I am restoring an urban garden that has seen about 30 years of neglect. When
I started the garden was completely covered by ivy, briars and nettles and I
am nearly finished digging out an ash trees roots whoose base covers 5' x
5'. The soil in this garden is perfect and the aspect is south-west and
there are two mature plum trees I can recover.
However there are neglected plots on either side of the wall that are home
to two very nasty plants whoose roots are starting to creep under the wall.
On one side there is bindweed and the other is Japanese knotweed. Both are
heavily infested with said plants and the sites are effectivly abandoned,
one site has recently been sold, the other is the subject of a squatters
dispute.
Digging the roots out like the others looks like a fruitless task, so I'm
trying to figure out how to eliminate bindweed & knotweed. I'm open to
anyone's ideas or experience in controlling these plants?