The theory of weeding

[JohnB]

For deep rooted weeds like Dandelions, use an old bread knife to sever it below ground level. Any tips for variegated ground elder appreciated.

[bungeejumper]

Any tips for variegated ground elder appreciated.

The slow way is to dig up every scrap of root and rhizome, which isn't quite as hard as it sounds because it doesn't go very deep. (Well, ours didn't when I dug it out twenty years ago.) The RHS also suggests using back polythene to kill it off. The fast way, of course, is glyphosate, which works on ground elder as long as you can keep it off the plants you don't want to kill.

I have recently nuked the (highly-resistant) speedwell which has invaded my veg patch over the last couple of years. (Two weeks later I followed through with a fork, just to make sure.) I hated using a chemical, but it was either that or face the prospect of losing control of my veg patch entirely. And even now it'll take several years. Speedwell makes lots of seeds, but it's rhizomes that account for most of the spread.

They tell me that migrant Irish workers in the eighteenth and nineteenth century would sew bunches of speedwell into their coat linings to remind them of home. Thanks a bunch, guys, your legacy is intact.

PS: RHS also points out that regular mowing will defeat ground elder on a lawn. Celandines too.

BJ

[JohnB]

Sadly mine is entwined with lots of shrubs and other groundcover I'd like to keep. We've had it for 50 years, its just that one year I took pity on it and it leapt across the garden

[bungeejumper]

Sadly mine is entwined with lots of shrubs and other groundcover I'd like to keep. We've had it for 50 years, its just that one year I took pity on it and it leapt across the garden

50 years? Ooof. If it's well tangled into the roots of precious plants and you can't fork it out, you might have to shear or strim it off until you eventually wear it out. With luck, that shouldn't take another 50.

There are some ways of close-targeting with weedkillers. Spot killing with a gel is a right pain, but it works fairly well. Then again, we had totally rampant bindweed in our orchard when we bought the house (with roots as thick as cotton reels, and going a whole foot down!), and we were advised to gather up as many of the bindweed shoots as we could, and then tie plastic bags round them. But essentially, before we tied the bags up, we were told to give a goodly spray of glyphosate inside the bag.

It looked awful for a fortnight, but it worked like a charm. 90% of the growth died at the first application, and it was easy to mop up the rest. It never came back. 24 years and counting....

BJ

[kempiejon]

For bindweed I was advised to place stakes or canes a few feet high throughout the beds and in the spring as the bind weed climbed them spray and bag the canes. It worked well but 4 years on occasionally comes back and I use gel application on fresh leaves. I understand the seed can exist dormant for a long time.

[JohnB]

For weeds in cracks in paths, or moss on them, use the boiling water from cooking vegetables

[stewamax]

Please please ... something to selectively expunge/destroy/exterminate ivy that is inextricably entwined in my 60 metres of hawthorn hedge and wants to take over the border as well.

[ReformedCharacter]

Please please ... something to selectively expunge/destroy/exterminate ivy that is inextricably entwined in my 60 metres of hawthorn hedge and wants to take over the border as well.

I have ivy problems too.

Pull out\cut out as much as you can. Treat the cut ends and regrowth with glyphosate but when mixing the glyphosate add a generous squirt of washing up liquid. The washing up liquid helps the glyphosate penetrate the 'waxy' coated leaves. Obviously glyphosate isn't a selective weedkiller so you'll have to be careful, it will kill the ivy though if you persevere.

RC

[sg31]

Please please ... something to selectively expunge/destroy/exterminate ivy that is inextricably entwined in my 60 metres of hawthorn hedge and wants to take over the border as well.

With any growing up trees I normally cut out a foot of the ivy trunk as it goes up the tree. Anything after the cut out section will shrivel and die. If you can find any thick sections of ivy cut out a 1' piece, spray/paint the rest with glyphosate as recommended by RC.

I have an on going battle with Ivy, at present I'm winning but it has needed a lot of persistence. I don't think a complete victory is possible.

The previous occupants of this house decided it would be a fantastic idea to plant ivy next to the house walls so that it could grow up and over the walls. The first thing I did was remove it all and kill the stumps. It tooks a couple of weeks hard work pulling it down and shredding it to go to the tip.

[Slarti]

Please please ... something to selectively expunge/destroy/exterminate ivy that is inextricably entwined in my 60 metres of hawthorn hedge and wants to take over the border as well.

My method with my beech hedge may not be practical with hawthorn, but I have cleared it from the 70' that was being strangled.

1) Cut back the base of the hedge, hard, to allow access to the hedge trunks.
2) Lying on the ground reach in and cut all ivy that is growing up into the hedge, cutting above some lower leaves.
3) On the lower leaves use Roundup Gel, repeat next year if required.
4) Next year start the task of pulling the dead ivy out of the hedge. I find my pole pruner (something like this https://www.lowes.com/pd/Corona-14-ft-F ... r/50207761 ) to be good for reaching in and pulling bits out.

I've been playing the game for 4 years now and the ivy seemed to stop growing back after the 3rd year, but getting all of the dead stuff out has been a bu99er.

Slarti

[Pendrainllwyn]

An interesting topic. As someone who doesn't have a garden to enjoy but eagerly looks forward to the day I do, you are doing a fine job in giving me a dose of realism. Now I need to watch another episode of Gardeners' World to uplift my spirits!

Pendrainllwyn

[neversay]

It's Marestail / Field Horsetail that's my nemesis. It puts my other ground elder, bindweed, ivy, chickweed, dandelions, etc. issues to the background. I've had some success keeping it at bay in places but the rhizomes keep spreading.

N.

[vrdiver]

In our garden, if it's a plant, the slugs will munch on it. If it's a weed, they pass by.

VRD

[kiloran]

It's Marestail / Field Horsetail that's my nemesis. It puts my other ground elder, bindweed, ivy, chickweed, dandelions, etc. issues to the background. I've had some success keeping it at bay in places but the rhizomes keep spreading.

N.

I get the odd bit appearing from time to time but Roundup or Glyphosate usually kills it for a year or more. Helps if you bruise it a bit before you apply the weedkiller

--kiloran

[sg31]

In our garden, if it's a plant, the slugs will munch on it. If it's a weed, they pass by.

VRD

I'll see your slugs and raise with my rabbits.

Seriously that is exactly what the rabbits do in our garden. They are very sophisticated rabbits with expensive tastes. The more my wife pays for a plant the more likely it is to get eaten. What the rabbits don't get the deer will.

[kiloran]

In our garden, if it's a plant, the slugs will munch on it. If it's a weed, they pass by.

VRD

I'll see your slugs and raise with my rabbits.

Seriously that is exactly what the rabbits do in our garden. They are very sophisticated rabbits with expensive tastes. The more my wife pays for a plant the more likely it is to get eaten. What the rabbits don't get the deer will.

I can lend you my foxes to sort out your rabbits and deer
I want them back, mind.

--kiloran

[sg31]

I can lend you my foxes to sort out your rabbits and deer
I want them back, mind.

--kiloran

We do have foxes but I never see them during the day. They occasionally visit at night and leave aromatic parcels as a 'visiting card'. We have buzzards and lots of owls but I've never seen them take rabbits. The old feral ginger cat was the only known predator on the rabbits but he lost an argument with a car so he is no longer with us.