Bit of a bind..

In the beginning, the first job in the garden was to clear the bed at the bottom.

This is what it looked like in the middle of May..



Since then, the geraniums have grown, I've added stakes for the passionflower to grow on, I've added dianthus, lupin, fuchsia, iris bulbs, petunias, it was looking beautiful a few weeks ago. Now, the bindweed is back..

It loves the stake that I put in for the passionflower..



It's making great friends with the dianthus..



And it's treated me to one little flower..



I didn't know what it was until yesterday, and now I've realised, I know that I have my work cut out for me! I've been advised to remove all my lovely new plants and let the ground lay fallow for a year, covering it with plastic. After some research I see that even that doesn't work, and almost nothing works for bindweed.

I made the mistake, during my weeding, of yanking up the shoots and adding them to the compost heap. Now my compost heap is a heap of perfectly happy bindweed, it can regenerate from the smallest bit of root. My poor garden!

But who said gardening was easy?!