I don’t like using glyphosate but with ground elder I just don’t see a viable alternative. Even using glyphosate though, you have to go full OCD on it for a number of years. If you let up on the regime it’ll be back before you know it. It coming in from next door needs addressed also. Look at physical barrier options.
I chased ground elder around the top of my garden for 3 years before I got rid of it. It’s a tenacious pest. Where you can’t spray, use the spot weed killer gel carefully around your plants and use it as soon as the new leaves open after that.
In less enlightened times when we didn’t know the health risks and damage to wildlife glyphosate presents I would make a solution up in a jar, don a pair of marigolds, slip an old wooden glove over my right rubber glove, dip it into the glyphosate and paint the leaves that way. Because it was so runny it was difficult to keep it off the plants and you trusted to luck the marigold wouldn’t burst. Fortunately these days we have spot weed killer gel that’s much safer. (If it’s still available that is) PPE is very important though.
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I chased ground elder around the top of my garden for 3 years before I got rid of it. It’s a tenacious pest. Where you can’t spray, use the spot weed killer gel carefully around your plants and use it as soon as the new leaves open after that.