Gardening

We are moving to Spain and have a large plot of land surrounded by a drainage ditch.  the ditch is full of bamboo like weeds (dont know what they are called) and the garden has "super weeds" growing throu the pebbles.  does anyone know what is the best chemical to use to remove them??

Also bug termination!!  Is it worth spraying for mossies and whats best to use?

Is there anything available for them pesky catapillers??

Any help and guidance much appreicated  

I can't help with all your questions i'm afraid.

The bamboo type stuff is Arundo Donax which we buy here in England for our gardens but is naturalised in Spain and spreads like wildfire. I have seen it burnt out in many places but it still comes back.  If you do use a weedkiller, it will probably work better if you bruise the foliage first so that the toxins can get through.

We have some in our irrigation ditch too. We will have the same problem when we move over later this year.

Let us know how you get on.

Laury

Hi Fraggle...fellow Yorkshire person. We used to live just outside Leeds a few moons ago.

Anyway..to your problems regarding the weeds you can get weed killer from the garden centres and hardware shops that work well we have found, don't know much about the bamboo stuff though but I see that someone has answered that problem for you.

Re the catapillars, there have been articels in the free papers about a type that can be quiet harmfull I belive they make their cacoons on pine trees, you have to be carefull as the hairs from the catapillar can cause problems with breathing. I have read that if you have a white hairy nest in a pine tree you have to spray it with hairspray, carefully put a plastic bag arround it then cut off the branch and burn it. I think that's the gist of it but hopefully someone will add to this. Perhaps if you have neigbours it might be an idea to ask them, as usually they are not isolated cases... just be careful.

Anyway, good luck with the move and hope you enjoy Spain.

Regards.