Help needed with ground elder.

[Fairweather friend]

Hi all,
I moved house 2 years ago which has a big garden. Unfortunately the borders are absolutely overrun with ground elder. I couldn't even get a spade of fork into the ground it was that hard and tangled with roots. The first year I covered a large length of border with black plastic, and due to my inexperience thought that I had killed it all off! I didn't realise it dies back in the winter - so I struggled to dig holes and plant small shrubs along the border. Unfortunately this week the ground elder is all back up and smothering my new shrubs. Is there anything I can do or I have I lost all the shrubs?

[rustylady]

Could you dig up your shrubs and heel them in in another part of the garden while you tackle the ground elder?

Some advice on dealing with ground elder here Ground elder / Royal Horticultural Society

[Aberdeenplotter]

spray with glyphosate based weedkiller. No issue with the food chain in a shrub border

[out in the cold]

I thought for a sec it was a question about spices...

[Scarlet]

If you dig up your shrubs and heel in somewhere else make sure that there are no little bits of ground elder hiding among your shrub roots or you will get another patch of it! I've been trying to get rid of it in my garden for years. it really is a nightmare to get rid of

[veggiechicken]

Don't fight it - eat it!! Ground Elder (Aegopodium podagraria) | The Cottage Smallholder

[Scarlet]

Have you tasted it VC? It's bloody awful....

[veggiechicken]

Nope!! Luckily. I don't have any - all the other weeds you can think of but not ground elder

[Fairweather friend]

Thanks everyone, I will dig them up and put them into pots for now as every bit of the garden has a different problem from brambles to russian vine! It resembles a jungle at times. I've seen a Roundup gel advertised which I thought I might try as the ground elder is even coming through the lawn now. Hopefully that will save me digging that up too.
I have another question too. I had put my compost bin (dalek type) on top a patch where ground elder would have been, will it grow into the compost even though it will be dark in there?

[mothhawk]

Thanks everyone, I will dig them up and put them into pots for now as every bit of the garden has a different problem from brambles to russian vine! It resembles a jungle at times. I've seen a Roundup gel advertised which I thought I might try as the ground elder is even coming through the lawn now. Hopefully that will save me digging that up too.
I have another question too. I had put my compost bin (dalek type) on top a patch where ground elder would have been, will it grow into the compost even though it will be dark in there?

Ooooooooohhh, yes!

You'll end up with a dalek full of really strong well fed GE roots!

[Fairweather friend]

ooops, seems I am making a lot of gardening mistakes. Nevermind I will empty it and move it tomorrow!

[eirish]

I have quite a bad ground elder problem too - the good news is that the areas I dug over last year are much better this year. It's not gone but it's better. I used a fork so as not to chop up the roots and pulled out every scrap I could find.

And yes, it will grow surprisingly well in a dalek.

[dandalady]

I saw on internet that tagetes minuta or mexican tagetes repels ground elder. So as my mum has the same problem as you we bought some seeds (nickys nursery) As yet the plants are small so hoping to plant out in a trial area in a couple of weeks. lets see what happens