Which weeds do I have? How should I handle them?

Thanks everybody for your help so far. Some of you wondered at what stage the gardening project was, so I've uploaded a picture of the garden at present. The beds and planting happened circa 3 weeks ago. It's essentially a quadrant of four planted areas with gravel underfoot separating the four corners.

After about 45 mins on my knees this morning trying to manually remove the bindweed I discovered a few things: (1) It's awkward, taxing and feels as futile as Sisyphus rolling the boulder up the hill (2) I uprooted a plant and its root bundle was essentially still intact from when it was planted and I can trace bindweed tentacles into that compressed root nexus. (There's a photo showing this.) If the plants came with this blight, I wonder if that explains why there are shoots of bindweed in every quadrant – attached is another photo showing how prevalent the bindweed shots are dispersed around the plants.

So, given all this, how would tackle this? I was prepared to labour over the next week trying to tackle the bindweed shoots in between each plant, but I don't know what to do if they're interwoven among the plant roots themselves. Is it possible to separate the bindweed from the root nexus of the plants? Are those plants even worth salvaging? Is this a common problem when buying plants?

What would you do?

Thanks, folks.

 

Exterminating bindweed is not a quick operation, more a lifetime task, but don't let that put you off!.
Its unlikely (but possible ) to buy plants from commercial sources that contained bindweed. More likely if you purchased from plant sales or received donations from 'friends'. The greatest likelihood is that it was within the ground already but hidden by the brambles you had removed.The plant shown with the roots: those shoots would be produced in 2-3 weeks, such is its voracity.

My approach would be to follow the previous advices above. Try do at least control the spread whilst also concentrating on elimination of all, from a bed at a time. As before, Good luck!
As the season winds down it will slow but remains alive all year.

 

If you got a plant where the roots are all entangled with weeds and can easily dig it out do so and then wash off all the soil. You should then hopefully be able to identify and extract the weeds and their roots

 

Oh dear! Was your garden planted by a professional? Surely they noticed the bindweed roots. My vegetable garden was a bit like that when I bought my house. I dug up every root I could find before planting anything then when the odd bit popped up I sprayed it with Glyphosate.

If you really want to get rid of it I think you will have to dig up your plants, rinse the roots, plant them in pots for the time being in compost then spray the bindweed or dig it all up then spray any bit that dares show its head. Replant the plants in the autumn.

 

@Busy-Lizzie and @Butterfly6, you both mentioned washing/rinsing the roots of any uprooted plants. As a newbie, this is fascinating to me. What is the benefit of doing that, please?

To answer your question, Busy–Lizzy, it was planted by a company who score well on reputable TrustATrader and such sites. But the rampant bindweed leaves me feeling a bit cheated. I spoke to my neighbour about it and he credits the soil for being well-drained, but he's sure that the soil definitely came with the bindweed roots. In my weeding efforts I unearthed a few shards of ceramic tile and one 5 inch rusted nail. The neighbour thinks the soil was probably sourced from land that remained neglected for some time.

 

I think you should have a word with the suppliers of the topsoil. Did you pay for it? Also talk to the company who did the planting. It looks to me that there is so much bindweed that they should help get rid of it.

The point of rinsing the roots of the plants is so that you can see if there are any more white bindweed roots among the roots of your plants.

 

Thanks, Busy-Lizzie. That makes sense.

As for the project, the company that removed the old garden and planted this one are the same. They sourced everything – soil and plants, so I don't know where they came from. The plants arrived in a stacked pallet of some kind, so they have a supplier. I'll contact the company at the end of the week. Until then I'll eradicate as much of the bindweed as I can. I'm also learning so much – being able to recognise plants by their leaf shapes and shoots etc. I spotted one dandelion among the mix and uprooted it – goodness, they have roots like carrots!

As for weedkillers, I'm familiar with the spraying kind, but not so much the kind that you can dab/paint onto the leaves of weeds. In your experience, do they work?

 

As said, rinsing just means you can clearly see what you are doing. It also tends to make any untangling easier.

I’ve never used weed killers so can’t help with that but good luck clearing it all. We have tackled all ours by hand and/or (if no wanted planting) smothering with cardboard/mulch

For me, the design of the garden would help as I would focus on one quadrant at a time and only move on to the next when it was fully cleared. Meanwhile, in the other quadrants, I would just make sure no weeds went to flower/seed before I was ready to tackle that space

 

The dabbing on weedkiller take ages when you have a lot to do and as you dab the leaf jumps away! There used to be a foam spray that just squirted on to the weed without spraying anything else around. I don't know if it's still available. It is getting harder to find glyphosate as I think it will be banned. There isn't really another weedkiller like it. The new ones on the market don't really get to the roots of perennial weeds like bindweed and they can damage the soil. The good thing about glyphosate is that it is inactivated when it touches the soil. The worry is that there may be a cancer risk. I just wear gloves. Normally I would only use it on my drive but with an infestation of bindweed I would use it. Farmers have been spraying it all over the fields for years, much more risky that a careful gardener!

Yes, dandelions have long roots. If a small bit of root is left behind it will regrow.