Gladly, when it comes to sourcing a decent weed killer for maintaining your garden or green outdoor space, many manufacturers have clocked onto the importance of offering eco-friendly products.

For one thing, the weed killer glyphosate has been binned for the most part, having been linked to causing cancer among other environmental issues, while manufacturers have found other ways to dispose of unwanted vegetation that won’t cause lasting damage.

On a mission to weed out the very best for our gardening arsenal, we embarked on a 10-day quest to take out a tricky patch of weeds that were nestled in with some heavily overwhelmed and partially buried flag stones in the corner of a northwest London garden.

Some wild bluebells also sprouted in the wrong place at the wrong time only to become collateral casualties of the cause.

That being said, all the entries on the list are as environmentally friendly as possible as we had planned to replant the patch once the sun had properly made a come-back. We also went for the handheld sprays because they’re cheap and easy to use on smaller gardens.

How we tested

Our test was simple: Unlock the nozzles on the products, spritz the bejesus out of a little patch of random garden weeds, mark each patch and then come back ten days later and assess the damage. No tools. No interfering. No prisoners.

Here are the top weed killers that you can find in most shops this weeding season – with effectiveness, environmental concerns and value for money taken into account.

The best weed killers for 2023 are:

• Best weed killeroverall – Roundup natural weed control ready to use: £8.50, Amazon.co.uk
• Best weed killer for speed – Weedol fast acting weedkiller: £7.99, Amazon.co.uk
• Best weed killer for rough patches – Vitax SBK tough weedkiller: £5, Amazon.co.uk
• Best value for money weed killer – Doff 24/7 fast acting weedkiller: £6.45, Amazon.co.uk
• Best weed killer for the environment – Wilko fast acting ready to use garden weedkiller: £4, Wilko.co.uk