spent a blissful weekend on my new plot chopping down nettles, dreaming, wandering around smiling a lot, until I discovered quite a lot of what I think is ground elder along the boundary fence. what's the best way to tackle this? I don't really want to resort to chemicals but I know that unless I get every last piece it's going to keep coming back. if I cover it with carpet/plastic will it eventually die off? and how long would it take to die?
There's a bit in Wiki on it.
Some say keep cutting it (eg if in a lawn) & it won't take over. I have my doubts!
... five years and counting? That's how long mine was covered for before I gave up on the 'cover and hope' method,
Am now doggedly hand-weeding out all those wretchedly fragile roots, stage by stage. I did this first last autumn, then again in spring with everything that had made an appearance, and (*sigh*) again now. But at least I've reduced it from near 100% cover to a handful of persistent ones whose roots dive deep and are thus really hard to get out whole. >:(
I do the same. It really is just persistence.
According to my wild food/edible weeds book it can be eaten... but if those roots have been poisoned persisitently I wouldn't want to try!
::)
Dig it out! Dig it out! And more dig it out! ;D ??? ;D
And let the Sisyphean labours commence!
Give me the broom and those stables anyday!
;D
Once upon a time I lived in Norfolk, and my garden had ground elder...... never got rid of it but it did lessen with constant weeding.
The encouraging thing is that it shows your ground has good fertility ;D
Quote from: periwinkle on October 24, 2006, 22:39:33
The encouraging thing is that it shows your ground has good fertility ;D
Thanks periwinkle, I'll try to remember that when I start digging it up!
Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on October 24, 2006, 19:29:32
And let the Sisyphean labours commence!
rolling stones fan robert? ::) ;) ;D
No, I'd just been reading some stuff on mythology.
norfolklass,
It's either worry it to death or Glyphosate I'm afraid.
It's a swine.
hi , i double dug and then pulled all the root i could find dont even leave a small bit in that has fell out of your bucket as it will grow again. and as soon as you see the new leaves popping up dig deep and pull out the roots again, and again and again. dont waste your money on weed killers as i have tryed everythink.
good look
ronnie
Mum has lived in her home in Surrey for 36 years and 9 months, and for every single one of those days, she has had ground elder growing in her front garden. Dig dig dig keeps it under control and now that she sprays it everytime she sees a new leaf popping through. It never goes, but it does keep it down. She has also now very heavily planted the worst area which also seems to be helping strangle it out.
Oh you poor soul! I had it all over my garden when I moved here 35 years ago and I dug and I dug and I dug......... Eventually I planted the whole garden with potatoes - they didn't kill the wretched stuff but at least it made the soil easier to dig! (I even had nightmares about ground elder - honestly! - it was in every cupboard I opened, growing up the stairs and even creeping out from under my bed!) The good news is that I did finally get rid of it - every last nasty little bit - I'm just keeping an eye on a bit in my neighbour's garden now - and I have the Glyphosate ready for that first tiny leaf! Good luck and happy digging.
I have to confess that I haven't started to tackle it yet... :-[ although I have at last started digging. I keep walking very quickly past the ground elder with my fingers in my ears and my eyes tightly shut, going "Lalalalalala, you're not there" but I know I can't put it off for much longer.
came back from my plot on Sunday afternoon and collapsed in a muddy heap in the middle of the living room, filled with despair at the amount of stuff to do. every time I go down there it looks bigger and bigger and it took me ages to dig up a corner of nettles. the good news is that the soil looks good, I thought it was a really light sandy loam like my garden (actually, it was more like dust this summer) but there's a bit of clay in there too, which mostly ended up stuck to my spade! I just wish I could spend more time down there... I'm beginning to worry that I'll never get some beds dug before spring.
anyway, I'll take everyone's advice and just keep on digging it up and hopefully one day it'll only be a shadow of its current self!
Mine was in an appalling state when I started, but it's fine now, and getting noticeably better year by year. It really is just a matter of persistence.
just work on one bed at a time and ignore the rest, also, try to cover up any that you've cleared :)
Tagetes Minuta (very tall unshowy Marigold) is meant to have an effect - possibly just because it is so tall, but a lot pf people are convinced it is useful as a barrier plant. I going to give it a go next year because of mare's tail creeping over from our neighbour.
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Tagetes+minuta (http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Tagetes+minuta)
If you are going to glyphosate the advice seems to be: do it in the spring and don't do it as soon as you see a shoot/leaf but wait until there's a bit more growth (4 leaves?).
thanks for the link barnowl, very interesting reading, especially the bit about the insecticidal and herbicidal root secretions. may give it a go when I've finished digging.
thanks to everyone else for advice and encouragement! I will try and post some photos soon...
We moved here 6 years ago & had some ground elder - made the BIG mistake of putting it on the compost heap & now have it all over the garden. I dig out as much as I can - also find that there are good times & bad times for tackling it. Sometimes I can pull & it comes away easily bringing lots of roots sort of snaking out. Othertimes I pull the leaves & they just break off. I now leave it till a good time & really go for it but I only manage to keep it in check. If I try & cover it with membrane & bark or gravel it still manages to push it's way up. Horrid, horrid stuff. Not had nightmares yet though!