Which weeds do I have? How should I handle them?

[BlunderingBuffoon]

Hi folks,

I'm so new to gardening that I'm bound to ask the wrong questions in the wrong order (excuse the Andre Previn gag). I recently had my garden bramble cleared to make way for a gravel based garden with 4 flower bed/planted areas. However, I'm seeing some things sprouting through that I believe may be weeds. My first observation is that there are so may shoots in so many patches of the bed that I wonder if the soil was already badly contaminated when it went down. Can you help me identify them, please? If you can identify them, I'd be really interested in your thoughts on how to squash the blight.

I've uploaded some pictures, hopefully providing a close view.

If someone can help me, I'd appreciate it.

BB

PS. I hear that treating bindweed requires a different method to hoeing, so it'd be super helpful to know what I'm dealing with. Many thanks.

Yes, those are emerging bindweed shoots. So quite likely in the soil laid in the beds. This happened to us 30 years ago when we constructed raised beds and filled them with Somerset top soil. Removing bindweed is a constant process akin to painting the Forth road bridge I’m afraid. Dig out all shoots with their associated roots ( broken roots will resprout), and keep on top of any new shoots. You could, of course, use weed killer as soon as you see them (there are now weed killers without glyphosate), but it will need constant vigilance.

While I have managed to eradicate much of mine, it does grow in some almost inaccessible areas, so I have learned to live with it!

The other one is also a weed, so dig it out before it flowers. It spreads by seeds, not runners.
bindweed is a nightmare, but if you get the young shoots out before they spread you may be OK. If it gets bad the only way is weed killer.

Weed seeds can lay dormant in the soil for years, and only germinate when conditions are right - which is usually when the soil has been freshly cleared or dug over. I agree with @NanTheWiser about bindweed, but brace yourself, because you have a whole lot of other weeds coming your way soon too. Sorry!

Are you putting down thick weed fabric before the gravel goes down?

Bad luck with the bindweed. While the bed is still empty try to dig out as much as you can, as others as have said it spreads by runners and you will break the roots which will re-sprout, so try to get out as much root as possible.

The plant with the tiny daisies is erigeron karvinskianus which is beloved of Carol Klein. I have a lot of it and love it. It but it does spread, but it's easy to dig out if it gets over enthusiastic.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/32487/erigeron-karvinskianus/details

As with posters above- with bindweed you do need to dig out the roots. The roots are like thin white spaghetti and can break leaving a reminants behind. When removing, use a fork spade in the soil to really loosen it by wiggling it around, and then get on hands and knees and try and track the whole root with loosening the soil with hand fork and try and get as much out. The soil will be softer if it is damp. You would be surprised how many more roots can be found under the soil and how they will track under membrane or slabs or edging. Just have to keep on top of pulling the roots every time you see if sprouting.

Mostly bindweed. Try putting layers of newspaper/cardboard down before gravel (if gravel not down already) as bindweed can't grow without light. If bits shoot through joints in cardboard it moderates the need to pull it out. Top right picture shows grey/green plant with close packed succulent-like leaves. This is euphorbia myrsites (spelling might be wrong) which is lovely...low growing/a bit sprawling with lime green bracts (leaves which look like flowers, like poinsettia at Christmas) in spring. But wear gloves when deadheading as it exudes a milky sap which can be very irritable.

This

5 years in and its.still in my garden

Its sneaky and sprouts under my existing plants

I was assuming the Euphorbia myrsinites, Erigeron karwinskiana and the cat-mint like thing were plants you’d planted, and you were just worrying about the bindweed coming up in between

Thanks everybody for your help so far. Some of you wondered at what stage the gardening project was, so I've uploaded a picture of the garden at present. The beds and planting happened circa 3 weeks ago. It's essentially a quadrant of four planted areas with gravel underfoot separating the four corners.

After about 45 mins on my knees this morning trying to manually remove the bindweed I discovered a few things: (1) It's awkward, taxing and feels as futile as Sisyphus rolling the boulder up the hill (2) I uprooted a plant and its root bundle was essentially still intact from when it was planted and I can trace bindweed tentacles into that compressed root nexus. (There's a photo showing this.) If the plants came with this blight, I wonder if that explains why there are shoots of bindweed in every quadrant – attached is another photo showing how prevalent the bindweed shots are dispersed around the plants.

So, given all this, how would tackle this? I was prepared to labour over the next week trying to tackle the bindweed shoots in between each plant, but I don't know what to do if they're interwoven among the plant roots themselves. Is it possible to separate the bindweed from the root nexus of the plants? Are those plants even worth salvaging? Is this a common problem when buying plants?

What would you do?

Thanks, folks.

The only way I have tackled is by a regular and longer commitment.
I’d recommend doing a really big dig up of roots in the beds, before established plants take hold, then after that it a case of as soon as you see a leaf shoot, get down and dig it up. Get some really thick foam or a knee pad to protect the knees, The best time to do this is when the plants are dormant ( winter) but if you need to do now make sure the plans are regulary watered afterwards. If the new plants have space between them think about a really big thick mulch in between as the light will inhibit further growth.
You be amazed how long of a shoot a small root bit can grow and wind up plants , so just need to tackle regularly.
I have beds now with hardly any ( but a small bit always pops up). it is a persistent weed and the bain of any gardener; I always thinks it could always be worse ( I have a friend with horse tail…)

A quick note to all those who weighed in with advice – thank you very much. I took to the planted patches with my trust fork (el diablo) and uprooted as much of the blight as possible. I tackled two planted areas (6.25m2 each) and managed to fill about a third of a wheelie bin of bindweed. (Those who suggested forking it, so to speak, were absolutely right – there really isn't any other way. I haven't used my double-tine fork or hori hori at all.)

The roots I've pulled out have been circa 9 inches deep. Some are deeper still i.e. in the clay that is characteristic of this hilly area. So, the picture beginning to emerge is that the bindweed may simply have been dormant in the original soil. I wonder if the waste land that we removed was suppressing the bindweed and that removing it provided it with the perfect growing opportunity it didn’t have before. Either that or the garden renovation has stimulated the bindweed into a growing frenzy.

The irony is that I wanted my garden to be a place of peace. Instead I’m embroiled in war. (I hadn't expected a hori hori to look so much like a stake – if only one could drive it through the heart of bindweed and be done with it. Mush dash before it gets too macabre.)

Me too, and if you've just planted them I'd be inclined to put them back in pots (slightly larger than you bought them in) until you get a handle on the bindweed. Otherwise you might have to dig them up and try and separate out the bindweed roots later, which is a pain.

Edited: just saw your update. Yes, you can pull the shoot of bindweed carefully from tbe plant you photographed. Advice above stands: I'd keep all those lovely plants in pots for now! You can check them over before they go back in the ground.