Comments on: Good Fences Make a Bad Neighbor

By: Linda Conte

Linda Conte — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 19:53:51 +0000

At last I have a name for my foe! Blasted Black Swallowwort! I have been doing battle with that nasty weed in my yard for years now. I suppose I must have composted the pods. Barnacles! Also, I can report that they are happy to grow all over my hydrangeas and roses and tiger lilies; so chain link or no, this weed is a great invader! I’ll bet it would strangle a dog if you let it sleep outside!
By the way, Bill, thanks for this and, in general, for some of the greatest writing Somerville has to offer.

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:14:31 +0000

Good luck with that sweat equity when the roots are behind a porch lattice, or wedged in the 6″ between a chainlink fence and a building (and growing from a crack in concrete). I dealt with the latter case myself – and after breaking off the tops multiple times, resorted to Roundup. (It wasn’t this weed, it was another that I think I ID’d as bittersweet nightshade, Solanum dulcamara.) There’s just NO WAY to pull the roots in such cases.

Joe’s got a good point about the chain link – I was trying to figure out why a street beyond Davis looked “classier” than mine, and finally figured it was the complete lack of chain link!

By: Joe Lynch

Joe Lynch — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:58:04 +0000

I say the real cuprit here is chain link. Take down the chain link fences of Somerville and deprive these villains of their upward mobility!

Seriously, Jon, thanks for the tips. And I’m only half joking about the chain link eradication. I had this stuff growing on the fence for a few seasons. After the fence came down and the concrete and poles removed, I must have destroyed the root system sufficiently to prevent regrowth. Would have been much easier to use the RoundUp, but I like not having the old rusting chain link surrounding the property.

Haven’t seen hide nor hair of the invasive weed since.

By: xumi

xumi — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:43:27 +0000

LOL. Sure, Alex, sure. I’ll not use roundup in my yard. LOL.

By: Alex Pirie

Alex Pirie — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 02:58:14 +0000

Thanks for the warning, but, geez, Bill, you could have left off the pesticide bit, Round Up Pro and triclopyr ester! Check out the toxicity (and the manufacturer and the Round Up friendly genetically modified seeds, etc.) and the animal studies would make you cringe. No need to go there, just stick with the sweat equity.