Pesky weed shows its staying power

No easy fixes for stubborn plant that begins releasing its seeds at this time of year

Q In spite of my best efforts to lift the pesky things out of the ground before they mature and explode seeds in all directions, some sort of cress keeps appearing in the garden. What is this weed and how is it controlled?

A: I know your weed well. On the weekend before the snow and freezing temperatures arrived in early December, I actually saw a few in a vegetable plot. The tiny plants were already starting to flower.

This weed grows everywhere. It’s a Cardamine, probably Cardamine hirsuta (hairy bittercress, shotweed, smartweed, snapweed, pepperweed). The plants’ small, bright green rosettes send up little white flowers that form seed pods, usually beginning late in January. Ripe seeds explode from the pods to scatter a fair distance.

I wish I had an easy solution for you, but the only sure way to control bittercress is to pull or hoe out the plants while they are young, before they can set seeds. Keep the plumpest plants for tasty additions to the salad bowl. If possible, follow a weeding with a weed-suppressing mulch. Q Early every year, I purchase many packets of seed for my garden, with ever-increasing alarm at the rising prices. I buy both vegetable and flower seeds, mainly commonly grown types. Where can I find the best prices?

A: It’s worthwhile checking out seed racks at your favourite local garden centres to compare prices among the different companies represented. Racks are usually filled with the new year’s seeds during January.

Among the catalogues that I receive and use, Lindenberg Seeds in Manitoba has the most economical prices. They revamped their catalogue last year to add colour photos and many of the newest varieties, and the prices remained low. You can request a printed catalogue online. lindenbergseeds.ca.

Of the remaining catalogues I’m familiar with, T&T Seeds (Manitoba) and William Dam Seeds (Ontario) also have quite reasonable prices.