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Gardening

Ground elder

(12 Posts)
farview Thu 10-May-18 11:15:22

angryam having such a battle with ground elder in my back garden,its from the farm at the e nd of our garden,I don't use chemicals and am trying to keep on top of it by digging it up but not much joy! Any suggestions welcome!

Baggs Thu 10-May-18 17:53:27

Eat it. Seriously.

Or just keep mowing it down.

Peep Thu 10-May-18 17:58:34

I have found the only way to control ground elder is to continually dig it up getting as much of the root system as possible each time. I heard many years ago that planting dahlia tubers is supposed to help because ground elder doesn’t like them!? Haven’t tried this myself. Good luck!!

sparkly1000 Thu 10-May-18 18:57:12

If it's not growing around other shrub roots smother it with old carpet or horticultural black membrane for a couple of years, won't kill it but it may persuade to return to the farm.
Otherwise known as Gout Weed it is edible so you could always eat your way through it.
Blame the Romans, they introduced it to Britain.

MrsJamJam Thu 10-May-18 19:07:08

It creeps out from the base of all our hedges(old field boundaries) and now that i have seen a hedgehog in the garden i am not using weedkiller, just in case. So i just dig out what i can and hope that i am slightly on the winning side! Probably not, though!

farview Thu 10-May-18 19:34:48

Oh thank you all,Eat it? Didn't know it was edible,will give it a go! So now have have a crop and not a weedgrin

Nanabilly Thu 10-May-18 21:34:13

Going to Google ground elder now to see if it's like one of the little blighters we can't get rid of.

J52 Thu 10-May-18 21:41:54

Digging it up is the only way, pull out any light coloured roots. They go a long way. You won’t get rid of it all, but it does diminish.
I’ve planted Crainsbill Geranuim and lamium ( dead nettle) in the area where mine is and it does seem to overcome it.
Every time I garden, I spend a few moments digging up the new bits that have appeared, before they get a hold.

Wheniwasyourage Fri 11-May-18 07:04:14

Can I join the ground elder (or bishop's weed as it is called here) battlers please? That's interesting about geranium and lamium, J52. We have both, and I will investigate trying to spread them in the worst affected bits of the garden. Thank you!

Baggs, I am trying the mowing/strimming approach too, but can you give us some details on eating it? Do you stew it, make it into soup or eat it as salad?

We seem to be developing a visitation of rabbits this year for the first time for a while, and I hope they like the stuff! Maybe I'm just not meant to be a gardener. sad

jusnoneed Fri 11-May-18 07:59:49

It took me a couple years to clear a patch from my garden when we moved here. Back then you could buy a weedkiller that you dabbed on the leaves, it was a thick gel so you could put it where you wanted, that plus digging eventually saw it off. As with most of them that worked it's no longer available so I would guess it's keep digging it now.
Any little piece of root will grow.

Auntieflo Fri 11-May-18 08:22:35

We have a bit of ground elder, in our back garden, but seem to be able to keep on top of it. The nuisance we have in our front garden, is Hypericum, (Rose of Sharon). I tried to have a go at digging it out on Wed, but it is defeating me. It is deep rooted and spreads like billyo. I did resort to watering on some weed killer, but used the last sachet, so will have to search out some more. Thanks for the info about ground elder being edible, but would like to know how you use it please.

sparkly1000 Fri 11-May-18 09:51:54

Lots of recipes on Googling it, most popular way is to drizzle with olive oil, season well and sauté in salted butter.