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Or it could be used to make an organic spray for blight.
Couch grass was the bane of my life! I dug the garden several times and got lots of it out but it kept on coming up, it ruined every new lawn, so in the end I put a liner down and fake grass! It always looks nice!!! No more couch grass or weeds either I have a narrow garden and it has lots of curves--I hate straight lines so mowing it wasn't easy anyway, so now I can enjoy the garden anytime!
Jennifer Revell wrote (see)
We'd prefer not to use a weedkiller and wondered if rotovating it would make it easier to remove or would we be making the problem worse. Any advise would be very welcome. Thanks
NOOOOOOOO!!!! Don't rotovate couch grass - you'll only propogate lots more!
I took over an overgrown allotment some years ago and managed to get rid of the scutch in one half by methodically digging it with a fork and removing the roots as I went. Use a fork as the roots are quite stringy and will pull out if you can get a hold. A spade just chops them up and makes it more difficult imho.
The other half of the allotment I used roundup as time was getting on. and this worked just as well. Sometimes I think you just have to give in and use it.
The following year a new tenant in the disused allotment next door tried rotovating without weedkilling first. It looked really impressive to begin with, but like a meadow two months later.
I pulled out a lot of roots too, but it can't be helped when you dig whether you go through some of them and even a tiny bit that breaks causes more to grow, yes I was fighting a losing battle, it was enemy number one, I got obsessed going out there to pull more out and made the grass bald in the process..! I never thought of roundup..
So in the end it beat me, and now none grows at all because I faked it! :0)
The couch grass in my herbasceous borders is really crafty stuff. I find roots look similar to surrounding plant roots. i dug up a section, where it was the usual white needley bits but then when some of the roots tangled in with the ends of a phormium, the roots took on the orange of the phormium roots. Dastardly stuff, but when it gets too invasive I get the old roundup and a small polythene bag out. I place the growth in the polythene bag and spray. I leave the bag in situ for a day or so.
@dking45 - <span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Re Mare's Tail - I had lots of this growing - here's how I got rid of it:
