WEED ASPARAGUS

if you grow asparagus, you’ll be harvesting spears now. There may be weeds, too — so deal with those as you go.

Annuals such as groundsel and red deadnettle are easy to pull out. Perennials — bindweed, creeping thistle, nettles etc — are more damaging and difficult to remove.

you can destroy them with glyphosate (Roundup), but take great care. The herbicide must be sprayed or painted directly onto individual weeds. A drop of glyphosate on an asparagus spear could damage or kill the whole plant.

Before spraying, check that no shoots remain above ground. if you accidentally spray glyphosate onto a nontarget plant, hose it down copiously at once.

Water will wash away the chemical before it has been absorbed by the plant.