Gardening Methods

How do I get rid of this weed?

It has bright blue flowers, bees love it, hairy, stingy stems & leaves, roots go down to Australia! I always garden organically to preserve wildlife but this has now taken over my garden.I think it’s called Akhlanet or Alkhanet or something.Help! Am in south U.K.

Alkanet, common bugloss (a perrenial herb) is a very evasive plant to get rid of it you must its .

Mechanical – Cultivation, digging and pulling can all be effective if sufficient tap root is removed, Try to pull out when still young plant, if old plant with flowers on it, need to be taken out, place plant inside bag and cut off at root, this will avoid seeds been scartered ready for next year. Dig as much of the root out as you can, and keep doing this until all gone and can invade the garden or fields very fast indeed.

Chemical – Are not that effective, but you could try individually treating each plant with weed all or path clear, or bush killer, normally these dont work very well as seeds are awaiting the next season in the ground. So may take a while to see results.

Good luck with this very troublesome plant, once established you must have patience to get rid of it. Also wear gloves when dealing with this plant, as skin problems are common as the stingy hairys are actual posion, even though nobody has every been reported as dying from this, Irritant to skin

OLD GARDEN MOURVEDRE – HEWITSON