You know how we all tend to exaggerate, a little, in normal life? We say things like "Oh, I would KILL for those cheekbones!" (Oh no you wouldn't, that would be murder.)

Or we say: "It took me ALL DAY to weed that bed," (no, it took you an hour and a half.)

Well, the other day I was presented with a nasty bindweed infestation:

Underneath all that lot is a standard Exochorda x macrantha 'The Bride', believe it or not.

The bindweed is on it, around it, below it, up the shrubs to the right, and heading south for the lawn as well.

So I set to work: and in case you are interested in my "process", I shall tell you how I approached it.

(I say that, because recently I had a paying student, who kept asking me what my "process" was.  This is not an expression I have heard, since turning my back on office life, and it took me a while to realise what they actually meant, by it.)

First job, then, sever the stems of the bindweed, as they rise into the shrub.

Next job, take off your gloves, and gently unwind the stems of bindweed, bit by bit, cutting them into smaller sections as you do so: don't just grab a handful and pull, otherwise you will definitely strip the foliage, and will probably break many of the branches, as well. Plus, being a standard, it only has one central stem, and it would be pretty disastrous to snap that!

Then, work your way down the shrub, unwinding and cutting the bindweed, until the whole thing is revealed.

Now you can start working your way back into the shrubs: and now, it is ok to grab handfuls and pull.

Once you have pulled out all the "loose" bindweed, you will then have to dig the roots out, and that's quite a job.

But my point, in this article, is that by the time I'd cleared the Exochorda, I was - wait for it - LITERALLY...

....up to my knees in bindweed! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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