Re: Morning Glories Conquer TN Garden: Surrender is Imminent

Julianne,

I don't have any solutions for you, just some thoughts -

Are you sure those lovely leaves didn't bring the weed seeds with them?  I get
free bark mulch from the city and it comes with free seeds too!  I usually have
at least one major weeding event after I apply the mulch.

Also, the white "morning glories" I get here are called bind weed.  And I just
keep pulling it out where I don't want it.

--
Debby Williams
Master Gardener
Oakland County, Michigan USA
USDA Hardiness Zones 5b/6a


Julianne Wiley wrote:

> Hey tomato lovers,
>
> I gotta ask for some advice here.
>
> I've been picking delicious tomatoes for a month or so now (of course, this
> is Upper East Tennessee) but I have one hecklacious WEED problem which
> threatens to overwhelm the whole operation.
>
> This year I was sure I would be able to defeat the weeds because I had TWO
> city dump-trucks full of leaf mulch dumped behind our house last autumn, and
> my and my husband and the boys worked hard to shred them all up and layer
> them with stuff to make them start to compost quicker (alfalfa meal and
> suchlike) and then all this year we've been mulching all our garden beds
> HEAVILY with this wonderful leafmulch.
>
> Well, it has resulted in moist dark worm-rich soil formation all right, BUT
> it has not suppressed the weeds in the least.  For the first part of the
> summer we just kept pulling weeds and adding more mulch in big double
> handfuls wherever we thought it might be getting thin.  Pull, mulch, pull,
> mulch, and always the same kind of weeds:  those lovely *&%*&^% morning
> glories.
>
> We kept it up until the tomato plants were so big they "filled" the planting
> beds, and we couldn't even get close enough to pull or mulch anymore, if you
> know what I mean.  The boards which form the sides of the planting beds were
> completely covered with tomato branches and leaves.
>
> But then the lovely &*^&&^$^ morning glories, taking advantage of an unusual
> week of rain here (unusual for the end of July/beginning of August) got
> re-established and have grown ALL OVER my tomatoes.  Also all over the
> potatoes, my blueberry bushes, my little baby apple tree, and everything
> else.  And despite the fact that I'd tried to eradicate them along my fence
> line with Round-Up and Finale and similar herbicides, they grew in so thick,
> covering the fence with their lovely &^%$%$&^% white, blue, and purple
> flowers, that the fence is sagging.
>
> So, OK:  I tried hand-pulling. I tried heavy mulching. I tried herbiciding
> along the perimeter.  And I lost.  Total defeat.  Except they sure are
> purty.
>
> What the heck could I do??
>
> Eager to learn,
>
> Julianne
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