To weed or not to weed?!

**veggiechicken** · 19-05-2013, 10:32 AM

Hi Starmist and welcome to the Grapevine!
Are these seedlings in your garden or on an allotment?
Have you pulled one up to look at the roots? If so, is it connected to another plant by the roots?

**Thelma Sanders** · 19-05-2013, 10:34 AM

all look like weeds to me, and would have been hoed off, by now, if they were on my plot.

If it ain't in a line, or block, where I've sown and labelled it - then it's a weed

**Starmist** · 19-05-2013, 10:52 AM

It's part of my garden so mostly for plants.. veggie plot is at the bottom. I had lots of plants last year and I didn't know if they were seeds from them or not..

Thelma - I've really wanted to pull them up, but the other half thinks they may be 'special' so I've left them til now.

veggiechicken - I will go and pull one up now and see if they are connected or not!

**rustylady** · 19-05-2013, 11:55 AM

Are you thinking bindweed VC?

**BertieFox** · 19-05-2013, 12:33 PM

There's no real harm done in leaving weeds to get a bit larger when they can often be clearly identified, as long as you don't haul them out of the ground and in so doing harm the plants you are trying to protect. Light hoeing or cutting the weeds off at the base is far more effective than trying to pull them out by hand, especially with some crops that don't like disturbance, like carrots.
There has been quite a bit of research done on the 'ideal' time to weed to maximise your crop's growth while minimising your labour. In general terms that suggests weeding once, when weeds are slightly larger, rather than working every day to pull out every tiny seedling. You can also use larger weeds as a mulch on the surface of the soil when the weather has turned warm and sunny (assuming that ever happens this summer!)

**veggiechicken** · 19-05-2013, 01:10 PM

Originally posted by rustylady View Post

Are you thinking bindweed VC?

No Rusty, not bindweed. It looks like a perennial that is spreading - maybe some sort of Shasta daisy or phlox?

**Veggielot** · 19-05-2013, 07:50 PM

Originally posted by Starmist View Post

I thought they were weeds at first, but now I have so many of them I'm starting to question whether they are or not?!

If have so many and you didn't plant them then sounds pretty much like weeds.

**Alison** · 19-05-2013, 08:10 PM

Look like weeds to me too unless you've sown something there or they look like something you had there last year but my money is still on weeds - by the way, there are some quite pretty weeds (or so I keep telling myself

)

**Keymel64** · 19-05-2013, 08:17 PM

They look like my allotment at the moment, after all the rain we have had. :-(

**Alison** · 19-05-2013, 08:21 PM

Originally posted by Keymel64 View Post

They look like my allotment at the moment, after all the rain we have had. :-(

I wish mine only had that amount of weeds - filled 3 trugs today with the weeds and rubbish from one of my squash beds

. Still got the other one to do.

**Keymel64** · 19-05-2013, 08:24 PM

It's a real headache but I've been visiting most days to keep them down, I feel like I spend more time weeding than actually putting plants in the ground or fighting the pigeons off. Now there's a topic all of its own .....

**bumpybabemagnet** · 20-05-2013, 06:00 PM

I have a simple rule - if I don't like it, it's a weed

**greenishfing** · 20-05-2013, 06:04 PM

Generally if there's lots of them and they grow well, don't get eaten, and don't need mollycoddling they are weeds!

**Snadger** · 20-05-2013, 08:18 PM

Chuck some mulch over and bury them before they get too big..............

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