Jenny McCann lives in Lesmurdie, Western Australia, with her husband, Eliot, and baby, Davis. They do have a garden - somewhere under a jungle of morning glory (Ipomoea indica). Jenny recently sat down and wrote a letter to Burke's Backyard urgently seeking some help, before the morning glory starts taking over the house! She is also eager to reclaim the yard so that Davis will have a safe place to play.

Don visited the McCanns and gave Jenny and Eliot some tips on clearing the weeds. He also presented them with tools they would need to do the job, including a strong steel rake, a mattock, a pair of secateurs and a pump action sprayer for herbicides.

Morning glory

This vigorous climber has large, heart-shaped leaves, hairy stems and funnel-shaped blue flowers. It smothers other plants, and where it touches the ground it forms roots at nodes along its stems. This is why it spreads so prolifically and is so hard to eradicate. It can also spread from seed.

What to do

Use a rake or your hands to pull as much of the vine off trees and shrubs as you can. Cut stems that are circling around other plants. The parts that are left in the ground need to be either dug up, or sprayed or painted with a glyphosate product such as Roundup or Zero (repeat applications may be necessary). Mix glyphosate as per the instructions on the container, and do not spray when windy. Ease rooted sections out of the ground using a mattock. Detach the stem from the roots (the roots will not reshoot but bits left with roots and stem will). Do not try to clear the whole area at once, especially if you are not used to doing manual work. Pace yourself and do small sections at a time, covering cleared areas with mulch as you go. Watch for new growth, particularly as the weather warms up. Treat new growth with glyphosate. Remove any seedlings. To maintain the weed-free area, cover bare soil with a layer of organic mulch and plant it with shrubs and groundcovers.

Further information

Our tools and chemicals were purchased from:
Everbloom Garden Centre
665 Railway Terrace
Sawyers Valley, WA, 6074
Phone (08) 9295 1666
Fax (08) 9295 1531

Glyphosate products, such as Roundup and Zero, are available from nurseries and hardware stores.

If you have a garden problem, why not write in and tell us about it? Send
your letter with a couple of photos to:
Come and Save My Garden
Burke's Backyard
PO Box 929
Willoughby, NSW, 2068
(If you want photos returned don't forget to send a stamped, self-addressed envelope.)

Copyright CTC Productions 2001