Problem focus: Bindweed

...and ask me anything!

My garden is infested. It always has been. Up they pop, the moment the weather gets warm enough: those sinister shoots reaching blindly for the nearest stem to begin their long inexorable climb to domination.

Field bindweed

Bindweed is one of the worst of all the perennial weeds, simply because it kills other plants. You can live with couch grass, or mare’s tail, unsightly though they may be: even ground elder stays low to the ground (unless you really let it get out of control) and doesn’t actively aim to destroy its neighbours.

Bindweed however strangles any plant it can get hold of, dragging it out of shape and smothering it in tight coils and big, blowsy leaves till it gives up the unequal struggle and succumbs.

So here’s what you need to know about bindweed: