I'm never growing Swiss chard again

Tam_Lin

Sowed some seeds a year ago and we ate the results over the summer. Decided not carry it on because it was fairly bland, cut it right down, and assumed it would die over winter. Nah-uh. I've just dug it all up, as it was smothering the raspberries, and the roots were as thick as my arm!

What other garden plant thugs do you hate dealing with?

Jayar

Oh boy, I know what you mean. You sow some seed, transplant it lovingly to your garden and the bloomin thing takes over.
My bugbear is bellis. "What a lovely wee flower" I thought .... HA
I completely ignored the fact that, when it self seeds, it will return to it's original state - Darn daisies. Now my garden is sprouting daisies everywhere, my neighbour's garden is sprouting daisies everywhere, my neighbour's neighbour's garden is sprouting daisies everywhere.
What? Me? wasn't me! :0

Kay_Peel

Did you eat it raw or did you cook it, Tam Lin? I was thinking about growing this crop but if it's bland I won't bother.

(off topic - a fellow folkie, I see. Are you a Cropredy, Fairport one, I wonder!)

Kay

nodwah

THe thing I hate the most is possibly crocosmia - just the normal orange one, i can't eradicate it at all, drop a wee bulb and it comes back with avengence.

Jayar I love ordinary daisies tho, if I find one in my borders, I plant it in the lawn! Is this unusual behaviour, I get funny looks!

sharon2264

Hope this will help.
Swiss Chard is really good if you know how to cook it.
It's grown and sold in Italy and here are a couple of ways of using it.
Boil the chard then drain, lightly fry in butter and I mean lightly just so that it dries out a little then serve with a sprinkle of parmesan.
You can also serve it with pasta cook it with diced potatoes ansd pasta putting everything in the pot to allow for differing cooking times then drain and put back into pot with diced cheese you can use any cheese that you like, allow the cheese to melt over a light heat stirring all the time then serve again sprinkled with parmesan. The pasta dish comes from the Trentino area in northern Italy and a type of wholemeal pasta is used so if you'd like really healthy family dish it is ideal.

Jayar

Sounds delicious sharon - you've made me hungry

Yes, nodwah, that is somewhat unusual behaviour IMO. But, hey, quirky is GOOD

Kay_Peel

Crocosmia, Nodwah! I hate the blighters too. I've dug up hundreds of bulbs and given them away to anyone who will take them off my hands. They are growing in the compost bin, and I put great huge lumps of them in my brown bin. And that's only half of it!.

Great recipe Sharon - excuse me but I'm dribbling as I write - I might just put a few Chard seeds in after all!

Kay

Aries

I find Crocosmia hard to get rid of, but not as bad as Aqualigia.
It seems an impossible task to keep up with it self seeding everywhere.

Tam_Lin

Kay_Peel wrote: »

Did you eat it raw or did you cook it, Tam Lin? I was thinking about growing this crop but if it's bland I won't bother.

(off topic - a fellow folkie, I see. Are you a Cropredy, Fairport one, I wonder!)

Kay

I've steamed it and added it to stews, but it doesn't have much taste.

Definitely a Fairport fan although never been to Cropredy; my faved book is a retelling of the story by Pamela Dean, set amongst weird Classics students in a Midwest college in the 1970s.

KatrinaC_2

I've just uprooted a square meter of mini bamboo after the 5cm square plant I potted a year ago took over the entire bed.

Anyone want some? Free to good home!

Kat

i1189

Vinca. I hate the stuff. The previous owners of our house planted some as ground cover. 2 years later I am still trying to get rid of it. Initially it took 6 months of weedkiller and smothering it with black plastic to kill most of it. But still little shoots keep coming up everywhere...

I love crocosmia - I don't seem to have a problem with it spreading. One of my pots of crocosmia died over the winter so I had to buy some more.