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Ground elder

rebeccajbradshaw9bYmRHVirebeccajbradshaw9bYmRHVi Posts: 1
in Problem solving
Hi, I'm researching a way to combat ground elder in a natural way. I'm looking at Mexican marigold and also geranium x oxonianum which I have read recently can be quite good for reducing elder? Any other finds? I'm going to test out some different marigold species to see if they work too. 
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  • D0rdogne_DamselD0rdogne_Damsel Posts: 4,184
    Ask @sam bevington, I think she's an expert. 😁
    • “Coffee. Garden. Coffee. Does a good morning need anything else?” —Betsy Cañas Garmon
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    I recall reading somewhere that monks used to grow it deliberately as food to make best use of hedgerows where nothing else will grow.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    The most natural way is to dig it out ... repeatedly ... every spring.  Use the young shoots as a vegetable. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • WonkyWombleWonkyWomble Posts: 4,541
    My entire garden was ground elder and a path. Im afraid I had to dig it all out which involved taking out a foot in depth and picking through it and re levelling the entire area. Worth it though! 
    In my front garden though, the path and a wall were put in without clearing the ground elder from a skinny bed at the base of the wall.  This year I'm attempting to plant thuggish plants through the ground elder and use it as a back drop!! We shall see if it works! Any recommendations for thuggish plants welcome please 😊
  • LG_LG_ Posts: 4,360
    I do remember being taught about successful experiments with certain plants which seemed to inhibit the growth of ground elder... unfortunately I can't remember what they were, sorry! It may well be that the plants you mention in your post are the ones - I'm assuming you got that from somewhere. It would be good to hear your results.
    'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
    - Cicero
  • SamBevingtonSamBevington Posts: 134
    Yes digging and yanking is the answer I'm afraid but strangely rewarding. I had to extract all my shrubs/perennials and blast them with the hose to expose the ground elder - the roots are quite distinctive and easy to pull.  @WonkyWomble try Loosestrife 🙂
  • WonkyWombleWonkyWomble Posts: 4,541
    Hello @LG_
    I've got euphorbia and verbena bonariensis and honeywort in there so far. I'm thinking a few hollyhocks and foxglove might take,  it gets late sun and is against a flint wall.  Anything has to be better than the dog poo and be cans that grow there currently!
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    edited March 2021
    We looked at Mexican Marigold but decided against it, apparently it’s as big a thug - obvious really if it’s going to out compete ground elder I suppose. 

    We had a patch in our front garden - maybe 4 x 3 metres. There weren’t many “proper” plants but the few there were we lifted and quarantined in pots. We then worked through the area, digging a trench and removing all the roots we could find as we dug it out then moving in to the next strip. From recollection the roots didn’t go that deep, maybe 30cm. When finished we raked it level but left it bare and then repeated the process again after about 6 weeks when the odd new shoot was reappearing - although there wasn’t as much we did it thoroughly again. We used the space for annuals during the summer just in case but only a few more shoots popped up and all were small single pieces not much root. We planted it up permanently in the Autumn. Since then (two years) we have the odd shoot appearing at the edge of the area, where we couldn’t dig out properly amongst some tree roots but no more than that. 

    I think this method works as long as you can devote the time to do an area thoroughly in one go (not literally one day but a focused effort over a short space of time). That way it doesn’t have time to get going again before you’ve finished. If the area is too large we focus on an area we can do in the time available rather than doing a less thorough job over a wider space. We’ve used the same technique successfully against bindweed.
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    edited March 2021
    In my garden G. oxonianum does suppress it somewhat, but G. macrorrhizum does better. Very little has appeared under it at all so far , but I think other factors have a bearing too.
    G.mac is growing on a dryish, sunny bank under ash trees where the ground elder does not grow quite as lush.
    G. oxo is growing in a partially shaded area with rich, deep and  moist soil which the ground elder absolutely loves.  I would have to dig up every bit of the geranium to remove the mass of elder roots that are tangled amongst it, and then replant it, in order to regain full control of the bed.
    I haven't done this because life isn't long enough, but have evicted it from its hiding places under the edging stones and dug out all the bits I can get at between other plants.
    Yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia) is another good suppressor, and so are Crocosmias, but then you are just replacing one thug with another!
    Monty Don, in one episode of Gardener's World, was bemoaning the fact that there was nothing to follow on and continue the frothy effect when the cow parsley went over.
    There is - ground elder!
    It is just another umbellifer after all, and looks really pretty growing amongst other spring flowering plants. I tolerate it in parts of my garden because of this and because the leaves are green and attractive and better than bare soil. And also because the garden is far too big for me manage on my own without accepting a degree of wildness and a laissez faire attitude :)
    I have a couple of beds near the house, where I try harder to keep it at bay. It helps to have a limited area to work on for this.
    1. Dig deep with a big fork and track down and remove every bit of white root you can see. Seek out and remove the purplish bumpy crown at the base of the leaves. Where you cannot remove root or crown, remove the leaves.
    2. Wait a week or two, then go back and look for all the bits you missed first time round!
    3. Keep a watchful eye out for every new shoot and dig out or remove leaves until they stop appearing.....!
    4. If you allow it to flower, remove all the dead flower heads immediately after, so it cannot seed and colonise new areas that way.
    Sad facts - I can now recognise a nettle root just by the degree of resistance it offers and follow a ground elder stem down to the root, find the crown and remove it by touch alone!
  • SamBevingtonSamBevington Posts: 134
    Wonky, in my efforts yesterday, the Hollyhocks were the only plants I didn't have to extract as the elder didn't seem to embrace it - surprising how chunky they are underground, only £2.50 from Aldi!!
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