Ground elder

Monty Don recently wrote about using a 4" mulch of mushroom compost to keep the weeds at bay. Does anyone know if this would work with ground elder

 

I dont think so it would probably make it grow faster..I am sure the only cure for weeds except for chemicals is sheer hard work of removing them...I am over run with chickweed which is just as bad.. as fast as i remove it more appears..and it chokes everything so i just keep on removing it...

 

we have it over allotment,you think youve cracked it but it just appears again. its comming through where i wanna put my taties this year(i was hoping to get husband to rotovate that part)but looks like im gonna have a sore back. AGAIN. :(

 

I've found the best way to tackle it is to start with taking out everything (if it's in something like a HP border, as it usually is! :( ) then take it section by section, dig deep, take a break and do something else, and keep coming back to it, when you're relatively fresh, and just make sure you are really thorough. I've done it several times, and although I've always missed a bit, there's never much, and I just dig each bit out as it show its head. I honestly believe it's the only way - and you certainly can't use round-up if the stuff is in your crocosmia - unless you want rid of it too, of course!!

 

dendrobian, I mainly agree with you, but as I said before somewhere, my father dug up every bed in the garden and riddled the soil through a sieve, but still the wretched stuff came back - of course we border a field and stream so problem a little different. There was even one piece of ground elder grown through a brick.

when you have done this, keep on top of it pulling it out, but if you cannot pull it then use round up and not the stuff you get from garden centers.

If you are starting with a fresh bed of ground elder, spray with round up before you dig. ground elder LOVES to be broken up and each piece will shoot up with more vigour than the last. when you have sprayed leave it - it may look as though it is not working, but it will. then dig - but most importand - KEEP UP YOUR VIGIL on the wreched beast!

 

absolutely! But if you persevere, you will win in the end, honestly! And just think of all the anaerobic exercise you're getting. A new motto "Ground Elder makes you Fit!" :D

 

At one time I used to dread going to bed at night because when I closed my eyes I saw ground elder - no kidding, it was a plague.
when I moved into waco (walnut cottage) the beds were like concrete, ground elder, Johnsons blue geranium and ladies mantle (taken my pills so brain gone for propper name)

 

ok - that is pretty much as I thought - thanks everyone, I'll just keep digging then.

 

dendrobium - just a thought about the G E in your crocosmia, you can paint on roundup with a small paint brush, this gives you control over what you are doing.

and also - but you will have to be VERY careful, you can wear a rubber glove and an old coton absorbant clove on top, dip your well covered hand into roundup solution and finger the G E.

 

I have got the dreaded ground elder in my new house, i have bought Deep root gel to paint onto all the leaves, im just waiting for a bit of sun as it will take me al day. Also i read somewhere that planting tagetes in it will killit as the roots give off a chemical that kills ground elder roots, Dont know how accurate that is though, bit difficult through concrete. They are hardy suckers up here.

 

Thanks, Waco - but I'd be there ages - they have miles of crocosmia!! I'll just have to let it be for this season, and let the crocosmia grow through it. With a bit of luck, whoever buys the house will get me as gardener too, and I'll get stuck into these meaty jobs then!!

HH, yes I've read that about tagetes too - but don't altogether believe it. Worth trying, if there's space to plant it - but sheer brute force (digging it out) oir weedkiller, or both - are the only answers I know of that work. Sorry about that! :rolleyes:

[ 23. April 2006, 09:50 PM: Message edited by: dendrobium ]

 

Waco - alchemilla mollis!! And thatnks for the enlightenment re Wa-Co!

 

Yeah i thought id been smart when we di the garden makeover and spent an entire week on all fours gently digging it all out to a depth of nearly 2 feet. but no here it is as big and depressingly rampant as before. Its the deep root this time, and no i wont touch it at all, it can biodegrade into the bed,,,,,,,,or will it come back to life???