Forum home› Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Ground elder

Womble54Womble54 Posts: 348
in Problem solving
Hi All,

We’ve moved to a new house and it looks like we have a ground elder problem from a border in the front garden. It’s started to spread under the fence to my vegetable patch area (raised beds with a surrounding patio). There are ground elder shoots sprouting from one edge of the patio. My guess is the previous owners built the patio over an infested area.

I’ve read some things about it and the previous threads about it on here. 

Digging it out of the borders will not be easy. In the future we are thinking of turning some of the front garden into a drive way. So could did it all out then.

Untill then I was hoping for some suggestions on how to contain it until we put the drive way in.

My plan was to strim it back to ground level wherever I can get to it as often as possible Maybe put some underground plastic barrier along the fence line to stop in spreading further into the veg garden area, and aggressively dig/pull up any shoots I see on the veg garden side of the fence.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

TIA


«1

Posts

  • ElferElfer Posts: 329
    Fresh greens delivered to your garden

    https://youtu.be/smmrGatSL9U
  • Womble54Womble54 Posts: 348
    I think we’d be eating elder 3 meals a day. Or maybe I should get a horse.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    If you don't mind using a weedkiller then spray it with glyphosate but you will have to do it a few times.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • Womble54Womble54 Posts: 348
    Thanks. I was keen to avoid spraying. There are some lovely trees and shrubs established in the border and a wisteria next to the drain, that it would be a shame to lose. There is one corner that has lots of elder and not much else next to the fence and my neighbours garage where I could spray.
  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
    We had/have ground elder, all along the fence bordering next door.  That was the first thing I tackled when we really set to with the garden at the beginning of lockdown last year.  It meant taking out any perennials that were still around but we left the shrubs and worked around them.  It took a long time, digging over the soil then bending down and pulling out all of the g.elder roots, even the finest ones.  It paid off - there are bits which pop up still - and always will be - but I just hoik them out with as much root as I can. And I can now identify ground elder root when turning over the soil so get it out as I go along.  The roots have a fragrant smell.  We did eat some in salad.
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
  • Womble54Womble54 Posts: 348
    I've done some more reading and watched some videos. I'm going to dig up as much as I can near the fence and accessible areas of the border and try to get up all the roots/rhizomes. Then cut back the other areas as close to ground as possible. Any new shoots that come up, I've bough a role-on glyphosate weed killer to put onto the leaves, to try to avoid any collateral damage to neighbouring plants. And I may spray areas that are just elder. I doubt I'll be able to eradicate it, but hopefully can get it under control without digging up the whole border.

    Thanks for the advice.
  • Womble54Womble54 Posts: 348
    I’ve started digging it out. Once you get going it’s not too bad, and quite satisfying pulling out the long roots. Any suggestions for what I can plant as ground cover once I’ve dug it all up? Or am I better off leaving it bare for a couple of years so I can spot the new elder growth and spray or dig it up?

    Thanks
  • CamelliadCamelliad Posts: 402
    I would leave it bare for at least a year and dig up as you spot it. The patch that I cleared I left bare for just over that (two clear springs) and then planted up in late spring, once I felt confident that I'd caught the worst of it. Seems to have worked well.
  • Robert WestRobert West Posts: 241
    Agree with previous people's comments. Just be really thorough and do a patch at a time. Better to remove 95% of it from a 1m square than 75% from the whole area. As mentioned you'll never get it all in one go. It needs about 2cm of root left for it to sprout again! 

    But if you can get most of it out you can then remove any new shoots over the next year. Just try and chase the roots back without breaking them. I agree it's rather satisfying!

    If possible don't plant anything in the area (other than annuals maybe) for a year or so cos you're gonna be digging a lot! 

    Good luck! 

  • Womble54Womble54 Posts: 348
    Thank you. As soon as this rain stops I’ll get digging again. 

    Last question. There’s one area of the border with loads of Elder and lots of mature plants. I don’t think I’ll be able to dig it out if there. It’s between a driveway and a lawn, so I don’t mind it staying there. I just don’t want to to spead back towards the fence and my veg area. Is there anything I can use as a barrier to stop it spreading that way again? I’d only need about 1m of barrier at the narrowest point if the border, so could dig down and bury something.

    I’ve had a google & can’t find anything suitable. Any suggestions?
Sign In or Register to comment.