Convulvulus

[poliphilo]

One of the things I do when I'm walking round the garden is pull up bindweed. I feel a little bad about this because bindweed is also a living thing, has as much right to the space as anything else- and its flowers are rather lovely, but if you're going to have a garden there are things you can allow and things you can't- and the proliferation of bindweed is one of the latter. Left to itself it would spread and spread and smother everything in its path- including the house itself.

I once had tenancy of a garden that was over-run with bindweed- and decided to eradicate it. I didn't just pull but also dug- and realized as I soldiered on that I'd taken on an impossible task. Bindweed grows fast, has a root system that is easily as far-reaching as its growth above ground, can regenerate from the smallest scrap and is essentially unkillable. All one can really hope to do is make it feel unwelcome...

I suppose poison might do the job, but poison is unselective, gets into the ecosystem and eventually works its way round to us- and I refuse to use it on anything.

Comments

[lokbiiviing]

D: Dreadful! I understand your views on poison but if the bindweed situation has gotten really bad, could you then use it for first-aid? I found this wiki-how on how to keep it from touching anything but the bindweed (which I guess you will then burn?) https://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Bindweed

[poliphilo]

My dad used to throw Round-up around- but that was before we were fully aware of the damage it does. To be frank I'd rather the bindweed won than have recourse to anything that comes out of Monsanto's labs. As things stand I think we can keep the stuff under control by simply pulling it up wherever it appears.

[cmcmck]

Pulling it up before it seeds is the best approach- not perfect, but it prevents it getting a real hold.

[poliphilo]

That's what I'm counting on.

[lokbiiviing]

They do sell Roundup here too and I have heard that it is very strong. What I do not know is what it actually contains.

Ok. Pulling is better if you're more tenacious than the bindweed. :)