[hubballi]

I can't believe this, I checked the soil for weeds and bird feeder seed that had spilled into my raised bed before I sewed some swiss chard. I am now finding it's coming up everywhere and I can't tell which is which. It must have been lying dormant in the soil until now when it's sprouting. I don't want to leave it too long before it gets a hold so what can I do ? It's so annoying as everytime I try and grow chard for the last 3 years it's been failure for some reason.

[Lardman]

Start the chard off in pots and then transplant when they're big enough to identify. For the time being if the ground isn't choked just leave it until you can see the difference.

[wighty]

We remove the bird seed feeders in the spring and then dig over that part of the bed.  On my way indoors each night I hoe over the area under where they were.  It has taken me two weeks but I have finally (I hope) got rid of spilt seed growing.

[Swing Swang]

hopefully your chard is in a row - just hoe off between rows and leave in-row weeding until the thinning out stage.

[hubballi]

It's absolutely horrendous. I have been sieving the soil all day and it's a very small patch and I am still finding seed sprouting. A lot of it is deep in the soil which I am miffed about.

I will never ever again have bird feeders near my growing beds.

[PennyS]

On the bright side, you're going to have a lovely crop of sunflowers and the like 

[gillie]

Why are you sieving?  I would just hoe over the top half inch of soil, probably using a garden trowel or similar in a raised bed, and repeat when necessary.  It would only take five minutes!

Gillie

[hamstergbert]

Got so utterly pigged off with this problem a few years ago - the little feathered oafs eating so messily that for yards around the most prolific growths were from spilled seed - that we shifted over to the (ludicrously more expensive) specially treated 'no grow' Gardman seed with the result that the problem has disappeared.

Incidentally we do find that if we are a little tardy in replenishing the feeders on at least one day a week the greedy little 'mini-gannet' sparrows, dunnocks and blackies particularly are quite helpful in cleaning up the spillage from their earlier peck-fests.

There is however no equivalent to the no-grow seed in the nyger seed line, but we sort of figure the mess and subsequent weeding in that part of the Hamstergbert Towers' grounds is fair enough in exchange for the pleasure of being visited by the goldfincehs and their little green cousins.