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Post by nerene on Feb 26, 2014 18:44:46 GMT
I wanted a gardening forum in the UK and this seems a very nice one. I have been a very keen gardener for most of my adult life but in 2007 I moved into a flat on my retirement, thinking I wouldn't miss the work and could just enjoy the communal gardens - how wrong I was! The communal gardening firm contracted weren't gardeners - all they wanted to do was mow the grass and collect leaves. Beds went unweeded, dead plants stood in the beds, no digging was ever attempted let alone planting of seasonal plants among the shrubs. It was all very frustrating unless I'm just an old moaner! Anyway, fast forward to August 2012 when I moved into a small bungalow with a garden and a lovely view at the back - I was in heaven and the gardener in me was resurrected. However the previous owner had only laid it to two lawns and veg which is not my style so it was all covered with membrane to kill it off until spring 2013 when I could make beds and paths (down with lawns!). I had bought many plants to put in and had done a few but then, horror of horrors I discovered I had the dreaded mares/horse tail - a weed I had never had dealings with before! What a monstrous thing it is. I went into battle against it for the rest of the season and didn't want to plant anything as it would just make things more difficult. So the rest of the season was spent waging war and potting on and watering all the plants that were in waiting. Now the sap is rising and I'm undeterred - we shall fight the dreadful thing and do some more planting regardless. Nothing makes me happier than being in my garden even if I'm not as able physically as I was, and I'm looking forward to sharing this season with all my new forum friends, but first I have to post elsewhere about a shrub I'd like to identify.
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Post by Tel on Feb 26, 2014 19:20:24 GMT
Welcome to our friendly forum nerene,  I have been battling horsetail on our two allotments for over 20 years, I just live with it now, my dahlia's still grow ok with it. |
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Post by daitheplant on Feb 26, 2014 19:37:50 GMT
Good evening nerene and welcome to the site.
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Post by caretaker on Feb 26, 2014 22:22:39 GMT
Welcome Nerene, I have found this forum a very friendly place, hoping you do to.
Reg
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Post by steve on Feb 26, 2014 22:24:01 GMT
Welcome to the forums nerene |
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Post by nerene on Feb 26, 2014 23:17:08 GMT
Many thanks for the welcome folks - I hope to get more into this forum as time goes by. It seems to be, from what I can see, a nice steady forum, but not overwhelmingly busy. I did try to join the RHS forum but they failed to send the confirming email and reading the recent posts it sounded like a bit of argy-bargy was also going on - who needs that?
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Post by SueA on Feb 27, 2014 20:21:40 GMT
Welcome nerene , hope you enjoy the forum. My late mum-in-law had a lot of horsetails in her garden & I tried to tackle it for her, never quite got rid of it where it kept coming up through the paving in her greebhouse or the crazy paved patch outside it but I did manage to stop it in her main border, I put a thick layer of black plastic membrane down & planted through it by cutting small holes & covered it all up with chipped bark. If you keep pulling out any strays which creep through & topping up the bark it keeps it under control. |
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Post by nerene on Feb 27, 2014 21:05:01 GMT
Welcome nerene , hope you enjoy the forum. My late mum-in-law had a lot of horsetails in her garden & I tried to tackle it for her, never quite got rid of it where it kept coming up through the paving in her greebhouse or the crazy paved patch outside it but I did manage to stop it in her main border, I put a thick layer of black plastic membrane down & planted through it by cutting small holes & covered it all up with chipped bark. If you keep pulling out any strays which creep through & topping up the bark it keeps it under control. Thanks for the welcome Sue! Re the marestail, my reading indicated it has roots 30 -40' down and has survived since dinosaur times! I don't think it was a problem for the previous person who lived here because she had mostly lawn and it would just have been cut with the grass, so I got a real surprise when it started popping up - I didn't even know what it was at first. All my pebbled areas have got a thick membrane underneath the stones and it still came through. The beds are too big for me to cover as you describe, plus I like the cottage garden