Bind weed

Email from Gary Flynn:

I was about to till my plot on Thursday, and found that I have bind weed growing in

about 1/4 of the plot--in the place where I put straw last year.  I hear that it is really aggressive stuff.  I dug down as far as I could and pulled out roots (which were extensive and reminded me a lot of Lilly of the Valley roots, but bigger).  I noticed that in some places it was coming up thru the newspaper and mulch in the aisles around me.  I also saw that it was in a couple plots near me; and Ray Kiihne said that it is growing in one of the plots near him. 

     Do you have any idea what to do about it?  I'm reluctant to plant any seed, in case it pokes up and overwhelms the little plants.  I will look on the Net for ideas; but wanted to alert you.  It looks more difficult than thistle.  Also, do we need to

reconsider straw?  I had always heard that it could bring in undesirable weed

My comments:

Bindweed is a real pain, and I'm noticing it all over the garden this spring.  Once it gets started it's as hard as thistle to get rid of.

It's fine to plant your seeds. Just keep pulling out the vines as they appear.
If you find out any useful information, let me know.

Everyone:  Let’s add bind weed to the daily weed pulling routine. Getting all the roots out is a noble goal, but probably hopeless. If we systematically keep those vines pulled, it will get less of a toe-hold.

Reconsidering the straw is not a bad idea-We talked about alternative mulches at the board meeting Sunday. I’ll post more about that later.  
Jan