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Plant/Weed IDs

LucidLucid Posts: 385
in Plants

Hi,

Does anyone know what these plants might be please?

The first is growing against a brick wall at the side of my house, and the leaves are pretty big. I have tried to dig out previously but they've come back.

image

The second is invading my fence shaded flower beds and I've noticed they're growing alongside a neighbour's exterior fence. They are very tough to pull out.

image

Thanks for any help,

Lucid :)

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 83,932

    The first pic is Burdock ... Arctium.

    The second is Horsetail ... not good news 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • LucidLucid Posts: 385

    Thanks Dovefromabove. It sounds as thought I've got a lot of work to do. :( I don't suppose with the Horsetail, a thick layer of newspaper mulch would keep it at bay? Once it's all been dug out? Am guessing it has spread underground from the neighbour's garden - despite us being separated by quite a wide concrete access lane. I will be planting up the relevant flowerbed so hopefully once those plants have established it might also deter the horsetail - or is that wishful thinking?

    Lucid :)

  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,109

    Wishful thinking. The roots can go down as much as 30 feet. (Saw this  at a Quarry in Derbyshire once). Very difficult stuff to get rid off, sorry.

  • LucidLucid Posts: 385

    Ok thanks Berghill. Sounds like it's going to be a long road. I've found some advice in this thread:

    http://www.gardenersworld.com/forum/thread/?threadId=272330

    What's the stance on plants that grow on the outside of fences, presumably from underneath. Is it classed as the person's property still or does that become council land? I checked out there today and the horsetail is spread along their whole fence run.

    Lucid :)

  • LucidLucid Posts: 385

    Hi everyone. I've finally had the time to tackle the horsetail today and have just finished clearing what I can. There will be some roots left under the soil I know.

    Going on the thread I linked to in my last post, it seems a successful way to get rid of it/lessen it is to add lime to the bed. Then wait for 2 weeks and add a load of manure. The idea is that the soil is improved and the horsetail can't thrive on good soil. Apparently this can take several years to completely sort so I'm not expecting it to be sorted straight away. However my query is, once I've added the lime am I able to plant in the flowerbed after about 1.5 weeks? Or should I wait for the full 2 weeks once the manure is added? Does lime harm new plants?

    Thanks for any help,

    Lucid :)

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