What are your 5 worst weeds, and how do you tackle them?

[Gryfon]

Glad to know I'm not the only one really struggling! Although it's a right pain I've given up stressing about the couch grass, it's in the lawn but I think as long as we keep mowing it it'll be fine.

At the moment though I have seedlings and weeds coming up in my raised beds and until the leaves are out I can't pull anything up!

[BumbleB]

BINDWEED - any really good tips?

[Two_Sheds]

Couch grass. I don't mind the odd bit, I quite enjoy digging it out but the grass paths on my neighbours plots are made of the stuff and it just keeps invading my plot I use a sharp spade along the edges, and I am trying to grow a wall of useful things as a barrier ... comfrey on one side, wallflowers on the other.

Annual grasses: I used grass clippings as a mulch last year, and unknown to me it contained a LOT of seeds - so now I have turf. I hate grass because you can't easily pull it out ... it's designed/evolved to be pulled and regrow

Perennial Nettle: the one with the thick yellow roots, not the dainty annual nettle. Indestructible. In desperation last year I Round-Upped it several times and guess what ... it's coming back. Glypho does not work. It kills the tops, but not the roots.

Bindweed. Not too bad once it's under control ... keep pulling it out and it will give up. Trouble is, it keeps invading from next door's plots (it's in the grass paths)

Buttercup - this is worse than bindweed on my plot - I get a lot of it in my bark paths (it likes damp acidity)

Bramble: The plot was covered in bramble when I got it last year, and the roots are so big & tough that I broke my fork. I ended up using Roundup on it - but now it's coming back again. Roundup doesn't kill the roots, only the top growth. I will keep digging it out, cutting it off, until it gives up.

I have a new one, a 6th: there is suddenly a little weed smothering the ground where I grew last year's beans (probably came in with the compost). It covers the ground in a mat, is impossible to get a hold of because it's so flat to the ground, and is everywhere. The flowers look a little like Speedwell, but it's not. It remind me more of stonecrop.

[Matt.]

Horsetail and or marestail.

Nothing will kill this blighter and the roots go far deeper than I'm prepared to dig. Its a continual battle, won't be killed by weedkiller and means every year I have to dig each bed and remove the roots as best I can. Its one of those things that you just realise you'll never beat.

As for bindweed just use glyphosate based weedkiller and you'll be free in no time. Spray it or if you're paraniod about residue blowing to other crops (it won't) you can paint it on.

[coreopsis]

Ground elder-yes it's a nuisance,I dig it up bit after bit of ground-they have shallow root system so I don't find it too difficult.Obviously you have to pull out every bit of root and when you're digging it up try to take as big spadefuls as possible-to avoid breking the roots into smaller pieces.

Nettles-I use them for plant food so allow them to grow to some extent(yes,I have these horrible perennial ones with yellow roots)

Creeping buttercup-this is the nightmare in the garden-I would classify it even worse than ground elder

Dandelions-when I was cleaning the place at the front of the house for the border,I had some specimens with tangly roots over a foot long

Something called "cat's ears"-can't remember the name.Rosette leaves(ideal for slug shelter) and dandelion-like flowers on a long stem.

[pdblake]

At the moment the worst is mock strawberry which is a sod to get rid of. It's in the front garden away from anything edible thankfully. I just keep digging it out and binning the stuff.

A close second is bindweed, which comes in from next door, then bramble, which also comes from next door. Both these get dug out and thrown back over the fence.

That horrible sticky stuff is next. It hoes out easily enough but it just keeps coming back.

Finally, dandelions. I dig out anything in veg patch and borders, but leave those in the lawn alone (lawn, who am I kidding, it's more a cross between Wembley and The Somme), and save the flowers for wine making

[GardeningMike]

Couch grass & Bindweed are the worst offenders...

Couch grass and Bindweed are often the worst offenders. Why? Well they grow through the soil with a creeping underground stem called a rhizome, and at intervals throw up new shoots. No matter how much digging you do to remove the shoots and the underground parts, there will always be fragments of rhizome that break off and are left in the soil to regenerate new plants all over again. There are two ways to control this weed successfully. One doesn't involve chemicals - you simply cover the soil surface with cardboard and lay a thickish plastic sheet over the top, weighed down by planks/bricks - leave for a year and all weeds under it will have respired themselves into oblivion. The second method involves using a herbicide called glyphosate (tradename = Roundup). Spray foliage in evening (make sure rain is not forecast) - it is systemic which means the leaves will transport the chemical to the roots and so kill all above & below ground parts too. Though it's supplied as a direct spray-on herbicide I have found that it needs diluting on young weed growth otherwise it will just scorch the foliage and it wont get transported to the roots. I don't use chemicals in gardening but Roundup will save your sanity if you're plagued by couch grass or bindweed. It is also good to know that it is non-toxic to humans and mammals and is inactivated on soil contact.

[Gryfon]

I think I may go down the weedkiller route on the bindweed Covered as much as I can but it's creeping up around the sides of my coverings! It's also in the lawn and I can pick out the top but can't dig it up, and because of my bad back bending to get it all isn't helping that! Got a couple of bamboo sticks in to train it up before I kill it

[Alison]

Ealier in the year couch grass was the biggest problem, now it's marestail and when I was up there yesterday I noticed that the bind weed had woken up and was making a bit for the raspberry row! On the subject of raspberries, am also fighting a losing battle with them, the previous plot holder must have had 90% of the plot full of them, have identified where I want a row and spend a fair bit of time digging the others up every time the crop up! Will not be using weed killer but will carry on digging and getting as many roots out as possible when I dig the beds before planting and then constantly weakening what comes up. It takes a while but it does eventually work and I'd rather that than use chemicals.

[Two_Sheds]

That sticky stuff you throw on each other's backs - it's called cleavers

[Alison]

That sticky stuff you throw on each other's backs - it's called cleavers

Oh yes, I've got some of that as well - not too much thankfully!

[Comfreyfan]

I've already had 5, but I could list another 5!!

I keep trying to convince myself that it's because the soil is so good, I get excellent weed crops aswell as the veg!

[rogesse]

Bindweed, bindweed, bindweed.....etc

I'm lucky - not too bad down the allotment but the new house boarders were more white root than soil. I pray Twosheds is right, I've dug out about as much as I can and now Im gently pulling out any that now appears.

[Glutton4...]

Cleavers (Goose Grass), Nettles, Ivy and Ground Elder in customers' gardens. Dandelions in the lawn here and bindweed coming up through the greenhouse floor. I remove by hand-digging mostly, but do resort to Glyphosate occasionally, as it's mainly salt-based and has no lasting detrimental effect on the soil. Anything 'good' has now been banned. Probably just as well really too, for the sake of the planet!

[Izi]

1 Couch grass - hate the way it comes up right in the middle of plants. It has taken over the rockery again ( if you ever make a rockery, sift the soil first. )
2 Creeping buttercup - was in the garden when we moved in and I suspect will still be there when we are gone. Only good thing is it's ease to pull up.
3 Bindweed - skulks under paving and in next doors garden then strangles everything in the border while my back is turned.
4 -Sticky stuff, cleavers, we call it goose grass or sticky bud. Doesn't it hurt when you pull it with your bare hands.
5 - the Dandilion but only in the beds I love to see them flowering in the grass, and they make a lovely wine as well.
Izi.