permaculture

["Graham Burnett" <gburnett@unisonfree.net>]

I'm emailing for advice/opinions/thoughts....

This year for reasons I won't go into here my allotment became very neglected 
to the point where i
hadn't visited it for months. today i went down there after work and saw that 
it has become totally
overun with bindweed. i normally have a bit of a bindweed problem but am able 
to keep it contained
to 'acceptable' levels- however this year it is totally covering all fruit 
bushes and the soil as
well- a bit of exploratory digging reveals that it has also rooted all over 
the place (my real
worry as the top growth is easy enough to remove, and dies back in winter 
anyway)-

I'm contemplating using a one-off weed killer application to knock it back to 
once again
containable levels, hence this posting- taking such a drastic course goes 
totally against my grain-
I have always gardened totally organically and have NEVER used ANY artificial 
chemicals in the form
of weedkillers or fertilisers, so I'm asking the permaculture community for a 
better way- or a way
of changing my perspective on this- of turning this problem into a solution? 
What might such an
infestation be telling me about my land? Am I just falling victim to our 
culture's prevalent 'quick
fix'/soundbite style answers that I'm normally pretty critical of?

If i do decide to go down this road (though I'm hoping for feedback which 
will give me 101 good
reasons why i shouldn't!) can anybody advise on the best 'minimum 
intervention' weedkiller that
would be best effective against bindweed yet minimise other environmental 
effects (not only at the
point of 'end use' application but in terms of it's 'environmental 
footprint', ie, during
production and manufacturing, etc...)

like I say, I probably just need a zen style 'whack on the side of the head' 
to alter my thinking
on this, and I hope that's what my friends in the permaculture community can 
give me...

Cheers,

Graham Burnett
35 Rayleigh Avenue
Westcliff On Sea
Essex, UK
SS0 7DS

South East Essex LETS
http://pages.unisonfree.net/gburnett/

South East Essex Organic Gardeners
http://pages.unisonfree.net/gburnett/SEEOG/

South East Essex Permaculture
http://pages.unisonfree.net/gburnett/SEEOG/page7.html