Wood sorrel (I think) taking over everything

[PureBlackVoid]

I’m pretty sure it’s wood sorrel, little purple clover type plants.

It’s in everything. I get rid of it as much as possible outside of the season but right now it is entangled with all the veg and bedding plants. It’s really difficult to pull out without damaging or uprooting plants around it, especially the young/delicate/low growing ones.

It’s spread across all the new beds I made this year, too. I’m wondering whether it was also in the compost I used.

I’m worried that leaving it will also cause damage to the plants, but I suspect there’s not much I can do over summer. Is there anything I can do autumn-spring to prevent it next year? Any particular weed suppressing plants or other techniques?

I do have mulch down in some places, where it comes through a little less but I struggle to mulch around the closely planted stuff (I planted a lot close together this year, as I read that is also a weed preventing technique!)

I think you mean creeping wood sorrel - Oxalis corniculata. It is incredibly difficult to control, as it creeps by runners and has explosive seed pods. Removing by hand is fairly unsuccessful IMO, as any tiny roots left will regrow. It won’t damage other plants, but can look unsightly. Really, the only treatment is to spot treat with weed killer (I can hear the gasps of shock!) and even that doesn’t always kill the roots.

if you want to avoid glyphosate weed killers, Neudorff weed killer is quite effective and uses plant-based Pelargonic acid as its active component. It has quick knock- down, but might not kill the roots. I’ve been using this for the last couple of years as I have marestail as well as the oxalis, and it does help.

Oxalis acetosella, wood sorrel, isn’t invasive and is unlike to arrive by chance. Nan is right, it’ll be one of the non-native introduced Oxalis.

I lost this thread after posting somehow and still haven’t got the hang of the new search.. Finally managed to find it by googling ‘oxalis mumsnet’!

I think I will have to resort to weed killer to atleast help me tbh, as it’s become unmanageable now unless I go out and pull it every day which isn’t feasible.

I’m worried I’ll end up killing my actual plants though, as the oxalis is just growing over everything. It’s very frustrating as it’s taken me years to clear my garden of rubbish buried by the previous owners and I finally finished the raised beds and borders last year, but now this has taken over everything I’ve done and I’m breaking new growth on the young plants by pulling this up.

Part of me is planning on digging all of my plants out over autumn, digging up the soil and putting weed matting down (which I wanted to avoid) though I know even that won’t be 100% fool proof.

Try the no-dig method by Charles Dowding if you dont want to use weedkiller.
He uses cardboard as a weed suppressing layer, and then tops it off with a thick layer of compost.
If you cant get hold of enough compost to cover your beds, start off with cardboard- go to a white goods shop and ask for cardboard. It'll last for at least 6 weeks before disintegrating. Just make sure you take off any plastic tape first.
Use smaller pieces of cardboard to surround perennials/cut a hole in the large pieces.
Weigh down with rocks if you havent got the compost. Overlap the pieces of cardboard by 6 inches to prevent light from getting to the weeds.
Any weeds which do make it through, just pull up or remove 6 inches of growth with a little trowel.
I used this method (with the compost) at my allotment and eradicated couch grass, comfrey, bindweed and more. I am still working on the horsetail but it is significantly weakened.

charlesdowding.co.uk/dealing-with-weeds/