Hi
My garden is over run by this 6-8" high weed? Though I am not sure if it is technically a weed?
Please help me to identify it.
Kind regards
Sue
Also can I kill it?

Ground elder. Yes, you're allowed to kill it ;-)

You can either dig it out (though bits of root will re-shoot - it'll take a couple of years to be rid of it all, though I have done it that way) or you can use glyphosate

Yeah thanks so much for you help! I can now happily go pulling it all out and have a much nicer garden!
Kindest regards
Sue

sue10137 wrote:
My garden is over run by this 6-8" high weed? Though I am not sure if it
is technically a weed?
Please help me to identify it.

Ground elder. Pain in the bottom to get rid of. Dig it out, but it'll come
back. Not evilly so, but y'know, persistant. Probably easier to get rid
of than mint, though.

I believe it's meant to be edible, if you read the forager books.

You can't just pull it, you'll need to loosen soil around the roots and get all the roots out. It spreads by creeping roots, which you'll find a few inches down (it doesn't go enormously deep). (They have a rather nice smell).

On 20/06/2010 23:21, kay wrote:
sue10137;891675 Wrote:
Yeah thanks so much for you help! I can now happily go pulling it all
out and have a much nicer garden!
Kindest regards
Sue

You can't just pull it, you'll need to loosen soil around the roots and
get all the roots out. It spreads by creeping roots, which you'll find a
few inches down (it doesn't go enormously deep). (They have a rather
nice smell).


If there are no other nearby plants I'd be tempted to use glyphosate.
I've used it very successfully on ground elder. Much less hassle than
trying to dig out those deep roots.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

In article ,
David in Normandy wrote:
On 20/06/2010 23:21, kay wrote:
sue10137;891675 Wrote:
Yeah thanks so much for you help! I can now happily go pulling it all
out and have a much nicer garden!

You can't just pull it, you'll need to loosen soil around the roots and
get all the roots out. It spreads by creeping roots, which you'll find a
few inches down (it doesn't go enormously deep). (They have a rather
nice smell).

If there are no other nearby plants I'd be tempted to use glyphosate.
I've used it very successfully on ground elder. Much less hassle than
trying to dig out those deep roots.

As Kay says, they aren't deep. If there are no nearby plants, digging
it out is a pain but works better than glyphosate - so it's not often
a problem in vegetable plots. But it's virtually impossible to get out
from the roots of other plants, as the roots are very brittle.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

sue10137 wrote:
Yeah thanks so much for you help! I can now happily go pulling it all
out and have a much nicer garden!

Good luck. My dad always reckons the only way to get rid of ground elder is
to move house. I think he exagerates, I had it coming under next door's
fence for years but have finally /mostly/ knocked it back (with the
unforunateness that it sometimes blends in with the strawberries when it is
young, I find).

Oddly, don't seem to get it on the allotment (touch wood!!) only at home.
On the allotment it's all twitch and bindweed. I think I can now spot
bindweed from the tiniest bit of root ...

If your garden is overrun by ground elder, you will discover that there are very large quantities of root in the soil. The actual plants are actually surprisingly infrequent in comparison to the rhizome network. Also the root will be well entangled with the root balls of other plants, so getting rid of it all will be quite hard work. And, with a lot of it, you will inevitably leave lots of root fragments behind, which will all regrow. Also, if it has been allowed to flower in the past, there's probably decades worth of seeds to germinate. In fact, realistically, as in my situation, you won't ever be completely rid of it, you'll just reduce it enough that it weeding what is left is no longer a large job, provided you always weed it out th emoment it reappears and never let it start rebuilding its empire. We had to move out one summer a couple of years ago for major rebuilding works, and it now requiring a lot more attention than the previous 5 years.

In your case, a multi-pronged approach may be required. I found glyphosate less than fully effective. So you probably need both a glyphosate and a thorough digging out, the question is in which order. My suggestion, given the current timing, would be to start by digging out all you can easily get at. Then in late summer glyphosate what has grown back (best time to glyphosate as that is when they are taking stuff down to the roots to store for next year). Then next spring dig out everything that reappears. If its still a large problem late next summer, glyphosate again. But it ordepens how easily you can glyphosate without killing everything else. I had the good fortune to be removing it from a bed I was replanting anyway, so nearly all the old plants were being dug out. But the few old established rosebushes I wanted to keep have proved a reservoir of roots that have been hard to eradicate.

Ground elder growing in a lawn is adequately controlled by regular mowing.

On Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:50:58 +0200, David in Normandy
wrote:

On 20/06/2010 23:21, kay wrote:
sue10137;891675 Wrote:
Yeah thanks so much for you help! I can now happily go pulling it all
out and have a much nicer garden!
Kindest regards
Sue

You can't just pull it, you'll need to loosen soil around the roots and
get all the roots out. It spreads by creeping roots, which you'll find a
few inches down (it doesn't go enormously deep). (They have a rather
nice smell).


If there are no other nearby plants I'd be tempted to use glyphosate.
I've used it very successfully on ground elder. Much less hassle than
trying to dig out those deep roots.

Why waste it?

