Locked in battle with an alien invader
Whether you call it bindweed or morning glory, this plant is a Tribble- like menace
Hi Randy,
Love your column. I live vicariously through your stories and get inspiration each year to continue growing some of my own food.
One problem I have is with morning glory. It came from the neighbour’s yard under the fence and into my veggie patch. Every year I try, in vain, to remove this “Tribble” of weeds.
No matter how diligent I am in removing the roots, somewhere, somehow the stuff keeps growing. I can abate its growth when the tomatoes, cukes and brassicas are young, but once the summer rolls out, the morning glory takes over, climbing up and over everything, seeking out new life and new civilizations, boldly going where no weed has gone before.
This year, I built a dirt filter out of quarter- inch wire cloth and 2x4s and will sift as much dirt in the patch as possible before adding manure.
I also intend to cover the garden with black landscape cloth to keep weeds to a minimum, but knowing morning glory, it will somehow clog up the dilithium crystal chambers and choke out my tomatoes, again.
I’ve never used chemical fertilizers as it’s like setting a phaser to kill and accidentally disintegrating the red uniformed Ensign. I’m ready to beam up to a new veggie patch if my vainglorious attempts to eradicate the morning glory fail again.
Damn it, Randy, I’m a gardener, not a weed doctor!
Jason Jason, Bindweed may well be your Kobayashi Maru, a no- win scenario.
Sometimes you have to sacrifice a red shirt for the greater good. I have spent years sifting and pulling morning glory. But you might have to resort to a systemic herbicide such as Roundup. It’s the only way to kill the roots all the way through fencelines and under other barriers. One centimetre of surviving root is all bindweed needs to completely regenerate.
If you don’t kill the roots all the way to the end, the morning glory will come right back like a pernicious alien invader, which is exactly what morning glory is, coming from Europe. We all want to avoid using any kind of herbicide around the garden, but sometimes organic is a goal, not a religion.
I have installed cinder block barriers around the area of my garden that was plagued, which I keep morning glory- free. But that’s a big investment in money and sweat. Live long and prosper, Randy “Spock” Shore