The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Gardens => Topic started by: suziequeue on March 27, 2011, 12:13:54 pm
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One corner of my garden is infested with ground elder.
at the moment I am just digging up what I can and burning the results in my husbands garage stove (I don't compost the ash from that).
Problem is - alot of it is intertwined with the snowdrops and stuff which I don't want to dig up at the moment but I expect that it's going to be inevitable eventually.
Any suggestions?
Susanna
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Been there! It's a nightmare - even if you try to dig it all up the tiniest bit of root will start it all up again. We had some success with the touch on weedkiller you apply directly to the leaves - that and roundup, but that would kill your bulbs too.
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if you hold off till the snowdrops die off, roundup will kill the ground elder quite well and not harm the bulbs!!!
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Hi there. I was battling the wretched stuff yesterday too. In the garden where I grew up, my Dad eventually gave up with the ground elder and grassed over the whole area so it was cut regularly and that did kill it off after a few years. Mine is in a shrubbery and it seems impossible to dig out. I don't use weed killers, but as this is well away from my veg bit I am almost tempted - it is however just a few yards from our well, which is our only water supply, so I don't want to contaminate that.
Apparently you can eat it, but I think that would be a long and slow way to eliminate it :D :D
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Sorry I don't have any ideas how to get rid of this menace..I'm just sympathizing. We had loads of it in our last garden. Eventually we took the ultimate option and moved!
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I can sympathise with you Susanna as we are overrrun with the stuff too - on the plus side we do eat it (although it is an acquired taste - best wilted with fried bacon & onions). We just keep picking it & feeding what we don't eat to the pigs & chickens.
Try to think of it as more of a crop than a weed ;D
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Yes - I need to keep going at it and change my attitude so that it doesn't depress me so much :-))
I'm going to try the recipe.
Thanks
Susanna
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I've given up and only dig it up where I need the space to grow other things. It is actually not that ugly as a ground cover until it flowers and makes a tasty early spring veg - we use the young leaves in salads and together with nettle tips make a nice spinach substitute. Makes me feel much better than a hopeless battle ;)
My battles I am fighting with dock roots and couch grass, can't eat the blooming things ::)
Susanna, why do you not compost the ashes??? :&>
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We've got loads of ashes from our stove which is just wood burning.
My husband burns all sorts of other things in his garage stove (including the ground elder roots) so - god knows what is in the ashes....... and I have enough anyway so.......
I must try cooking with nettles one day soon. I've come across another patch on the stream bank :-(
But actually - it is quite satisfying pulling it up.
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Don't forget to leave some nettles for the butterflies - they are the food source for tortoiseshell larvae :bfly: :bfly: :bfly:
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Ground Elder and Nettle soup is very nice. :)
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THe chickens ate all green stuff in thier bit of the garden, if they all go, I will have one hell of a weed problem, flowers would grow again though ;)
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I have a weed wand and that deals with it well
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I have a weed wand and that deals with it well
Ooooh - what's that?
Susanna
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ellisr is a witch!!!
We need an icon for that, Dan ;D
:&>
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Darn you found me out but I'm not being burnt at the stake again ;D
A weed wand is actually a blow torch with a long handle and you just heat the top of the weed for a while and over the next few days it just withers and dies as you actually boil the plant from the inside which breaks it down on a molecular level. I have found it great on ground elder and docs especially as you can just focus on that little area.
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Ah - I found a weed wand in our local supplies shop this morning.
It'll be good for getting DH to do things as well as weeding
:-))
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Apparently it was introduced to Britain by the Romans to be used as a vegetable, but it's supposed to be good for treating gout - eaten or applied as a poulstice ::)
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Apparently it was introduced to Britain by the Romans to be used as a vegetable, but it's supposed to be good for treating gout - eaten or applied as a poulstice ::)
I thought you were talking about the weed wand to start with :-D
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Quite possible they introduced that too Suzie ;D ;D ;D the Romans were a pretty inventive lot ;)