BlueWisteria.co.uk for down to earth gardening information.

Most people will recognize this weed instantly as the bearer of blackberries during late summer. This plant is a vigorous grower and is armed to the teeth with wicked thorns ready to tear into any unwary passer-by.

If left a few years, this plant will become a large and impenetrable bush 3 mtr diameter and 2 mtr high. Any long shoots that arch over to touch the ground will immediately re-root hampering later removal and will trip up any clumsy passer-by.

If spotted early, they are easily dug out with a small fork. Larger infested areas are best dealt with by first cutting off all the vines then grubbing out all the crowns with a mattock or spade. So long as the crown of the root is removed, the smaller roots will not usually re-grow although a few may give trouble. Prevention is the best plan here. Get them out when they are only a few weeks old and they will not have the chance to become a menace.

Brambles are useful

Fruit. Instantly recognized, the fruit is the delicious blackberry which is highly nutritious and can be eaten raw or cooked and used in pies or jams and preserves. The berries can also be made into wine but it is always a bit sharp for my taste.

Stems. Now then, I bet you didn't realize that the traditional bee hives (or skeps as they were called) were  made from the stems of this plant. Unless there is a huge demand for the information, I do not intend to make any more of these so you will have to go without photos but basically, long vines were sliced lengthways into quarters, gathered and twisted into ropes then tied into the classical shape hive using stems as cord. As the material dries it pulls tight making a strong structure.

Normally, this weed is an isolated nuisance but if left to seed it will rapidly take over the garden. This plant is a perennial with a tap root that seems to be as deep as the plant is tall. A fine specimen can be very attractive when carrying a full seed spike but is best viewed in the safety of your neighbour's garden.

Treatment. If spotted early enough the individual plants may be grubbed out whole but once established amongst other plants, this option becomes futile. The root snaps to re-grow a multiple crown and further attempts become more difficult. This is a good candidate for the weed spray gun. Whatever you do (or don't do), do not allow this weed to flower. It will produce thousands of seeds and each one will grow to punish you for your laziness.

Just the sight of those saw toothed leaves is enough to strike terror into all small boys and many adults too. Most people recognize this plant instantly and the memory is soon refreshed after an encounter with its vicious stinging hairs.

The plant dies back in the winter only to grow and spread from the perennial rootstock in the spring. Do not allow this weed to get a hold in any corner of the garden, or you may end up in tears. The plants may reach heights of up to 2m but 1m - 1.5m is more common.

Treatment.

Isolated specimens may be dug out with a garden fork if the situation permits easy access. Always treat this plant with respect as dead or alive, it still stings. Larger areas or corners where the nettles are well established may require cutting down first with suitable equipment then the entire area forked over, (Hard work but fast results) or allowing new shoots to grow before spraying with Weedkiller. (Easy but slow results).

Stinging nettles are useful

Like the dandelion, this plant too has many uses. As this plant is the host for the caterpillars of many of this countries nicest butterflies, it has been the fashion of recent years to leave a wilderness patch somewhere in the garden and allow these nettles to grow unhindered. This is the "Smart set's" cover-up for being very lazy. Take it from me, there are enough stinging nettles beside the railway and in your neigbour's garden to feed all the caterpillars in creation. Grow nice flowers in your garden and the caterpillars will hatch into beautiful butterflies and fly straight to your flowers.

Leaves. The leaves can be cooked and served like spinach but I confess not to be fond of either. Various country recepies can be found for herbal teas and beer but again these are an acquired taste. Natural dyes are extracted from the leaves and stems producing colours in shades between yellow and green.

Stems. The stems of this plant were once made into string and cloth but that was before somebody invented sheep and used the wool instead.

This is such a lovely flower it is a real pity it refuses to grow in nice straight rows. Quick to establish in the worst possible growing conditions it never needs any water, seems resistant to all common garden pests and flowers continually.

This weed has a deep tap-root making hand-weeding pretty well impossible. A fork or daisy grubber can help to remove stubborn plants from the borders but usually the root breaks. The broken root will re-shoot and be flowering within a week or so. Any that refuse to leave will require spraying with a contact weed-killer. As always, follow the instructions issued by the manufacturer.

Dandelions are at their worst when they get established in the lawn. Here they not only look untidy but spoil the grass. The rosette of leaves spread flat on top of the grass and press themselves down below the level of the lawnmower where they are safe, suffocating the turf in the process. Good lawns don't have dandelions though as the annual lawn treatments should eliminate all traces of them.

Dandelions are useful

It may come as a surprise to you to discover that the dandelion is a very useful plant with many uses. All parts of the plant are edible so I will start at the bottom and work upwards.

Roots.

If starvation threatens, these can be cooked like any other root vegetable though a bit fiddly. However, when roasted, ground and percolated they will produce a decent cup of "coffee".

Leaves.

The leaves can be used raw like any other salad green and provide an alterative to a boring lettuce. Presumably they could be cooked as well.

Flowers

The flowers or roots are traditionally collected and turned into wine. Sorry, but I don't have any suitable recepies. I prefer the root wines such as parsnip or potato.

Seeds.

As every child knows, if you count how many times you have to puff before all the seeds blow away it will tell you the time.

Lesser celandine is a weed of Springtime. It grows from small tubers and spreads rapidly amoungst other perennial plants to make the whole bed look untidy. The plant spreads from both seeds and vegetatively from broken pieces of plant root making weed control difficult. Unless the area infected is small, hand weeding is usually fruitless as the smallest broken root left in the soil will re-grow..

The only reliable cure is to spray the plants with a contact type of weedkiller, but great care must be used to make sure no other nearby plant catches any spray drift. Failing this, The plant will naturally go into rest before the end of May, and will not cause any trouble for the summer period.

It should be noted that this plant is quite pretty and can be purchased from garden centres. It is advisable to keep it in a suitable container if being grown as a garden plant.