Invasive weeds and shrubs

Haven’t had bamboo for years and years but see. To remember something about burning the roots or have I just made that up 😂

Resist the urge to pull up the ground elder foliage. Spray it with glyphosate and wait for it to die.

The RHS has information on removing bamboo. www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=210

@SpringyChicken is spot on. Which reminds me....My job for today is........

Weed killer? No way!

What is your suggestion, furret?

As its rhizomes are close to the surface of the soil, it is possible to reduce infestations of ground elder by removing it carefully with a garden fork. However, eradicating it completely needs vigilance as the smallest portion of root left in the soil will result in a new plant growing.

Non-weedkiller control
Tackling large infestations of ground elder in a well-planted bed can be difficult. To get rid of it completely requires time and patience. Try the following non-chemical approaches:

Lift cultivated plants and carefully remove and destroy any pieces of ground elder rhizome from around their roots.
After you are sure it has all been removed, replant your garden plants in clean soil or pots.
The ground elder can now be evicted by digging, or by covering the ground with black polythene to starve the weed of light. It may take several seasons until the ground elder is completely destroyed.

RHS advice

Science Magazine: bees and common weed killer

🐝 🐝 🐝

Pay someone to dig out the bamboo, don't leave it any longer. We had to get a JCB to dig some out in our garden. Fortunately we have vehicular access to our back garden.

I spotted this thread because i remember someone complaining about ground elder and i am trying to create a new flowerbed in a forgotten corner of my garden. I have begun digging out the nettles and ground elder, sticky willy and the occasional baby tree.
I am not going to wait two seasons nor will i use weedkiller but i want to plant it up with some colour PDQ.
I will dig out what i can, add a quantity of compost and plant out my perennials and annuals which are wilting in their temporary homes.
Water well. What can possibly go wrong
Someone once told me that even the sturdiest of plants lose the will to live if you keep cutting them back or pulling them out. Also the type of herbage which grows easily in a spot is a guide to what sort of plants are likely to thrive.

I have creeping ground elder from next door. I try to control it by removing as much, with roots, that I can.
I have planted Crainsbill geraniums over the place where it invades. This has reduced the spread.
Possibly the Crainsbill has some chemical affect.

I chickened out of putting the new perennials in that shady spot with the ground elder and have transplanted some foxgloves there instead. I have put the new flowers in sunnier spots including, cottage garden style, amongst the peas and chard.
My lockdown garden is taking shape!

Harvest it and eat it!!

According to WildFoodUK it was introduced 'by the Romans as a food staple'.

I wouldn’t eat ground elder. I would burn it off.

I had ground elder in a garden years ago, I found the best way to deal with it was hoeing. It's so entwined together under surface that if you try to dig it out there are always bits left behind.

I planted bamboo once, 5 plants and boy did I live to regret it, then they all flowered at the same time and died and then I had to dig them out, thank goodness they died, terribly difficult to dig out

I've had a large bamboo for years and this year cut it right back into oblivion but there are a few shoots starting to reappear. I'll just make sure I keep an eye on it as it grows and hopefully manage to contain it better. It did spread but certainly didn't take over just chose to pop it's head up about 10 foot from where it was planted. I'm not getting rid as it forms a big green clump and looks good all year round when controlled.

I've never had the problem. But to me it looks like cow parsley and other harmless umbelliferous plants. So I wouldn't recognise it.

For Ground Elder and other persistent weeds carefull use of Glyphosate is the sensible option.
I’ve declared war on Bindweed in my garden, carefully teasing out the tangles then a Glyphosate spray, new plants are still popping up elsewhere though.

I agree with Septimia
As soon as it becomes something you want to grow and harvest, the bugger plant will die.

I would agree with glyphosate, but not the spray as it can drift. I successfully eradicated a small patch of bindweed with the paint-on gel, which does not affect wildlife such as bees and butterflies. If you paint it on and cover with a bit of fleece, netting or the like it is more environmentally friendly. I would add that, as I have a tortoise, I am very careful not to use any other chemicals in my garden and the glyphosate was a very last resort!

I'm with Furrett, no to glyphosate. Weeding can be therapeutic, give us a false sense that we have a degree of control over our lives. Digging out pests like ground elder and those awful little mares tail things can be very enjoyable. Also, let's face it, we don't have a lot of stuff to do currently.

We have a lot of ground elder on our fenland soil but I live with it. It's quite easy to fork it up and although I'll never get rid of it there are worse weeds - like bindweed and the lethal fen nettles that sting like a tazer.

We call it goutweed here. I have quite a bit in the alley behind our house,but so far it has not invaded the garden. Another issue for us is horsetail, which is also spread by rhizomes.
I pull them as soon as i see them. Frequent weeding is the best solution, then it doesn't get out of hand.

What I hate lately is grass growing up through my perennials!

This garden has bindweed and brambles. 🤬
In our last garden I planted Arum italicum which became a real weed. In the end I covered the bed with black fabric, planted through it and covered everywhere with bark mulch. That would work with ground elder.