Reply To: soft fruit choked by couch, dandelions and bindweed.

[manbikeveg]

I have had both globe artichokes and also blackcurrants totally lost in weeds and couch. Here is what I have done, just dabbling, so don’t take as expert advice. I found an old sickle and bought a file and carborundum stone to sharpen it. Once the couch has grown high, but preferably before it starts to seed, cut and lay it down around the base of your perennial as a straw-like mulch. I also put carboard held down by bricks around the artichokes. Lastly, the row of nine blackcurrants I have fed with composted branch wood chip and seaweed meal, and then covered with 1 metre-wide mypex on either side, with the outer edges pushed in deep with a spade. I am also propogating blackcurrants from cuttings through a 1m x 2m mypex sheet. I am trying not to cut the mypex to size, just use it in the lengths that I already have. I have an idea that the mypex around the blackcurrants may end up being ‘on loan’ and replaced with whatever mulch or surface compost material I can lay my hands on.