April 20, 2010

My nemesis

Bindweed. I hate this stuff:


Just look at it. See how it branches out in every direction, how quickly and easily it puts down those little sucker roots, how expansive it can get from one tiny seedling. After a day of weeding the garden, I will see bindweed in my dreams, er, nightmares. And to think, it all started because an immigrant long, long ago thought they were pretty flowers and chose to bring them to the U.S. If only they had known.



It's not that it's hard to pull. One good tug and out it comes...or so it seems. The problem is that the roots go so, so much deeper.

Our farm has been farm ground for a long, long time. The terraces are covered with the annoying little white flowers that signify bindweed. There really isn't anything we can do, besides pull. And pull. And pull.

But there is hope, in the form of a team of researchers and a very tiny insect.  Only time (and field trials) will tell!
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