Getting to the root of the problem

Any gardener would be pleased to see a root system as strong as this one developing on young plants....

Or would they? Not when they see the whole plant!!

This is bindweed, a very difficult plant to eradicate once it is established in the soil.

However, we were not going to be beaten, so for a couple of days we've been digging all the plants out of two sections of the front border so that we can get rid of every last bit of root. If any small section of root is left in the soil it will sprout and the problem continues.

Once we were as sure as we could be that no bits remained, we were able to replant the two sections of front border.

We'd like to think that we've got to the root of the problem but only time, and the appearance of little green shoots, will tell!