The notorious Bindweed, which plagues our city of Pittsburgh, has begun to sprout vinelings in our garden. Bindweed, also known as Creeping Jenny and sometimes mistakenly as Morning Glory, is a real pest. It’s a viney plant that is hard to kill, and will wrap itself around anything it can find, especially plants that you actually want to keep alive.

So, what do we do? You can’t just pull it out like other weeds due to its extensive root system. Established infestations of bindweed are known to have twenty to thirty lateral feet of roots, and taproots have been excavated to depths of thirty feet. While ripping out the shoots may seem satisfying, the real monster continues living happily underground, and you’ll end up feeling like Kevin Bacon in Tremors.

So, the only option we can really think of is to use an herbicide such as Roundup, which stinks because the Monsanto company itself stinks, and Roundup isn’t exactly organic. Nonetheless, what we’ll probably end up doing is pouring concentrated Roundup into a cup and using a paintbrush to paint the bindweed leaves with it. That plan should help manage things, and with luck in a few years could possibly rid ourselves of the infestation.

Are you not sure if that horrible thing taking over your garden is bindweed? The Idaho Weed Awareness Campaign has some good photographs, and even a nice little slide show which might help you figure it out.

We wish there were a way to handle bindweed without using Roundup. How do you handle bindweed?