I just spent an hour snipping bindweed vines off the chicken yard fence. I think my sweet peas will be getting more sun now.
About Kathy Purdy
Kathy Purdy discovered the joys of writing in fourth grade, when she started corresponding with a former classmate. She's been writing letters ever since, first on looseleaf, then electronically, and now as weblog entries. That makes you, the blog reader, her pen pal. Her first independent (though frustrating) attempts at gardening were made in high school, though the gardening bug didn't bite hard until her mid-thirties, when she found herself mistress of a rural home on 15 acres. • USDA Hardiness Zone:4 • AHS Heat Zone: 3 • Location: rural; Southern Tier of NY • Geographic type: foothills of Appalachian Mountains • Soil Type: acid clay • Experience level: intermediate • Particular interests: colchicums, narcissus, cottage gardening, NY native plants, gardening with/for children
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Snip yes, pull no. Improve soil yes, add chemical herbicide no. Is bindweed trying to tell you something?-yes….ignore the ecological benefits?–no. It is possible to ‘get over’ bindweed, but do try to understand its’ gift first, then attract your desirable plants, care for the soil, and watch things take off (minus the bindweed of course!).
I subscribed to follow up comments, and wanted to come back to say that I have only used round up on garlic chives, because they don’t stay dug up, and that was about 15 years ago. I have found that if you pull bindweed, and keep pulling it, it will lose strength and give up, or at least be knocked back enough that it can be kept under control.
I think the sumac is going to keep me busy awhile. I don’t know if it will give in like the bindweed has, since the parent plant is a huge tree in the main part of the yard.
.-= Sue´s last blog ..Blooming Friday, and Things I Didn’t Plant, Part 2 =-.
With all this rain and then a day of sunshine weeds are taking over the universe!! Toss in tomato blight, slugs and Japanese beetles and new gardeners will wonder why anyone even bothers to grow moss let alone veggies!
I will be doing several lectures over the next few Wednesday evenings discussing slugs bugs and other thugs, at Adams Fairacre Farms Poughkkepsie, NY location, to help new and existing gardeners get through the wet summer.
Good luck with that bindweed!!!
Greg
.-= greg draiss´s last blog ..Slugs, Bugs and, Other Thugs Lecture Wed 7/29 =-.
Be careful with your bindweed. I spent two years devoutly pulling and weeding until I realized that was making it spread. Every time you break off a piece, it sprouts from there. I resorted to “Roundup” and the battle is under control.
You are right. Pulling stimulates new growth at nodes. I don’t pull it, I snip it. I use Roundup very sparingly in early spring and in fall, when the rest of the garden is dormant, or can be cut back so as not to be near where I’m applying the Roundup.
Bindweed. Oh, how I hate it! It’s been a bane in my fenced garden for years. Keep at it! Someday we’ll win the war!
~~Rhonda
.-= ~~Rhonda´s last blog ..flashback to springtime =-.
I seem to have bindweed under control. Tomorrow is the day I plan to do battle with sumac and a variety of weeds at my garden across the street. I hope your peas do well.
.-= Sue´s last blog ..Vine Dilemma Across the Street =-.
Twitter: @gardenfix
Only recently learned how very aggressive bindweed is: one plant can make a root system 9 metres square, with up to 25 daughter plants! Happy chopping and enjoy your sweet peas.
.-= Helen at Toronto Gardens´s last blog ..To tchotschke or not to tchotchke =-.