In article , Stephen Howard
writes
Two months down the line and the GE is being slowly knocked back (
along with the grass that borders the bed... but I suspect this will
grow back with time ).

An interesting thought here is that ground elder is not generally known
as a lawn weed. IMHO that is because the plant will not survive regular
cutting. That is the way we have eliminated it from parts of our garden
where it would do harm, e.g. the vegetable plot, herbaceous borders,
flower beds etc. It takes two or three years to really clear it, and it
can return if it is allowed to. By that method ground elder is no longer
a problem to us without any use of chemical herbicides.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 20:17:34 +0100, Alan Gould
wrote:

In article , Stephen Howard
writes
Two months down the line and the GE is being slowly knocked back (
along with the grass that borders the bed... but I suspect this will
grow back with time ).

An interesting thought here is that ground elder is not generally known
as a lawn weed. IMHO that is because the plant will not survive regular
cutting.
snip

Please come round and sternly lecture the GE in my lawn!

Ahh, wait a mo.. you said 'regular cutting'. I'm guessing once every
three weeks just isn't going to cut the mustard ( or the grass, come
to think of it ).

Well, it's er, a wildlife garden innit ( guv ).

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{who is at}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 16:54:55 +0100, Mike
wrote:

In article , Stephen Howard
writes

1956 - which, incidentally, was the year I bought my
first car. Of course, back in those days petrol was only two groats a
gallon,


1956 Petrol 2/6 a gallon up to the November and the Suez crisis when it
doubled to 5/0 a gallon and I think you will find that petrol is cheaper
now than it was then £ for £ Time for Time:-))

In the Spring and Summer I had a 150cc Lambretta and in the November
when petrol rationing started I had already bought a Matchless 500cc G9

Do you have a neighbour called Stephen?
--
Stuart Baldwin
news\at/boxatrix\dot/co\dot/uk

In article , Stephen Howard
writes

Ahh, wait a mo.. you said 'regular cutting'. I'm guessing once every
three weeks just isn't going to cut the mustard ( or the grass, come
to think of it ).

Well, it's er, a wildlife garden innit ( guv ).

Something not often discussed in this group are the choices of herbage
in a grassed area available from judicial use of cutting height and the
frequency at which it is done. Long ago, we used to keep our main lawn
at 'croquet' standard because we had a croquet set and regular visitors
who liked to play croquet. More recently we like to encourage some
wildflowers and wildlife while still keeping a recreational lawn.

By selecting a cutting height and sticking to it, also by keeping
herbage near to that height by regular cutting, it is possible to opt
for a given range of naturally self-set wildflowers. The variety of non-
grass plants will vary according to the chosen height of cut, but it
will stay fairly constant if the height of herbage is constant.

At present I am cutting at approx. 3-4 cm. and that gives us a cheerful
and wholly self-set display of daisies, buttercups, clovers, self-heal,
celandines, mosses and others according to season and climate. Commonly
unwelcome (in lawns) plants like nettles, thistles, comfrey, cow
parsley, cow parsnip, hogweed, ground elder, brambles, horse/mare's
tail, bindweed, knot-weed et al. are not seen in our lawn, though there
are some of most of them not too far away in other even wilder areas.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

In article ,
writes
On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 16:54:55 +0100, Mike
wrote:

In article , Stephen Howard
writes

1956 - which, incidentally, was the year I bought my
first car. Of course, back in those days petrol was only two groats a
gallon,


1956 Petrol 2/6 a gallon up to the November and the Suez crisis when it
doubled to 5/0 a gallon and I think you will find that petrol is cheaper
now than it was then £ for £ Time for Time:-))

In the Spring and Summer I had a 150cc Lambretta and in the November
when petrol rationing started I had already bought a Matchless 500cc G9

Do you have a neighbour called Stephen?

Yup! 2 of them! Which one do you know? One across the road or one next
door? The one with Julie or the one with Diane?

Mike

On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 19:15:37 +0100, Alan Gould
wrote:


Something not often discussed in this group are the choices of herbage
in a grassed area available from judicial use of cutting height and the
frequency at which it is done. Long ago, we used to keep our main lawn
at 'croquet' standard because we had a croquet set and regular visitors
who liked to play croquet. More recently we like to encourage some
wildflowers and wildlife while still keeping a recreational lawn.

By selecting a cutting height and sticking to it, also by keeping
herbage near to that height by regular cutting, it is possible to opt
for a given range of naturally self-set wildflowers. The variety of non-
grass plants will vary according to the chosen height of cut, but it
will stay fairly constant if the height of herbage is constant.

At present I am cutting at approx. 3-4 cm. and that gives us a cheerful
and wholly self-set display of daisies, buttercups, clovers, self-heal,
celandines, mosses and others according to season and climate. Commonly
unwelcome (in lawns) plants like nettles, thistles, comfrey, cow
parsley, cow parsnip, hogweed, ground elder, brambles, horse/mare's
tail, bindweed, knot-weed et al. are not seen in our lawn, though there
are some of most of them not too far away in other even wilder areas.

I have to admit to cutting at about 8 inches - which leads, it has to
be said, to some pretty interesting vistas at ground level.
Not only is there a wide variety of wild flowers and herbs, but a
noticeable increase in the wildlife that inhabit said 'lawn'.

I find the odd giant thistle popping up - and these can be a bit nasty
when you have bare-footed kids running about - and as they start off
as a rosette they tend not to be much worried by a cut that's anything
less than a couple of inches.
If they find themselves in the right spot I like to let them grow -
it's a spectacular plant. Likewise the Burdock.

To be honest, I get to stand on some of the most ornate lawns in the
country and quite enjoy gazing across acres of regimented turf (
probably because I don't have to mow it! ) - but I still prefer to sit
on a log in my garden, cuppa in hand, and watch the insects scurrying
through the unkempt collection of Vetches, Scarlet Pimpernel,
Speedwell, Clover, Crane's Bill etc...

Not sure that you could call the collection a 'choice of herbage' as
such - more a case of leave it and see what turns up.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{who is at}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

"Phil A" wrote in message
om...
Me and my girlfriend do not know much about gardening. We have been
trying to keep our flower beds at the front of the house tidy but
every few weeks we keep on getting green fern like plants/weeds
growning everywhere. We pull them up but the just grow back again

here a couple of pictures of them

http://www.khronix.co.uk/images/Picture4.jpg
http://www.khronix.co.uk/images/Picture7.jpg

can anyone identify these or give me tips to get rid of them for good

Regrettably you have Mare's Tails, which is the most ineradicable weed next
to Japanese Knotweed and Grouuund Elder. Do not try to dig them up, as you
will leave behind fragments of broken root, all of which will regrow. I
know. I had the stuff.
Nothing other than painting the green parts with glyphosate will kill them.
(Roundup or Murphy's tumbleweed)

Franz