Problem Weed
muddy42
Posts: 1
Hi There,
I am new to the site. Can anyone help me identify and get rid of this weed? I live in central London and the garden was very overgrown when I moved in. I have been battling with this weed ever since I moved in for the last 2 years. I think the soil must be full of its seed. I have tried pulling them up, forking and hoe-ing the soil and round-up.
I tackle them once a week, but allowed one to grow old for these photos below.
Any advice?
Thanks.
0
Posts
Hi muddy, I almost recognise this but can't quite get there. Is it easy to pull up with all roots intact or do bits stay in the ground and carry on growing? It looks more like an annual to me in which case the answer is more pulling and/or hoeing. Some weeds seeds last for years. It's stinging nettles for me
In the sticks near Peterborough
I can't quite place it either, Nut. Initially I thought it might be on of the willowherbs, but it also looks a bit like some kind of campanula. If those little blobs are tiny flowers (tricky to see in the photos), could it be redshank? That one can be a bit variable in form.
I'll look in my wildflower/weed book tomorrow. I need good light to see properly.
In the sticks near Peterborough
The only thing that keeps coming back to me is Dog's Mercury, but it doesn't look quite right
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I think I get this one - and I call it a willow herb (and think a gardening friend told me that) - but it might not be - gets tiny pink flowers? (It isn't rosebay willowherb - and I also get another willowherb that is a short -15cm tall - single stem with red tinged leaves- also pink flowers)
Doesn't worry me too much cos it is easy to pull out - and if it a willowherb is it might not be seeds in the soil - I've religiously pulled my 'willowherb' out before it sets seed for years but it comes back - think the seeds (which are like dandelion) travel easily ...
Should have said I recognise that as a seedling too....and I know I can pull them all out and without turning the soil etc a new batch can appear - pull them out and more appear - why I think they are travelling rather than in the soil ...
Hi Lusi83. Don't recognise it - "my" weeds are Herb Robert, chickweed and Hairy Bittercress. The seeds for your weeds are probably being brought in on the wind from some untended land nearby. But there might also be lots in the soil from before you arrived, and whenever you turn the soil, you expose them to light and they germinate. When I moved in my (untended London) garden was full of weeds and not much else. In the Autumn, I put down a mulch to improve the soil, put newspaper on top of that and bark to hide that. Might be worth a try? The newspaper will prevent annual seeds in the soil germinating and gradually rots away. It seemed to keep weeds in check - but I still get them blowing in!
Iwas going to look this one up in the book and now it's nearly dark again and I can't see
In the sticks near Peterborough
Hello, I have that regularly growing in my garden too. Don't know it's name. I don't think there is a long term solution, except to pull it up or hoe over every time that you see it growing.
My neighbour has a bit of an unkempt garden and the wild seeds probably just fly over the fence all the time and land in my nice soil