Bindweed.

Everywhere.

Towards the back of our garden, where we've cleared literally tons of rubble, rusty metal, rubbish and ancient forsythia there is not one 2" space without a bindweed shoot.
They've grown thru a triple layer of thick cardboard to smother one of my square foot beds, they are choking my newly planted redcurrant bush, they have put paid to my sweet pea tower and now I have nowhere to plant my runner beans

So, without murdering the planet, my children, my hens, anyone eating the veg I grow......but while remaining realistic (I'm guessing soft soap spray aint gonna do it this time G2 ) please, does anyone know what might help?

Dave feels concrete is the answer. Lots and lots of concrete.......I'm close to agreeing with him

Sometimes, much as I hate to say it there's nothing for it but resorting to chemicals - and before anybody jumps up and down, gardening is supposed to be fun - permanently digging out bindweed or looking at black plastic for month on end isn't fun

Glysophate maybe your best option Tara - you can get the bindweed to grow up canes and "paint" it onto the leaves - this is more accurate than spraying so means you should be able to keep growing stuff whilst killing the bindweed. It'll take time and may need more than one application, but if you couple this with digging out roots whenever you come across them you'll get rid of it eventually.

Another option is to move stuff you want to keep and blast everything else - then once it's all died back cover with plastic of weed suppressing fabric and put you stuff back planted through the mulch.

Or lastly you can do it the organinc way and keep digging out the roots and mulching - if it was a small infestation I'd do it this way - but if it's everywhere

I had that on my lottie Tara, the end bit was carpeted with it, in fact it grew so fast and so strong and so close together I thought it was the Japanese thingy I don't think you'll ever get rid of the roots like you can do for couch, but I just pull it as it comes up now and it isn't too bad at all Last year I mulched with loads of straw - thank you Sunny - and it was dead easy to pull up....

The alternative is to put short canes in your beds, it'll grow up them and then you can apply glypho stuff on it ..... But I've never done it ... And I've grown luvly stuff in that part of the lotty that was riddled with it and no probs

Sorry Andy, I took a long time posting cos I kept on being interrupted Hadn't seen your answer

No probs Dom

you can apply it with a gloved hand as well so you get it only where you want it (you mix a bit of fairy liquid in with it to make it stick) Do it on the fullest leaves