After spending a good part of July away from home, garden and allotment the settled weather of the last week has provided me with a good chance to catch up with a myriad of tasks. Sadly I did not like what greeted me in the new end of month of border. BINDWEED has reared its must ugly head in no uncertain terms ~ I could weep! I can cope with the clover, thistles and other undesirables that have appeared but bindweed is another matter. This thug was not there last year so my suspicion is falling on the topsoil that came in during the spring. So there is a serious war to be waged.
In the meantime despite the bindweed most of the plants which were planted in May are flourishing. I did treat myself at the time to a couple of new hardy geraniums, a chocolate cosmos and a penstemon which has still to flower. The majority of the plants were either grown from seed, established from cuttings or were gifts from friends. It has been amazing to see how much growth dahlias 'Bishops Children' have put on in during the course of three months. They are a definite to be repeated.
However the plants that are giving me the greatest satisfaction at the moment though are dwarf French beans 'Stanley'. In a moment of madness I stuck a few spare bean plants in to fill some bare earth the day before we went on holiday. They were surplus and were initially heading for the compost heap. I puddled them in well and then forgot about them. They are doing better than the beans at the allotment, which have received tender loving care from my allotment neighbours and from me when I have been about. Sometimes it seems that plants thrive on tough love.
I am looking forward later on today to seeing how the end of July is treating other people's gardens and allotments over at 'The Patient Gardener's Weblog', where Helen kindly hosts the end of month view.
I am growing dwarf french beans for the first time. There are beans on the plant - but I don't know how many pods there will be. Watering is erratic and plants are a bit too close to allow in much sun.
ReplyDeletePretty flowers though.
(At least bindweed dies back in the winter - if you had been invaded by brambles, that would have been really serious!)
Now I truly sympathise I have bindweed in all sorts of places including right in front of the house. Hate it. Can't shift it.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while to figure out what you had photographed. What a pretty picture. Isn't it interesting how plants behave? I'm glad your beans are doing so well. Sorry about the Bindweed hitchhiking in your soil. That is not good. I hope you can eradicate it.
ReplyDeleteSecond attempt - our internet crashed yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI cant remember what my comment was going to be but I know I inparted some advice I was given about bindweed. You are meant to let it grow big and healthy up a bamboo cane. Then you remove cane, put plant in bag (with roots still in ground) and pour in weed-killer and seal bag and leave.
Thank for joining in again this month and glad your garden and allotment havent suffered too much while you have been away
Bindweed! Ugh, one of the worst. We had a plague of it in one of our borders. We eventually dug out several of the the large shrubs and dug down to two spade depths and sifted all the roots out. I say "we", but actually it was mostly FIL. We'd let ours get totally out of control, but the RHS gardeners do a little like Helen suggested, encourage them to grow up canes and then paint with glysophate. Good luck, whatever you decide to do.
ReplyDeleteLovely bean flowers. I find bean growing habits a true mystery. I sowed two batches of dwarf French up at the allotment. The earlier ones have been hampered by slug attack, the ones sown three weeks later have passed them, almsot twice their height now, and are slug free. Go figure...
There was me idly wondering what the flower was ...duh!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the bindweed. I think Helen's idea is a good one. Once it gets amongst other plants it is very difficult to cope with.
You could let it grow up a cane (the bindweed) and with a small paintbrush paint glycosphate on the leaves. It's selective that way and should get to the roots.
ReplyDelete