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Please help identify this weed(?)

captccaptc Posts: 2
in Problem solving
Hello everyone,

I am hoping somebody will be able to help identify the following plant that has sprung up on our front lawn and making itself at home. I've sent myself cross-eyed trying to search pictures online, but cannot fathom it:



Many thanks in advance.

Posts

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    Ground Elder



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
    Yep, as @nutcutlet says - that's ground elder.  I'm afraid to get rid of it you are going to have to dig up the lawn to pull out as much root as possible.  It's a long job but very satisfying once you get into it and pull out long threads of roots in one go.  They smell quite pleasant.  I became obsessed with it when trying to eradicate it from my garden, even down to picking out the tiny thread like roots. But it worked.  I still have ground elder popping up here and there in my borders but it is much easier to get out now all the basic work has done.  

    If left it will grow quite tall and flower a bit like cow parsely and then seed everywhere as well.

    Good luck!
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    Oh I think you have a problem snap a piece and it regrows
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @captc You could try covering with old carpet or something to stop the light, you will need to leave it for about a year. If it is coming from a neighbouring garden the only thing you can do is make some sort of barrier.  It likes to grow in the roots of other plants including shrubs. 
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • captccaptc Posts: 2
    Thank you for the quick response everyone - even though I don't like the answer :( as we only had that part re-turfed recently *sigh*.

    Oh well, at least I know what my weekends are taken up with now ... for the next 5 years ...
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    You could use a weed killer and a plant brush.  Tedious but better than digging up a new lawn,  it will probably come back a bit next year, it will be an ongoing thing for a few years.
    You  wouldn’t have to paint every single leaf. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I'm surprised the people who turfed the lawn didn't see the roots. Did they prepare the ground for turfing? Had it got ground elder before it was turfed? Could the ground elder have been in the turves?
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • borgadrborgadr Posts: 718
    If it's only in the lawn, then there's hope according to the RHS:
    "In new lawns, ground elder will usually be starved by repeated mowing, and should not persist for long."
    Link (about halfway down the page):     Ground elder / RHS Gardening
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    It is edible ... if you fancy trying to get your own back ... but not if it's been sprayed of course https://www.wildfooduk.com/edible-wild-plants/ground-elder/

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





  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    It tastes horrible!
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
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