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18-08-2003, 04:42 PM

On 18 Aug 2003 14:51:18 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:

In article ,
Stephen Howard writes:
|
| 4] Plant Ground Elder, and see which one wins

| THEN move home!

No contest. Ground elder is horribly invasive, but easy to get
rid of if you can dig the ground over (and do so a few times).
Horsetails are the only UK plants that make bindweed look shallow
rooted.

For the first time in more years than I can remember I've had to
resort to herbicides in my battle with GE.

To put the matter in perspective, my garden is bordered on one side by
a copse in which the stuff grows freely ( and in which context it
looks just fine ).
On another side its bordered by a garden belonging to a hermit-like
chap who does absolutely nothing with his property - which is also
covered in GE ( and Hogweed, and Bindweed etc ).

I suppose I could at least have a word with the chap - but
unfortunately he's one of those people whom when asked a question will
respond with "Well, now, yes, you see, umm, that takes me back to the
year of our Lord, 1956 - which, incidentally, was the year I bought my
first car. Of course, back in those days petrol was only two groats a
gallon, and every chicken came with giblets.....".
By the time he gets to point I might just as well have dug up all the
GE myself, with a cardboard spoon.
Not only that, but he's the sort of chap that you sometimes see
profiled on documentaries entitled 'The axe-man next door' - only in
his case you wouldn't so much say " Well, I'd never have guessed"
rather than "I always knew there was something odd about that bloke".

So - I'm stuck with the GE, and in an effort to control it I've
resorted to marking out a no-man's land between his land and mine ( I
even tried eating the stuff, but it's really not that agreeable ). Not
much I can do about the copse... I'm banking on the 'lawn' holding
back the ingress of GE and bracken...

So I set about trying to dig the GE out of the small bed at the front
of the house - but pretty soon realised that the root system was
heavily intertwined with the existing shrubs ( roses, a crab apple and
an apple tree ), but I tried, nonetheless.
My efforts were rewarded with not much at all really, so I purchased a
small bottle of weedkiller and resorted to the 'little but often'
advice gleaned form this very NG.

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 ).
Once I can get the root system 'orf moi larnd' I can dig out a trench
and lay in a hefty polythene barrier...and all I'll have to worry
about then is the rest of the GE setting seed each year....

The project for next year is to rid a plot of 20 plus plum trees of
the stuff! This plot borders on my veg patch - and I absolutely refuse
to use chemicals there.
Ground Elder tea, anyone?

Regards,

--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

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