Although purslane is a tasty and he althy vegetable, it also spreads very quickly and can become a pest. The problem is that purslane quickly displaces all other plants - you generally cannot eat as much as the herb grows back. The fight is very difficult, which is why you have to take action in time.
How to fight purslane in the garden?
To combat purslane effectively, you should cut off the plants before they bloom, pull them out regularly and mulch heavily infested areas or cover them with overgrown plants. In extreme cases, the top layer of soil can be removed.
Purslane develops up to 10,000 seeds
Purslane self-seeds very reliably, with each plant producing around 10,000 seeds. The problem with these seeds is that they remain viable in the soil for up to 30 or even 40 years - and therefore always come back when you no longer expected them. Therefore, if you have purslane in your garden, you should be careful not to allow the plants to bloom under any circumstances. The inconspicuous, small, yellow flowers appear between June and October and must be cut off regularly so that the fruit capsules with the black-brown seeds cannot even form. However, if purslane grows where it doesn't belong, the only solution is to tear it out.
If necessary, remove the top layer of soil
If the plant population is already very developed, you will probably hardly be able to control it. In these cases, the only solution is usually the use of herbicides, although these of course make not only the purslane but also all other vegetables and herbs inedible in the vegetable garden. In particularly severe cases - when the plants come back despite constant uprooting - you can also remove the top layer of soil along with the seeds it contains and fill in new topsoil instead. However, chemical treatment to render any seeds still present in the soil harmless is not possible.
Tips & Tricks
Another option is to simply mulch heavily infested areas or cover them with overgrown plants. However, there is still the problem of seeds remaining viable in the soil for a very long time, i.e. H. The purslane will initially be suppressed after such an action, but will then return.
