Perilous Plants
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Wild parsnip grows abundantly along many of the ditches and also around the storm water pond which I like to visit. In the photo it is the plant with the umbrella like head with yellow flowers. It came to Canada with European settlers as a food plant for its starchy root. While the root is edible the stems of the plant contain a sap that can cause blisters, rash, and intense burns when exposed to the sun. Most of us know better than to meddle with it.
It is an invasive species spreading readily and very difficult to eradicate. It can take years to completely kill off all the wild parsnip. Herbicides are strictly controlled here with some of the nastier ones banned altogether.
The good old invasives.... My place was a case study in them when I moved in. Those need to be eaten into oblivion
It may come down to rototilling the entire back yard and starting over. Beside wild parsnip there is an abundance of poison ivy. It would give me a chance to level the ground as it is very uneven.
It sounds like something you should do as soon as possible
The poison ivy problem is going to remain a problem as they grow in the roots of the cedar hedges belonging to my neighbors. Short of killing off their hedges (to which I am sure they would object) the most I can do is reduce what is growing in my yard.