Okay, I am not a gardener by any stretch of the imagination. I just this year found out what I should be pulling out of my garden because they're weeds, thanks to Dave, our yard cleanup man.
Also thanks to Dave, we have a big stretch of dirt out back that used to be a bit of a jungle. Some nice things grew there - daisies, black-eyed Susans, raspberries, tiger lilies - but some bad things grew, too, or namely one bad thing. My problem is, now that everything is razed, there's still a lot of the bad root out there. I pull it up and it stretches out and I cut where I can't pull anymore. I don't know what it is, but I know that it's sentient and insidious. Can anyone identify it by these pictures? The one up top is what the plant/vine looks like. Just a pretty green thing, right? This next picture is it trying to strangle a bush. It's evil, I tell ya!
Okay, so here's one of its roots in our new dirt section...
...and here's what happens when you pull the root...
...and then when you pull it more...
It pretty much keeps going and going. There's a lot of it out there. What I want to know, besides its identity, is how can I get rid of it? Do I just keep pulling it up? Should I poison it? I appreciate any help.
Secondly, this is what's growing in my yet-to-be prepped raised bed. It looks tomato-like, but I'm not sure.
If it's not a tomato, out it goes. If it is a tomato, it came from my blighted cherry tomatoes that fell to the ground last year. Should I get rid of them anyways for that reason? Or will they not be infected?
Again, thanks to anyone who can offer their assistance. This stuff is beyond me.
4 comments:
The tomato-y looking plant is one of the weeds in the genus "Artemisia". You can pull it. There will be tons more sooner or later. "Artemisia dracunculus" is "tarragon", but there are a number of other species that are more persistent than tarragon, and sometimes toxic (although not always). IIRC absinthe (if it's the real thing) is flavored with an Artemisia species that contains psychoactive compounds.
I could be wrong, but I think your vine is probably oriental bittersweet. Put that phrase into Google and you'll find out more. It's a toughey to control. It has pretty orange fruit in the autumn, but the birds love it and spread it via eating them and then crapping the seeds hither & yon.
(Forgot to mention, welcome to the world of invasive alien species. The Artemisia's European and the given the vine's name you can guess where it comes from. There's an American species of bittersweet, too, but you rarely ever see that since it's not an aggressive grower.)
Thanks very much, oddjob!
Nice article, thanks for the information.
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