What is this stuff?

[Anti-Mild]

Hello all,

followiing the recent rainforest type conditions we have been experiencing in this green and pleasant land, something has appeared in my garden in great numbers and I have no idea what it is. Because it is very widespread I reckon it's a weed but I just want to make sure before I have at it with some gloves and a trowel.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

AM

[SnowBear]

A weed.

I have always known it as Chick Weed, get loads of it round here sometimes. Don't let it seed, else you will get a few years worth of the stuff though it doesn't take much to pull the stuff out and compost it unlike bindweed etc.

For future reference, if you need to know a possible weed type, couple of good sites for indentification here..

http://www.theseedsite.co.uk/weeds.html

http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/weeds.htm

Edited July 28, 2007 by SnowBear

[Anti-Mild]

Thanks Snowbear, I thought it was a weed as it has sprung up in about 5 different locations but I wanted to be sure. It also might explain why my tomatoes are troubled by whitefly this year as apparently chickweed attracts the little blighters.

Right, I'm off to the garden!! :lol:

[Karen Ann]

It does look verymcuh like chick weed to me too. Does it grow along the ground or upwards on a stem?

If it grows along the ground, I'd say Yes, it's chick weed. It does, however, look similar to 'petty spurge' which grows up right on a stem, to about 15cm high. If it produces a milky substance whem the stem is broken off, I'd say it is the 'spurge'. I have a problem with this in my garden. The milky stuff is an irritant to skin and is poisonous to animals if eaten.

Edited July 28, 2007 by Karen Ann

[Anti-Mild]

It does look verymcuh like chick weed to me too. Does it grow along the ground or upwards on a stem?

If it grows along the ground, I'd say Yes, it's chick weed. It does, however, look similar to 'petty spurge' which grows up right on a stem, to about 15cm high. If it produces a milky substance whem the stem is broken off, I'd say it is the 'spurge'. I have a problem with this in my garden. The milky stuff is an irritant to skin and is poisonous to animals if eaten.

It grows along the ground. In one part of the garden it's made an attractive 'carpet' of green, quite widespread too.

Or should I say it had? It's all gone now!!

[Crepuscular Ray]

I'm not sure whether it's chickweed or not, but I tend to follow the basic definition, "If it's growing where I don't want it to, it's a weed."