My Garden

Ground Elder Nightmare

Last post 18-10-2009 5:55 PM by jon jon . 6 replies.

• 15/10/2009 12:27 PM

  Lynsey Location: Hampshire Joined on: 17 Mar 2009 Posts: 24

  Reply | Contact Was just wondering if anyone knows of any miracle solutions for getting rid of ground elder? I've dug up a lot in the last week or so from a flower bed but I can see that it spreads under our lawn. I read somewhere that it keeps regenerating if you leave any in the soil (even the tiniest pieces) and I really don't want to start digging up the lawn to get rid of it. If I put some kind of weed killer down I'm guessing it will kill the lawn as well. Any ideas much appreciated. Thanks

• 15/10/2009 03:21 PM	In reply to
  bogweevil Location: Joined on: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 2,043	Reply | Contact The lawn mower keeps ground elder under control in the lawn - do your lawn well and GE should not be a problem.  It might be a persistent nuisance on a scraggly, under-fed ill-tended lawn.  If it comes to it lawn weedkiller applied in April and May will put a nasty crimp in GE and speed the process of eliminaiton up markedly.   Boggy Beware the bat-eared bogweevil

• 15/10/2009 10:02 PM

  In reply to

  AlexS Location: Reading Joined on: 06 Sep 2009 Posts: 58

  Reply | Contact I don't know any way of eliminating ground elder. I agree with bogweevil - it can't cope with being constantly mowed, so it's not so much a problem in the lawn. But as you say, it does regenerate from tiny pieces, and even if you clear your flowerbed of all other plants it will still find some nook or cranny from which to regrow. A few winters ago I dug up all my phlox, washed the soil off all the roots, picked out every piece of GE I could find, and replanted. Result? A couple of years with not much GE, but I must have missed a bit, because it's back. Also, I couldn't realistically remove it from among the magnolia roots. If you don't mind using a glyphosate weedkiller like Roundup you can certainly weaken it, and I've heard repeated applications will kill it. But I'm resigned to having an occasional blitz to push it back into the corners, and then dig it up when it reappears - whenever time and inclination allow. If there is a way to get rid of it without getting rid of a lot of desirable plants too, I haven't found it. I just have to resign myself to a lifetime of weeding... Alex Alex

• 17/10/2009 10:39 AM	In reply to
  Phot's-Moll Location: The sunny South coast. Joined on: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 3,347	Reply | Contact  Did you know you can eat it? Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.

• 17/10/2009 06:16 PM	In reply to
  AlexS Location: Reading Joined on: 06 Sep 2009 Posts: 58	Reply | Contact I know you CAN eat it, but would you want to? It's pretty tasteless stuff - or have you got a good recipe? Alex

• 17/10/2009 07:36 PM	In reply to
  Phot's-Moll Location: The sunny South coast. Joined on: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 3,347	Reply | Contact  You could add it to salads and stir fries and put it in curries in place of spinach. I don't eat any myself now as I don't grow the stuff, but I have tried it. Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.

• 18/10/2009 05:55 PM	In reply to
  jon jon Location: stratford on avon Joined on: 18 Sep 2009 Posts: 7	Reply | Contact we eradicated ground elder by spraying with roundup in the garden took about 5years.in the lawn alawn weedkiller will control it .persistance will win .no quick remedy,good luck.