Before moving back to MD, zone 7, in 2003, I gardened for 13 years in MN, zone 3. It was a fairly small plot being only 250 sq ft but every year I had to fight wild Morning Glories. At first it was a novelty to see the vine grow up along the fence of the garden, the pretty purple blooms opening every morning and close by the evening. That was until they died back, turned brown with their little round seed pods just begging to burst open.
Year after year after tilling and amending the soil, I would wait a week before planting only to find these little morning glory sprouts practically covering the garden. No sooner would I hoe, pull and cultivate them under, more would appear. It was a constant battle. I'd go out of town on business for a few days or on vacation, only to come back and find the little devils growing up the fence. I don't use chemicals in the garden or yard so my only choice was to burn, pull, hack, pull, hack...did I mention pull???
Now, living in MD, I have a new nightmare...well...actually two new nightmares...wild ivy and a vine I call the MD Kudzu (I have no idea what the real name of it is however, it does look like Kudzu, the vine that is taking over GA, SC, NC...it has spade shaped leaves, a porous branch, orange roots that are rather brittle and spread out in every direction. You can actually sit and watch this thing grow like it's from a Stephen King novel...I'll upload a pic of it when it starts showing itself this year).
I remember the little old lady next door planting the ivy along her house when we first moved to MD in 1971. She thought it would look nice growing along her foundation. I also remember my mother grumbling every spring and summer to keep the creeping vines from getting in her flower beds. Flash forward 32 years later; I move back to MD to take care of my mom and, to my nightmare, the ivy has taken over the flower beds, grown up the 100 yr old white pines along the property line, has spread 5 - 12 feet into our property, has even jumped the 60 some feet to spread itself along the opposite property line...UGH!
So, rather valiantly, I take on the mission that I will eradicate this ivy and reclaim my property and flower beds...Riigghhtt!!!! I've tried pulling, mowing, hacking, digging, weed wacking all to no avail. (This stuff has, what I call, TapRoot Central nodes. They go deep, will spread out in every direction and create another TapRoot Central several yard away) I have this tool that my grandfather would use that looks like a cross between a machete and a sickle. I'd cut 1 sq ft sections, use the shovel to pull up the sections, then the pitch fork to loosen the dirt and pull vines and roots. The garden rake would help locate the little bits and smooth the new found soil. After 4-6 hours of doing this each day, I had a nice size chunk of reclaimed earth, a literal mountain of decapitated ivy and an aching back. (forget the song title 'My Achy, Breaky Heart'...how about 'My Achy, Breaky Back, Legs and Arms'. ) The following year, here comes the ivy sprouting everywhere.
Then there's the MD Kudzu. I can't even tell you how much I hate this vine, I think I'd rather deal with the Morning Glories than this stuff. It's easy to prune it out of the trees, shrubs, bushes and rather easy to dig up the new growth but when it comes to getting the established roots, you start pulling and pulling, only to find that you've now pulled a root 5 - 10 feet away from the tap root, not to mention the little off shoots of roots spreading everywhere. Ivy and Kudzu and roots OH MY!!!
Suffice it to say, I have a never ending battle on my hands. As a gardener, we find solace working in the soil, watching things grow, enjoying the fruits of our labor...heck, we even get satisfaction pulling the weeds out of our gardens so they don't interfere with the growth of our babies, but enough is enough already!!
I'll never give up on this endeavor! I'm on a mission! However, if anyone has any successful advice on how to eliminate these culprits of invasion, I'm more than willing to lend an ear...shovel...machete/sickle... So. What's your gardening nightmare?
Now you all have me worried. Having moved from NJ to TN last year I spent the last 12 months, learning what was growing on the property, and what problems I was going to face when I started my new vegetable garden. I seem to have all off the above. I too spent last year enjoying the the morning glories, and huneysuckle bringing splashes of color to the rolling green. We have been fighting the fire ants with a pesticide although I personally don't like using it, i don't want grandchildren or family pets mixing it up with the ants. I didn't think they would be a problem in the garden.