Harvest it and eat it, some say.

http://www.downsizer.net/Projects/Wi...ublesome_Weed/

http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants....ium+podagraria

http://www.eatweeds.co.uk/ground-elder-tempeh-recipe


--
(¯`·. ®óñ© © ²°¹° .·´¯)

In article ,
echinosum wrote:
sue10137;891649 Wrote:
Hi
My garden is over run by this 6-8" high weed? Though I am not sure if it
is technically a weed?
Please help me to identify it.
Also can I kill it?

If your garden is overrun by ground elder, you will discover that there
are very large quantities of root in the soil. The actual plants are
actually surprisingly infrequent in comparison to the rhizome network.
Also the root will be well entangled with the root balls of other
plants, so getting rid of it all will be quite hard work. And, with a
lot of it, you will inevitably leave lots of root fragments behind,
which will all regrow. Also, if it has been allowed to flower in the
past, there's probably decades worth of seeds to germinate. ...

It very rarely sets viable seed in the UK - unlike stinging nettles,
which both spread into a network of underground stems and produce
lots of viable seed.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

wrote in message
...
sue10137 wrote:
My garden is over run by this 6-8" high weed? Though I am not sure if it
is technically a weed?
Please help me to identify it.

Ground elder. Pain in the bottom to get rid of. Dig it out, but it'll
come
back. Not evilly so, but y'know, persistant. Probably easier to get rid
of than mint, though.

I believe it's meant to be edible, if you read the forager books.

I know a couple who harvest the young foliage of the Ground Elder in their
garden to make a tasty soup that they call 'Bishop's Broth' (because Ground
Elder is also known as Bishopweed or Bishopwort). I don't have a recipe I'm
afraid.

R.

On 20/06/2010 21:32, sue10137 wrote:
kay;891650 Wrote:
Ground elder. Yes, you're allowed to kill it ;-)

You can either dig it out (though bits of root will re-shoot - it'll
take a couple of years to be rid of it all, though I have done it that
way) or you can use glyphosate

Yeah thanks so much for you help! I can now happily go pulling it all
out and have a much nicer garden!

Before you do that hit it with glyphosate first and leave for two weeks
or if patient hit it with slightly over diluted glyphosate and wait four
weeks. Then when you dig it out the roots will be less inclined to
regrow from every 1/4" piece that you miss. Good news is the roots are
shallow white and easy to spot but the bad news is they are brittle.

Only a concerted effort of chemical and mechanical attack will get rid
of it quickly. You can do it entirely manually if you sieve the soil to
get every last piece of root, but that would be *very* hard work.

It is far simpler to have a regular hit on it with glyphosate every
month during the growing season or whenever you happen to be using a
weedkiller. Then periodically dig it out. You mustn't allow any of the
leaves to see sunlight without being zapped. It is best to clear a patch
completely and then spot weed any stragglers. Every tiny bit of root
left in will become a new plant (particularly if you do not use a
weedkiller first).

In a lawn it will succumb to regular close mowing, but in a border you
pretty much need to use a weedkiller carefully to eliminate it.

Regards,
Martin Brown

Agreed. It's best not to be too politically correct, and to know how to use
chemicals properly. Some patient people use a paintbrush.

Aminotriazole was probably more effective than glyphosate but I don't know
if it's still available.

The main thing is to use a weak solution so the product has time (weeks) to
get to the roots before the top growth, which fuels the transport process,
has been bumped off.

Regards

"Martin Brown" a écrit dans le message de
...
On 20/06/2010 21:32, sue10137 wrote:
kay;891650 Wrote:
Ground elder. Yes, you're allowed to kill it ;-)

You can either dig it out (though bits of root will re-shoot - it'll
take a couple of years to be rid of it all, though I have done it that
way) or you can use glyphosate

Yeah thanks so much for you help! I can now happily go pulling it all
out and have a much nicer garden!

Before you do that hit it with glyphosate first and leave for two weeks or
if patient hit it with slightly over diluted glyphosate and wait four
weeks. Then when you dig it out the roots will be less inclined to regrow
from every 1/4" piece that you miss. Good news is the roots are shallow
white and easy to spot but the bad news is they are brittle.

Only a concerted effort of chemical and mechanical attack will get rid of
it quickly. You can do it entirely manually if you sieve the soil to get
every last piece of root, but that would be *very* hard work.

It is far simpler to have a regular hit on it with glyphosate every month
during the growing season or whenever you happen to be using a weedkiller.
Then periodically dig it out. You mustn't allow any of the leaves to see
sunlight without being zapped. It is best to clear a patch completely and
then spot weed any stragglers. Every tiny bit of root left in will become
a new plant (particularly if you do not use a weedkiller first).

In a lawn it will succumb to regular close mowing, but in a border you
pretty much need to use a weedkiller carefully to eliminate it.

Regards,
Martin Brown

The message
from "Ragnar" contains these words:

I know a couple who harvest the young foliage of the Ground Elder in their
garden to make a tasty soup that they call 'Bishop's Broth' (because Ground
Elder is also known as Bishopweed or Bishopwort). I don't have a recipe I'm
afraid.

R.

I use the young leaves as a salad additive each Spring; when it gets
older it becomes too bitter to eat. In Ethiopia the seed (called
"Bishop's Weed" over there) is used as a spice.

I have successfully dug out a large patch of ground elder but you have
to use a fork and ensure that you leave not a trace behind. If so it
will come back but keep at it and you will win.

--
Compo in Caithness