Re: bindweed killer
- To:
- Subject: Re: bindweed killer
- From: M* T*
- Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 19:41:08 -0500
Doug,
I was digesting your first post and planning on posting a response in
the first place...your follow up brought up even more good points.
First of all, you are absolutely 100% correct. Get the soil right
and all else will fall into place.
Secondly...the comment about bindweed flourishing in poor soils and
those low in organic matter is, I think, also correct. I mentally
inventoried my garden and the only place that I have bindweed is the
one I was referring to originally. A steep hill made of imported
subsoil fill when the house was built some 25 years ago - to which
absolutely nothing has been done in that time but watch Mother Nature
as she reclaimed the bare clay with assorted "weeds".
Now, when I was shifting earth back there, trying to make something
semi-decent out of the mess I've been looking at for years, I found
the soil had virtually no organic matter in it - only a thin (perhaps
1/2 inch) layer on the top where plants had decayed over the years.
The soil is/was pure clay subsoil.
I incorporated compost and other organic material when I was done
playing human bulldozer and prepared beds for perennials. It will be
very interesting to watch and see what the bits of remaining bindweed
root in that soil do as they discover that the soil has been
improved. I think I may be fighting it for a few years, because
nothing in the plant world moves as quickly as in the human world,
and it might take that pernicious weed some time to realize it's in
an unfriendly environment.
I thank you for your posts - they concentrated my mind.
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
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> From: Doug Green <flowers@simplegiftsfarm.com>
> Date: Thursday, February 03, 2000 3:06 PM
> (snip)
> I think it relevant to a list on perennials because it speaks to a
whole
> manner of gardening. Soil is at the bottom (excuse the pun):-) of
the
> entire gardening experience. Get the soil right and you can grow
darn near
> anything. Screw it up and you'll have the worst gardening nightmare
you can
> imagine. Growing perennials depends on creating good soil. Or,
getting rid
> of noxious weeds.
(snip)
> "Bindweed also flourishes in soils with low humus counts (possibly
related
> to improper decay properties) such as sand and heavy clay soils.
Low
> measurements of calcium (hence the gypsum), phosphorus, potassium
and pH
> also promote its growth."
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