What is this weed & how do I kill it?

[Geoff]

In the flower garden any sort of mulching helps weeding. Not in the sense of smothering them (never been that convinced about that) but like JB says with the sand it lifts them. If you mulch with say leafmould I find that at this time of year, particularly after the frosts we have had, weeds are easy to remove.

[Johnboy]

I must confess that I do not know whether the sharp sand method will help to get rid if Oxalis and because I am fortunate enough not to have any on my patch I cannot experiment.
What I do know is that I faffed about for 20 years with L Celandine and only succeeded in spreading it and with one years sharp sand treatment I nearly got rid of the lot.
Because I cannot experiment on Oxalis I would be eternally grateful if somebody with Oxalis might carry out the experiment on my behalf.
JB.

[Primrose]

JB - I'll think about trying this experiment. The reason why I'm heritating is that there is so much of this weed, despite my attempts to dig it out and eradicate it and our soil is already light and dries out very quickily. I do add as much compost, etc as I can but I'm concerned that all these additional patches of sand everywhere would undo the work I'm trying to do adding humus to the soil to enable it to retain some moisture.

From what you said earlier, I gather that the idea is to try and remove the patches of sand when you dig up the plants but I guess some of it will remain and get mixed in with the soil.

[Beryl]

I will try it a small patch JB but reluctant to try on the paving as most summers we are plagued with ants and fear this extra sand may encourage them.

Beryl.