In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:

Don't even think of digging out the ground elder unless you have the
patience of a saint and a back of iron!

I find it dead easy in a vegetable patch. It rarely goes down further
than 6" and is fairly obvious. It is a right pain in the middle of
herbaceous plants and shrubs, though, as well as where it can run
under paving slabs etc.

The odd bit breaks off and regrows. I find the best approach is a combination of
chemical hits with glyphosate about once a month and strimming after a fortnight.
The remains can be dug out and are so weakened that any bits you miss are unable
to regrow. Never let it get any decent leaves in sunlight and starve the roots
out.

With an active vegetable patch, you can remove all the bits you see
when you dig it over (typically twice a year), and then remove bits
that regrow by hand with as much root as possible without disturbing
the vegetables. I find that it goes within a couple of years like
that, with little extra effort.

Of course, starting from a badly infested plot, I used your method.
I can believe that the carpet/black polythene trick works, too, and
you can also kill it with grass if there is enough light. I am
currently expanding my vegetable patch a little, and will see how
I do just digging - but I shall be planting potatoes there!

Enough to clear herbaceous borders in a season. Just needs a steady hand to apply
the weedkiller. Or patience to go round lopping off all its leaves.

I have tried that a couple of times, and failed. Not dismally, but
I still failed. With bindweed, I failed dismally.

Horsetail is much much worse. Moving house is the only solution to that stuff!

That I can believe. My garden is too dry for it, thank heavens.

On the edge of a lawn even repeated close crop mowing will get it.

The key there is light. It is a woodland plant, and will compete
with grass in shade, but rapidly gets swamped in open conditions.
We cut back a looming holly, and the ground elder has almost gone
in 8 months with no further effort.

I wonder if the type of soil plays a part. I have never found ground elder that
much of a problem. It can be defeated in only a couple of years. I find bindweed
and especially horsetail pretty much indestructible.

It does, but more for bindweed and horsetail. The former prefers light
soils and the latter heavier, though it is really a preference for the
amount of water.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.