Hi all,

first time posting (and my first garden too!) so hope I have the right section for this query.

I took the garden over from the previous owners of the house and everything looked fine over winter and in early spring.

But over the last few weeks I've had a really pervasive weed take over my beds. I didn't tackle it right away because of the rain, but I've been trying to clear it out for hours today.

It's proving really difficult because it has soft stems and when I pull it up it doesn't bring the root with it 90% of the time. When I do try to get down and pull the roots out, I can normally get a section but it snaps and I'm sure I'm leaving plenty underground even if I'm really diligent. It's also been growing tangled up with plants I'd like to keep.

Picture attached. It's a ground cover plant and grows 10-20cm high to give you an idea of scale. It seems to be spreading by sending out roots laterally, and new leaves and fine roots spring from the nodes every few inches.

What's the best way to deal with it? I have a horrible feeling that it's simply going to grow back from the fragments of root system left in the ground. I'm prepared to nuke it with chemicals if that is what it takes, because there's no way I can spend 8 hours a month dealing with this!