On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:49:04 +0000 (UTC), Nick Leverton wrote:

In the meantime it's a never ending battle with (in my case) deep rooted
thistles which have got a hold.

Pulling 'em will get 'em. We get a few thistles here I normally let
them grow and flower but not set seed then push a fork in full deepth
all round giving it a waggle then pull the thistle out. It helps if
the ground is moist after a good bit of rain, under those conditions
I've got 3' of tap root out before now. That is with a big thistle,
say 3'+ high and 18"+ diameter. Even if you don't get all the root if
you get the top foot or so they don't seem to come back. If it snaps
off at or just below ground level it probably will.

Very few thistles here now (I've not spotted one this year, yet) and
much less ragwort just by simply pulling. I only really started on
thistle control a couple of years ago, was concentrating on the
ragwort before.

--
Cheers
Dave.