On 24/04/2018 13:02, Janet wrote:

Come spring, abundant ground elder and horsetail sprung from the free
topsoil :-(((( Probably among the top three weeds dreaded by gardeners.
Just grateful he didn't donate Japanese knotweed.

There is some not far from me you can have if you like. Not on my land
thank heavens.

It's taken two seasons of meticulous prompt hand+fork extraction of
every new sprout but I have finally, totally eliminated both.

I always had the impression that horsetail was incredibly deep rooted.
Not known it propagate from broken bits of rhizome to anything like the
same extent as with ground elder and bindweed. The latter are only a
problem because of inaccessibility of their roots in shrubs and hedges.
In open ground they are quite easily dealt with - not so horsetail.

It takes lots and lots of digging and aiming for horsetail and control
is all you can hope for with horsetail if it likes your conditions. It
doesn't seem to like our heavy clay at all. The places where I have
struggled with horsetail have been well drained and sandy. YMMV

--
Regards,
Martin Brown