Bindweed and a wonky laurel bush

[poppymango]

We have a terrible bindweed problem in our garden. It's particularly hard to address because so much of it comes in through the fence from next door, and from under the decking. We're renting, so the decking unfortunately has to stay (I would much prefer grass!)

The recent frosty days seem to have killed off a lot of the bindweed (woohoo) and I've cleared as much as I can, but there is a laurel bush next to the fence which is practically on its side now because the weed has caused it to grow in a funny direction. It's pretty massive with quite a sturdy trunk.

Any ideas on how to rectify this and get it growing the right way? Would we have to cut it back first? I've never really had a garden before so I'm terrified of killing everything!

Thanks in advance 🙂

I hate to break it to you, but bindweed will not be affected by the frost - the leaves might wither but the root system will be going strong. It is painfully difficult to get rid of bind weed once it has established itself - dig out as much as you can, but even a cm left in the ground will turn into a new plant. You just have to keep on top of it and dig new bits out as soon as you see them.

as for the laurel, I would give it a bit of a pruning and see what it does. It might be reacting to the light as much as the bindweed (though bindweed will have also affected light) as it looks like a shady corner.

I was afraid this might be the case re. the bastarding bindweed!! But hopefully the laurel will have enough of a breather to start shifting back to where it should be.

I feel your pain - I will always remember last year as the year of bindweed. We had landscapers completely gut our beds (new to us home, neglected garden) and while it looked completely clear of vegetation they hadn’t taken much care to pull out roots. All the digging and chopping basically spawned a bazillion new and difficult to control tiny bindweed plants and every 2-3 weeks I was out there digging up the new ones as they emerged. It was relentless. I haven’t seen any this year (knocks on wood) but it might still be a bit early.

it is worth taking time to dig out the roots with care, and make sure they are burned / sent to garden waste collection

Every time you dig bindweed up, each tiny bit of root left behind will end up making a new plant. It is better to poison each plant carefully with roundup and that will kill the roots too.
The laurel, it is just growing that way to get to the light or was it totally swamped by weeds?
In terms of pruning, you can take it back to the ground and it will recover. It is the same as bindweed and will regrow from any live tissue which is in contact with the soil.