Does anyone know a proven way to rid my allottment of mares tail?

As mares tail has  been around for several million years, don't expect it to be an easy job !  I had it in my allotment fo a few years after taking it over, and have made continuous raids on it, buy digging it out by the root, CAREFULLY, and trying to get EVERY bit of the root our, even the small bits, as they will just regenerate if left, from the tiniest remnant overlooked. Dig, scratch, root out at every chance appearance, and accept that it is an ongoing task. Be vigilant and patient. You will eventuaally reduce it to a manageable level.  Goof luck.  Oh yes ! If you can get a pig in to rootle it up, then this is even better !

Just read my last entry, and apologies for absurd spelling mistakes, like 'goof luck'. Perhaps this is a Freudian slip !  GOOD luck anyway. 

What happens when you got lots of mares tails ( horsetails ) in your rose bed?

Funny thing about these mares tails............... we were in south of france a few years back, and much of the hilltop towns, where there was cultivation going on, was savagely over run with this stuff. Completely covered with it ! No attention paid to the stuff.  The French have a different attitude to gardening. Its a sort of 'laissez faire' philosophy, and despite the size of the 'cosmetic' industry, gardens are allowed to let rip  'au naturale', as they say in Paris ! Are we too obsessed with appearances ?

pinging this for Alison.

pinging for Dizzylizzy

Thanks Daintiness- good to hear others have the problem- I'm going to try the wee-killer specially for Maretials- Curtail- it burns the tops off in acouple of weeks, then I can then replant with bedding and hope they don't come back next year, or a few may I am told but by the 2nd season should be fully gone........here's hoping after spending many hours digging the roots out over the last few years and to no avail.