The Weeds We Battle With On The Allotment.

Two Types of Weed That We Know Are Difficult to Remove. 

I have seen allotment plots that look neat and tidy but then if they are left unattended for a week or two suddenly reveal that just under the surface and waiting for the chance to invade are bindweed and  horsetail (which I know lots of people call marestail but it is a different plant  and horsetail likes the dry sandy soil of my allotment).

Comparing these two weeds to brambles which look like a big challenge, but with brambles once dug out any remaining 'straggler' that pop up can be dug out.

Getting rid of bindweed  is a big challenge and once horestail appears it is extremely difficult if not impossible to eradicate.

I have both of these weeds in the soil on my plot, worse in some places than others. The more cultivated areas have less but they still appear sometimes. Despite this I manage to grow my own fruit and vegetables and tackling the weeds is a nuisance and chore but that is almost inevitable with some types of weeds.

I think the problem of having pernicious weeds is more about the time spent on battling weeds when you would rather be doing something more productive on the allotment.

It is almost impossible to remove the roots of horsetail as they go so deep and break as you attempt to remove them. This is also one of the weeds that because of its lack of 'proper leaves' and the type of foliage they have  is at times resistant to the weedkiller you can buy .

With bindweed you can trace the root back and remove as much as possible ( and they can be surprisingly long) .  If you leave any root behind the bindweed will regrow from that piece. Sometimes you get the whole bindweed root out but you can never be sure, just keep on  removing as much root as possible ( think that is all you can do if you are anti-weedkiller).  I have to confess that although I try to grow to organic and to begin with it was against my gardening principles, around the shed and some other areas where there is no fruit or vegetables growing I have with reluctance and with great care reached for the red spray bottle and zapped the leaves or used the one that comes in a 'solid' gel stick. So the weeds win on two fronts, they appear every year and they made me change/temporarily abandon my good intentions.