Couch grass and the heavy brigade

[Paulines7]

I was dreading having to dig out the couch grass in my new vegetable plot which had never grown anything other than grass and weeds before.  I kept putting the job off as I thought it might be too painful for my back.   The chickens have been using it as a run for a few weeks and many of the tufts of grass protruded above soil level where the chickens had pecked around them. 

Yesterday, I took a spade in there with me and the heavy brigade decided to help me.  I would dig out a tuft, turn it over and then the chickens frantically picked at it with their beaks and used their strong legs to loosen the soil.  The result was that they cleared most of the soil out of the tufts which can now be put on the bonfire.  The chickens are not just pretty faces!!  ;D ;D ;D  Here are some pictures of the task force coming in to help and one really hard at work.

[Paulines7]

[SMP1704]

Are they for hire ;D ;D

[Vez1]

I was about to ask the same thing SMP. I spent a couple of hours on Sunday digging out a little bed for bulbs and it took ages to get the couch grass out. I hasten to add I cleared lots of it from same bed last year when I took over the plot.

[Paulines7]

Sorry, but they are going to be too busy working for me to be hired out.   ;D ;D

[Merry Tiller]

That don't look like couch to me ???

[Paulines7]

You are probably right Merry Tiller.  I don't really know what couch grass looks like.  What is the difference between couch and other grasses?  The chicken in the picture is having a go at the root, so how do couch grass roots differ from other grasses?

[SMP1704]

Looks like long strands of spagetti - well mine does anyway ;D

[RobinOfTheHood]

Well, every couple of inches it has a pair of little red horns along the root....and if you look closely (you may need a magnifying glass for this) the numbers 666 imprinted on it... >:(

[jennym]

Brilliant Robin  ;D couldn't agree more!

[Robert_Brenchley]

It's long and sphagetti-ish, but if you look closely it's segmented. It branches, or produces shoots or fibrous roots, from and nodes between the segments.

[Paulines7]

Ah, I think I have couch in my flower bed from your descriptions.  As I pull a root up I find it going along just under the surface of the soil to another clump of grass and so on.  The bits the chickens and I have dug up so far have not been like that but then so far we have only dug out a few.   :(

[Tora]

I don't know what couch grass look like either. I'm in the middle of cultivating a new plot and the plot is full of bind weeds and grass. Don't know if the grass is couch or non-couch. I googled couch grass but couldn't find a picture.

[froglets]

If you're familiar with bindweed, then it looks like a grassy version of that.

[Tora]

Mmm I might have couch grass then :( Are their roots as brittle as bind weed? The one I have in my plot is quite tough and I can't snap it easily like bind weeds. Also they have hairy bits on the roots unlike bindweed.
Maybe I should try taking a pic of the said weed and post it here for ID. :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

Couch roots are a lot stronger than bindweed or ground elder, making it easier to get the whole thing out if you dig along it carefully.

[amphibian]

Evil stuff, I lifted some rhunarb recently, and found couch rhizomes growing right through the rhubarb roots, literally punched holes through, you could pull it out and see right through.

I have heard it can do the same to spuds.

[telboy]

Amphibian,
I'm pleased you posted the point about the penetrating ability of the 'beast'.
For those who think that planting spuds will 'clean the ground' - think on!!

[onionhead]

There's always an upside:

http://www.purplesage.org.uk/profiles/couchgrass.htm

;)

[Paulines7]

I found this through a Google search.

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/g/grasse34.html

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've had the odd spud with a couch root through it, back in the days when I was still overwhelmed by the stuff.