Getting Rid of Sanfoin

I'm doing over my front garden which has a few different wildflowers which I'm pulling up. I was trying to pull up the sanfoin yesterday but it just wasn't having it. I tried pouring a bucket of water around the area to soften up the earth but ended up with a messy, muddy hole with the root sticking up, no closer to removing it. Will the root die off of it's own accord or will the plant come back with a vengeance? If the latter, what's the best thing for getting rid of it?

 

For weeds with tenacious roots, I find it's better to get the garden fork underneath than to pull from the top which often just breaks off the top growth.

 

We battled lots of docks and Alkanet here, both of which also have long tap roots. I found using a sharp pointy trowel (bulb planting type?) worked well. It was hard work but helped get further down the side of any roots. If they did then break it was much deeper down and seemed to reduce the returnees. We had large areas of both, so I would concentrate on one patch for digging out but meanwhile kept removing the foliage from the rest so they were gradually weakening and/or couldn’t set seed.

 

Its a classic 'plant in the wrong place' . Its an excellent bee plant, its profuse flowering creates excellent honey, Agriculturally, its valued as a source of high protein forage, makes 'holy hay' and ,as a legume, fixes atmospheric nitrogen to enrich grassland. Just in the wrong place, for you.
You could spot weed it with glysophate.

 

I was just about to plant some and now you have me worried. Is its removal just because it's not wanted in that area or is it a result of being an invasive thug?

 

I'd say it's great in wildflower meadows and pastures but not in a garden. It's roots can go down 4metres so even a Rootslayer spade (highy recommended) won't clear its roots.

Planting red clover would fix nitrogen, feed pollinators and not be so hard to clear.

 

Thanks. We have a wildlife pond fringed with native wildflowers so I'll try a few there and take the rest down the allotment where they won't cause any issues.

 

Thank you for all of your advice I had wanted the front lawn to be all wildflowers but it hasn't really worked out and I conceded defeat. The plan for the front garden is to create some flagstones out of concrete and then fill the gaps with heath pearlwort. At the moment I'm pulling up what wildflowers there currently are and am about the get the strimmer out. Once I've cut it as close as I can with the lawn mower, I shall need to take a few inches off of the top to make sure that the flagstones will be level with the drive. Hopefully that'll put me closer to getting some more of the root out.

@Thevictorian It's been there about 5 years and has never spread so no thuggish behaviour at all.

@Obelix-Vendée Is it one of those where if you don't get all of the tap root, it keeps coming back?

 

Sorry, but I don't know @Februarysgirl. It's something I've been researching for my permanent wildflower patch and have not yet grown. I suspect it is and will be asking fellow gardeners about it on Sunday when we're out visiting gardens for the day.

 

@Obelix-Vendée I shall definitely makes sure one of the flagstones goes over its location and just hope for the best.

 

I also ordered seeds and had them germinated in April. I stumbled over an article about Sanfoin which not only mentioned positive effects. When I read deep roots up to 2 meters, and happily self-seeding, I binned my little plants.