Of all the weeds on your allotment which one would you happily put up?
i was trying to decide the other day....something to think about while trying to eliminate the worst ones....bindweed, couch grass, creeping buttercup.
I decided that something like chickweed isn't too bad...if you have a lot it can look pretty depressing but it pulls up quick and has often suppressed other weeds.
I've also decided that I'm not going to beat bindweed it grows to deep so I'll just rip off the top stuff when i see it and treat new growth with weed killer.
I am enjoying poppies. Popping up all over, but I like the splashes of red. Quite like pimpernel and the little heartsease.
Field Poppies.
I leave 'em until they finish flowering, then rip 'em out.
I really like vetch, it has beautiful dainty flowers and leaves and isn't too invasive.
Also the big purple frilly poppies which I leave to grow all round the edges of my plot.
Also comfrey....technically it's a weed but a very good one to have.
Edit: poppies seem to be a poppyular choice (see what I did there? ;D ;D :-\)
Quote from: Kea on July 17, 2009, 17:15:02
i was trying to decide the other day....something to think about while trying to eliminate the worst ones....bindweed, couch grass, creeping buttercup.
If I could get rid of those three, I could put up with the rest! >:(
unfortunatly im stuck with maestail!!! :-\
fumitory is a main weed on our plot, and will be for years.......it reminds me of living in Cornwall when I was between 7 and 11, and got interested in plants and nature...
Nigella! :-[
Corn Cockle and Corn Marigold because they are so pretty but because they self sow very freely I have to thin them down a bit but most of all I like the very dainty wild pink lesser antirrhinum - its getting quite rare now so I leave it where it self sows
Poppies (the big pink frilly ones). They pull out so easily and I always leave a few to make heads then carefully pull them and store them upright so when the heads dry out the kids can shake out the seeds for cooking with. Got nearly 4 ounces last year! ;D ;D
Quote from: electric landlady on July 17, 2009, 17:33:53
Edit: poppies seem to be a poppyular choice (see what I did there? ;D ;D :-\)
Yes, and it was terrible ;D ;D
Neil
Groundsel. It pulls up easily, and I love the smell.
I tolerate vetch (it is a legume), clover (ditto) and poppies. I would love Viola Tricolour - I had one once but it has not returned.
Saddad, I bet all the men would love Nigella on their plots ;D ;D ;D ;).
Dandylion which we eat when young.
(I still can't think of poppies as a weed. Never!)
Quote from: grannyjanny on July 18, 2009, 06:48:27
Saddad, I bet all the men would love Nigella on their plots ;D ;D ;D ;).
Yes, but she would sneek down in the night and eat it all ;D
Neil
I could live without it (or her) :-X
The most prolific weed on my plot is mercury, it comes up on every inch, constantly. It hoes off easily though, so I'm not bothered.
Following that I have bindweed, which is harder to live with, but I'm learning to tolerate it as I get rid of it slowly.
My old plot had bad couch, that's a tough one to deal with, because clearing couch sod is a sod.
I tolerate a bramble in my garden at home. It produces huge amounts of fruit. Each truss has up to 80 fruits. But it is a monster and keeping it under control is not easy. It puts down long runners in the autumn and everyone has to be sought out and cut off. Miss one and you have another monster in the making and it is load of work to dig it up.
I'm a poppy lover too. And I love dandelions - so happy and bees need them. Perhaps my favourite is Lady's Smock - pops up all over my veg patch and is delicate enough not to offer serious competition.
Nettles, same as comfrey you can make your own plant feed from this
Was it there when you moved in Digeroo or has it come up as a weed? I presume it tastes good as well...
QuoteI tolerate a bramble in my garden at home. It produces huge amounts of fruit. Each truss has up to 80 fruits. But it is a monster and keeping it under control is not easy.
I ask as it sounds very like "Fantasia" which was an accidental cross of a Himalayan Giant... found growing on an allotment in London and is now a good, if very vigerous, commercial variety... :-\
I also can't think of poppy as a weed. But what I can put up would be a nettle patch and clover on the paths, cos the bees just love them.
Quote from: simmo116 on July 17, 2009, 17:40:13
unfortunatly im stuck with maestail!!! :-\
Well - free pan-scourer!
According to one website, it makes a good foliar feed....
My plot is full of what others consider to be weeds. There's clover on the paths, creeping buttercups round one of the ponds, dandelions and poppies.
It's all there because I like it and it's beneficial for the wildlife.
When I started this i hadn't even thought of the clover and the poppies at my allotment as being weeds!
At home i seeded my lawn both front and back with white clover and it's the only thing still growing as lawn currently the grass having succumbed to the lack of rain. I only put it in my front lawn when I noticed my neighbour had seeded his with the expensive lawnseed with microclover because I thought the clover was bound to annoy him. Turns out he didn't read the packet and had no idea he'd seeded his lawn with clover because the next year he was out trying to kill it...and sprayed part of my lawn to when he thought I wasn't looking.
The funny thing is he spends a lot of time treating his lawn with weed killers etc but he has the weedy lawn if you exclude my clover which doesn't count because I put it there.
Quote from: Kea on July 22, 2009, 16:48:49
The funny thing is he spends a lot of time treating his lawn with weed killers etc but he has the weedy lawn if you exclude my clover which doesn't count because I put it there.
Don't you just love poetic (or in this case gardening) justice
Borage. It just pops up everywhere on my plot, so much that I use it as a green manure! ;D