[Sharon TaysideMember]

Hi, Stringfellow. We had varying success with horsetail. It’s a prehistoric plant made up of almost total silica and hugely deep-rooted. It’s a herb used for hair rinses, strengthening nails and even an early non-stick treatment for scrubbing pans. I think it has been used for toothbrushes, too.
It’s silica content makes it difficult to kill with chemicals. And it is very brittle. If you can bruise it without snapping it glysophate has some effect. We used to keep it under control by gently lifting the plant without snapping it and trying to pull up as much root as possible. Densely packed ground cover planting did seem to put it off a bit, too.
Good luck.

[Sharon TaysideMember]

Hi bogbean, only things I remember about soot is leaving it for a year to ‘mature’ and spreading around the plants to keep away slugs. I put wood ash from our log burners on the beds fresh, though. Imagine it to help with acid conditions and keeps slugs at bay, too. Plants certainly seem to like it, anyway.

[Sharon TaysideMember]

Thanks Vegypete. I struggle to dig with a spade. Just not strong enough and ground is just too stony to get into. Horses have been grazing this field for 11 years so pretty compacted. Sharon

[Sharon TaysideMember]

Thanks Davidk. I looked at the lazy dog tools. Crikey they look top drawer. I’m going to call them in the morning. Torched quite a lot of beds with a Steel x300 so one of these tools should help get out the regrowth. Sharon

[Sharon TaysideMember]

Thanks. I was afraid you’d say that. I did start digging, with a fork and putting the worms back, feeling guilty. It’ll take a while, but we’ll get there.

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