Goodbye Garlic Chives

See those thick, multi-fingered roots at the bottom of these garlic chives? I spent three hours today digging the little bas#*tar#s up from around my herb garden.

To do that, I had to pry the chimney flues up with a shovel and empty all the dirt from them before I could get to the roots. I'd guess they weigh about 50 pounds or more with the soil in them, and I know I will pay for this dearly tomorrow, especially since I spent three hours this morning working at the Master Gardeners test garden at the airport.

I know, I know. Not long ago I said I was giving up the chive battle. You win, I said. But gardeners don't give up. Total defeat is not an option. Of course, some things are going to die, but you replace them with something better. But letting something so innocent looking as garlic chives get the best of you is not an option.

I don't know that I've gotten all the roots, but I used a hand cultivator to keep raking through and picking them out. If any more come up, I'm getting out the Roundup and dabbing it on with a little sponge. We'll see how they like that!

Garlic chives - you win!

I give up. I've battled and battled the garlic chives that keep showing up everywhere in my herb garden ever since I allowed them to go to seed before discovering it. I went so far as to pull out the plants and pull up the heavy clay chimney flues that make up the base of the herb bed so I can start again. I took out all the soil, then pulled each plant up by its root. They still kept coming, so I pulled some more. I think I might have eradicated them in a couple of pots, but they have completely taken over the space between the pots and the edging next to the brick walkway.

I am at a loss how to contain them without using a weedkiller, which I won't do around my herb bed. I bought some of that organic "weed killer" with cloves - and the chives just laughed as they licked their leaves murmuring, "Yummy!" Does anyone have any suggestions on killing them without toxins? And yes, that lone plant in the pot is a wayward Mexican petunia, another invasive plant that even pushes up through my brick and concrete walkway. My recommendation: don't plant either.