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Bindweed next door

TheGreenManTheGreenMan Posts: 1,957
in Problem solving
Hi.

I opened the spare bedroom curtains this morning and something caught my eye in next door's garden.

A beautiful fern.

Next to the fern, however, was a leaf I know only too well: bindweed!

It appears to be all over next door's garden.  It starts on the side of their garden furthest away from mine....BUT it seems to be creeping over.

I have a six foot leylandii hedge between me and them.

I'm aware that it's only a matter of time until it starts to encroach.

As the hedge is about five feet deep, what do you think my chances are of keeping it under control?

Should I just get the hedge removed completely and replace it with a fence or do you think it's gonna be manageable trying to control it by having to climb into a hedge?

This is just another discovery to be added to the list of the many since moving in a couple of months back.

*sigh*

Any advice would be much appreciated. 
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Posts

  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
    How well do you get on with your neighbours?  If they are elderly and unable to keep their bindweed under control, perhaps you could offer to tackle it for them?  Especially where it is going into the fern.  I can't help with whether it will scale the hedge, or work its way under but I suspect it will end up in your garden whatever you do - it sounds as if next door won't stop it flowering.  
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
  • TheGreenManTheGreenMan Posts: 1,957
    She inherited an award winning garden and has just let it go wild so I don't think there's any chance of her controlling it.

    Perhaps I will speak to her and offer my services :)
  • TheGreenManTheGreenMan Posts: 1,957
    I had a fencer booked to install a lollipop fence around the bottom of the hedge but I've cancelled it for now while I figure out if it's already on my side.  Once the rain stops I will crawl under the hedge and inspect it......
  • IgrowfromseedIgrowfromseed Posts: 284
    Hi Ive managed to keep it under control in a raised bed where my strawberries live by repeatedly treating the leaves with glyphosate if you are happy to use the stuff. Weekly treatments of anything that sprouts up until the leave start to shrivel. After several months I still get the occasional bindweed shoot every few weeks.
  • TheGreenManTheGreenMan Posts: 1,957
    @Igrowfromseed Thanks. Would I be able to use chemicals in the hedge though? 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    If you paint glyphosate onto the bindweed leaves it'll translocate back to the roots and kill the plant without touching the hedge.  You'll just have to keep your eyes open and treat any leaves that appear.  We've done it in a previous garden ad it works.  The trick is to paint the leaves and then leave the plant to die off ... only then can you be sure that the chemical has reached the roots.  If you pull the leaves out too soon the root will still be alive and will regrow. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • TheGreenManTheGreenMan Posts: 1,957
    Thanks @Dovefromabove

    I’m struggling to see why we moved here right now. 

    It seems to be one thing after another…  

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    It'll be fine ... the bindweed we dealt with reached the upstairs bedroom windowsills ... we beat it  :D

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • TheGreenManTheGreenMan Posts: 1,957
    Well that’s the kind of thing I need to hear right now. Thank you @Dovefromabove 🙏🏻
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    It’s just gardening … that’s all … we’re supposed to enjoy the challenges 🤪 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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