thing with self-seeders allowed to do their thing. I don't know if this will shock everyone (especially those who don't use chemicals) but after much research I bought this weedkiller www.progreen.co.uk/Weed-killers/Total-Weed-Killers/Kurtail-0-5LT/prod_2.html?review=read#read_review It doesn't work nearly as well as it claims it will, and it costs a lot, but I just kept on spraying every few days and it kept it down. Hopefully it will eventually see it off! What I did find interesting is that the very obvious ferny growth is the male bit but the female part is a small spike and quite difficult to see. As I started my attacks the plant obviously reallised it was under threat and threw up a lot more "mummys" as I called them, which I particularly enjoyed spraying! What a nasty gardener! |
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Post by SueA on Feb 28, 2014 20:07:20 GMT
I don't blame you for resorting to chemicals nerene even though I try not to use them myself, horse/marestail is the only thing which seems indestructable, I have heard people saying if you crush the fronds a bit before you apply the weedkiller it absorbs it more. I've seen it coming up through the tarmac on the path round the corner from here, it's a shame it's so invasive as it's quite an interesting plant. |
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Post by Cherry on Mar 1, 2014 7:20:54 GMT
Welcome Nerene. A weedkiller on mare's tail does not shock me. I feel sorry for you. You just have to keep weakening it until you can live with it. I think this happened to Tel on his allotment and he is a specialist dahlia grower. |
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Post by nerene on Mar 1, 2014 17:27:42 GMT
I don't blame you for resorting to chemicals nerene even though I try not to use them myself, horse/marestail is the only thing which seems indestructable, I have heard people saying if you crush the fronds a bit before you apply the weedkiller it absorbs it more. I've seen it coming up through the tarmac on the path round the corner from here, it's a shame it's so invasive as it's quite an interesting plant. It is virtually indestructible - I'll agree with that, as no other weed has beaten me before! I am making progress but I can see it being a life's work to keep on top of it! Yes the thing you heard about crushing it is correct because it has a very smooth hard outer coat which very little permeates but I've got other things to do with my life besides crushing weeds - it's actually quite hard to do! I did try heavy strength weedkiller mixed with washing up liquid which is supposed to help it stick more but the "Kurtail" doesn't need that. It hasn't shown it's face so far this year but I think we were well into March or even April (it was a late spring last year) before it started popping up. It appears as little fronds on the surface of the soil and I though it was bits left over from trimming the conifer hedge - so naive! |
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Post by nerene on Mar 1, 2014 17:32:33 GMT
Welcome Nerene. A weedkiller on mare's tail does not shock me. I feel sorry for you. You just have to keep weakening it until you can live with it. I think this happened to Tel on his allotment and he is a specialist dahlia grower. Actually Tel did reply to the thread higher up and said he's learnt to live with it and his dahlias seem unaffected. Maybe I'll have to feel more relaxed about it too. I'm reading a book called "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff....and everything is small stuff". At the moment marestail seems like BIG stuff but it's not in the vast scheme of life I suppose. |
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Post by daitheplant on Mar 1, 2014 19:57:28 GMT
Crushing any plant to help it absorb weedkiller does not work, a plant will shut down any damaged area so it will not take up weedkiller through crushed leaves. For weedkiller to have any affect on marestail you need to treat the growth before the fronds open. When open they have a waxy coating which prevents the absorbtion om chemicals. Nerene, you say marestail roots down to 30 to 40 feet, in fact roots of the plant have been seen in mines 30+ metres down.
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Post by Cherry on Mar 1, 2014 22:07:28 GMT
Interesting daitheplant and it works for me, yet I also thought crushing was a help. Thank goodness I don't have that worry. Hogweed is bad though. |
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Post by daitheplant on Mar 2, 2014 19:07:24 GMT
Cherry, I would rather have Hogweed to worry about than marestail,lol Thankfully I have neither.
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I have been battling horsetail on our two allotments for over 20 years, I just live with it now, my dahlia's still grow ok with it.
