all times: remove perennial weeds as soon as you spot them, and pull annual weeds before they flower

Extract taken from Gardening for Dummies by Sue Fisher, Michael MacCaskey and Bill Marken, priced £14.99, published by Wiley

Here are a few of our least favourite weeds:

Bindweed. Perennial. Spreading from underground roots, this twining perennial can snake sneakily around your garden and wrap itself around your plants. The leaves are shaped like an arrowhead and the flowers resemble morning glories, a more appreciated cousin.

Beware, however, that if you allow bindweed to flower, you greatly compound your problem. Use a digging fork to remove the plants rather than a spade, which can divide the roots into pieces, each of which grows new plants.

Chickweed. Stellaria media. Annual. You can easily spot this densely matting annual weed in late winter and early spring, when the stems of 1-centimetre (1/2-inch), oval leaves reach towards the sun. The tiny white flowers open fully on sunny days. Broken stems can root if you drop them on the ground.

Couch grass. Perennial. This sneaky weed is adept at getting itself well established in borders among your plants before you notice it. Couch grass differs from annual grasses in that it forms wide-spreading, wiry, underground stems with sharp, white, pointed, growing tips.

Creeping buttercup. Perennial. While more charming in appearance than many other weeds, with its bright golden yellow flowers, don't be fooled!

In a lawn, you can keep creeping buttercup within bounds by regular mowing, particularly if you rake the lawn occasionally to bring up the runners and cut them with the mower. In borders, however, it's a different story and buttercup fast assumes thug-like tendencies.

Dandelion. Perennial. The first leaves, which emerge in early spring, are low and oval. Later leaves are arrow shaped with deep lobes. The unmistakable yellow flowers quickly go to seed, so pick them early (only let your kids blow dandelion clocks on country walks!)

The edible flowers are apparently tasty when battered and fried. Long-handled weeders seem make to remove this common weed from lawns and gardens. Remove as much of the taproot as possible, because the plant regrows from any portion that's left.

Dock. Perennial. Dock leaves may be useful for taking the pain out of nettle stings, but they give you a lot of pain if they take hold in your garden.

Left alone, dock grows to over 1 metre (4 feet) tall with clusters of heart-shaped, reddish-brown seed pods. The taproot can extend 60 centimetres (2 feet) underground, but if you can remove just the top 12.5 centimetres (5 inches), the root dies.

Ground elder. Perennial. Once used as a treatment for grout, which is no consolation whatsoever if you're unfortunate enough to suffer from this tenacious weed. Dig out, smother, or poison it with weedkiller - stop it spreading further as a matter of urgency!

Groundsel. Annual. Although easy to eradicate by hoeing or pulling groundsel spreads itself with great alacrity if you allow it to seed. Even if you pull this weed in flower, before seeding, the flowerheads mature into seeds just when you think you're sage - so get it young!

Japanese knotweed. Perennial. A real nightmare of a plant, which is becoming an increasing problem in the wild because it is well-nigh impossible to eradicate and takes over from native wild plants. It has tall arching woody stems with oval mid-green leaves. Tackle this weed at the first signs, for it forms a colony as soon as you turn your back.

Oxalis. Perennial. This is a weed notable for its clover-like leaves and bright yellow flowers. Control by repeated cultivation or flaming and applications of systematic herbicide from your garden centre. Use a residual herbicide to minimise or prevent seed germination on uncultivated ground.

Extract taken from Gardening for Dummies by Sue Fisher, Michael MacCaskey and Bill Marken, priced £14.99, published by Wiley