The Squirrelhaven Method of Bindweed Eradication

I've been asked to do a tutorial by Kathy of Cold Climate Gardening, who is battling Bindweed in her garden, on how I got rid of all the Bindweed in my front lawn and front garden. When I moved here 15 years ago, the front lawn was more Bindweed than grass. I wish I had taken a photo, but I wasn't blogging then and I had no reason to take a photo of that unsightly mess. I tried digging it out, but it always came back. I finally turned to chemical warfare. I refuse to spray herbicide, as the fog of it can drift and damage desirable plants. So I tried painting herbicide on the leaves. Finally, during the drought summer of 2005, I was fed up with the Bindweed. I had been going out every morning and pulling off the buds of it to keep it from going to seed while I waited for it to die. The lawn was dormant so I decided it was time to experiment. What I discovered works even better in garden beds than in the lawn. Instead of dabbing each leaf with herbicide, I now cut the Bindweed off to stubs & dab the Roundup on the freshly cut stubs.

Here is my Bindweed battling kit. The grass clippers are for killing Bindweed in lawn. I cut the grass as short as possible around the Bindweed to keep the herbicide from touching it.

This Bindweed plant appeared this year under a shrub. I had dabbed at it the more traditional way, which is why it looks shriveled. After putting on the heavy chemical gloves, I dip the cotton swab into the bottle of herbicide, then close the bottle. I carefully hold the swab in one hand while I cut off the Bindweed with pruners in the other. Then I dab the herbicide onto the cut ends and dispose of the swab in the garbage. The plants surrounding the Bindweed do not come into contact with the herbicide and the Bindweed has no foliage from which to make energy to fight off the herbicide. It also looks less unsightly. Should any herbicide get on the surrounding foliage, I quickly cut it off.

Completely eradicating the Bindweed will require repeating this procedure on each new sprout, as Bindweed has long roots and will continue to fight back. Also, if the infestation is long standing, as mine was, there are seeds in the soil waiting to germinate. The cost of freedom from weeds is eternal vigilance. In addition to this Bindweed, I found another one in the lawn about a month ago. I consider one weed versus an entire lawn full of the stuff a success.