Wednesday 21 June 2017

Ox-bloody-alis.



If there's one blasted weed that I hate more than all others; it's the common OXALIS.

My neighbour's cleaner once boasted that it was thanks to her that I have them all over Haddock's. She had thrown the tiny bulbs over the wall (before I'd made it into my veg' patch), and boy how they spread!

                           

The wretched plants pop up over night, and are simply everywhere. I try to dig out the tiny pink bulbs, but it's a never-ending task.

When each of my four separate growing sections at Haddock's are cleared of their finished crops, I shall simply let the wretched things grow, then blast them with the most evil Agent Orange Oxalis Killer that Monsanto can make for me.

They're driving me absolutely bloody NUTS!



46 comments:

  1. At least it is easy to pull out - I just live with it. It is , obviously, a world-wide problem

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    1. If you just pull the leaves out, the bulbs seem to multiply. They are terrorists of the plant world.

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  2. I had to look that plant (weed) up and I see it is the shamrock. We don't have that here, but we have clover that looks similar and invades everything. Their roots are all over and into everything and no matter how much I pull out, it is back in days. I won't use any chemicals so I fight the fight knowing that it is a losing battle.

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    1. I wasn't aware that it was the same as Shamrock. Now I have to hate Shamrock as well!

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  3. I know what you mean . Not sure ours is exactly the same, looks it, but no pink bulbs. In the winter it just strangles everything. Fortunately in the summer it dries out and dies out completely. But you know it is there.....waiting

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    1. These have tiny, pink, pea sized, bulbs that live about 6 inches below the surface. They spread like crazy.

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    2. Must be a close cousin. 'Spreads like crazy but has roots like the clover 'staring over' describes

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    3. I expect they're all as bad as each other. Our ordinary Clover here tends to stay out of the veg' patch.

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  4. Have the neighbor's cleaner come over and weed your yard ! She is no friend to you !

    cheers, parsnip and thehamish

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    1. It was the way she laughed that annoyed me!

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  5. I feel very very sorry for your oxalis. There they are: growing, looking pretty and you have made them the enemy. Sniff. There are parts of the world where they eat oxalis, both the leaves and the roots.

    Rather than trying to eradicate why not make friends, Cro? You know, as they say, keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. The theory of which most appealing - except so far I haven't managed to make any enemies.

    If it's any comfort (unlikely) I know people who fight ivy. Not given to clinging myself I admire ivy for its tenacity.

    U

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    1. This like asking me to kiss a Porcupine. I'm afraid my animosity is so deep rooted (ahem) that making friends with them is out of the question.

      I don't dislike Ivy one bit!

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  6. Calm down Cro, you'll do yourself a mischief!

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    1. I'll calm down once I've placed the Dynamite.

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  7. I have 2 different weeds that love my garden. However much I pull them up, they just keep on coming. No idea what they are called. One of them hides behind other plants in the borders and produces seeds that catch in my dog's coat later in the year!

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    1. We all have our own problems. I have several nasties, but the Oxalis is the worst.

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  8. If it has yellow flowers we have it here, (i googled it by i am not sure), the children like to eat them.

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    1. I think there are many different varieties, with different coloured flowers. Ours have white flowers.

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  9. I have some but it was me who put it in ... I also planted a mind your own business that was a house plant ( before I knew much about gardening ) ..... worse thing that I could have done ..... it's everywhere now and, although I like the look of it in the cracks in the wall it's the most invasive plant EVER !!! We can just about keep it under control. All part of learning about gardening I guess. Keep calm and carry on Cro. XXXX

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    1. We have a purple Oxalis that belonged to my late mother-in law. It's a beautiful plant, and its growth is restricted by the pot. The best way to keep Oxalis

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    2. Be carful if you ever repot it. I somehow got some soil from one pot into my compost, and now have purple oxalis in every house plant I repotted. But my bug bear is Ground Elder!

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  10. I never think of it as a problem.
    But then I only grow weeds and roses and the roses don't seem to mind it.

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    1. It fights with my beans and peppers. It's a war zone.

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  11. Oxalis in the garden is the absolute pits. And the neighbour's cleaner ranks about the same as the oxalis in my opinion.

    Alphie

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    1. She laughed when she told me that it was all her fault. I had to restrain myself!

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  12. I feel your pain, Cro. It is the absolute pits! I've tried carefully sifting out the bulblets which is so time consuming. And one left behind starts the whole cycle again. Agent Orange is the go, I reckon.

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    1. I'm afraid so. Even then,I imagine they'll make a return within a couple of years.

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    2. What a depressing thought! I'd be getting the cleaner out there on her hands and knees sifting through the soil for weeks on end. She obviously has no idea of the monster she's unleashed. She laughed? Curse her!

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  13. It's okay, you don't need to hate Shamrock, Oxalis is known as 'False Shamrock' so you can still like the real thing!

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    Replies
    1. Phew; I'd have had the whole of Ireland breathing down my neck.

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  14. We don't have that but we have plenty of other weeds!

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  15. Oxalis is a useful herb me old boy, do look it up and you will see that it has culinary uses as well as medicinal ones.

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    1. I think I'll stick to my veg's, and leave the Oxalis to others. As for medicinal uses, most of my green plants probably do more good. Having said that, I will taste it.

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  16. I try to love my weeds. Bindweed is flowering its white trumpets off along the hedgerows at my allotment while the tiny pink-flowered bindweed is creeping wherever the hoe don't go. I thought oxalis spread by shooting its tiny seeds when ripe? Artichokes, broad beans, Charlotte potatoes and salad for supper followed by strawberries and raspberries - it's a tough life for us growers!

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    1. I have bindweed growing through my Rosemary bush. Lady Magnon has made a Strawberry pie for supper tonight, topped with Red Currents and Tayberries. We have guests!!!

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  17. Never dig up oxalis. Digging spreads tiny bulbs. Over a period of a couple of years, I won the battle using a paintbrush to touch each leaf with, as you say, the very best Monsanto had to offer. Mind, I am not sure now that I could get down low to do that for an extended period.

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    1. I think I'll have to spray them with something. They are overwhelming everything.

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  18. They are green - I let them grow.

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    1. There are too many of them. If it was just a few plants I probably wouldn't bother, but if I let them grow I'd have a thick green carpet.

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  19. One of the few weeds that doesn't invade my garden. Thank heaven.

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  20. This looks like the same weed I have in my garden; pink flower, pink little bulbs. The leaves and stems are eatable and tastes pickled.

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