As many of you may have noticed, that wretched garden menace BIND WEED is well on its way to taking over the garden.
For those of you lucky enough not to have bind weed in the garden, it may be another equally persistent weed that rears its ugly head this time of year. It seems much of my time over the past few weeks has involved trying to bring weeds under control before they suffocate the desired plants.
Ground Elder seems just as persistent and even more invasive than bind weed and I personally don't feel the same satisfaction hunting Ground Elder as I do when teasing out long spaghetti like strings of convolvulus.
No matter what the invader, where earth is bare mother nature will find a suitable plant - Dandelion, Thistle, Couch grass, Bramble, the list goes on and on. Methods of control also depend on the individual, ranging from lots of hard work to a once or twice a year chemical control. For those that love to see the maximum range of wild life chemical control should not be an option, though it is very effective for driveways and patios when used responsibly.
I have found using cardboard and plenty of woodchip on veg or flower beds works well, keeping the unwanted plants at bay long enough for desirable plants to get established. No matter what we do the weeds will always come back, and after all, a weed is just a plant in the wrong place. So what to some maybe a weed could be a blessing to others.