The Ground Elder Special Posting
(at the suggestion of Earthwoman who was not sure what it was and if she had it)
This is it. The best way to describe it, other than a role model for the Day of the Triffids, is on this Royal Horticultarial Society page. I think the RHS is simplifying the method of removal by saying that it grows close to the surface and can be easily forked out. My experience is that it has been growing nearly two feet deep. It requires to be dug out in cubes and then a fork is used to vigorously shake the soil off before bagging it. The rhizomes are the creamy brown shoots that you see in these pictures. The entire rhizome must be removed. You only need a tiny piece broken off and left in the ground for it to establish itself again.
When I took over plot 12a, the entire length was colonised with ground elder. It was so invasive it had managed to become as one with an entire 10 metre strip of rhubarb and by the summer it was a fight to find the rhubarb because of the ground elder appearing like a green and white carpet. The white flower is attractive, but then I suppose when the first Triffids appeared the population probably thought they were cute.
So, Earthwoman, if you want to know if you have it, when you were doing your winter digging, the rhizomes above are what you would have found. If the soil is not too compacted then shaking the soil from the roots will enable them to come out like a bundle of sphagetti. Apparently introduced in Roman times as a source of food, the green leaves were eaten like spinach. But be warned. None of this stuff can be composted in the conventional manner. It will invade your heap and colonise that entire area. Wikipedia has some useful photos of the plant in its different growing stages.
Because there is so much to be removed from my plot, I have been working on a three year plan to eradicate most of it by hand. Last season I got into a routine of bagging any that I dug and taking it down to our recycling centre where they have a skip for green stuff. They have sophisticated composting machinery that 'cooks' the ingredients, turning it into useful compost. I allowed the colonisation of the rhubarb to remain and inserted shuttering boards along the strip with weed suppressant material to prevent it from reaching out to the areas that I was turning over for planting. From November onwards I have been removing the rhubarb and ground elder and the whole strip is now clear. Using a gardening knife I am scraping the rhizomes out of the rhubarb crowns which will be replanted. I have been working back along the plot to remove the remaining weed but it will not be completely eradicated. So this season, I shall fork cultivation strips very carefully to remove as much remaining pieces by hand. Root crops, especially potatoes, will help in this process. Digging a trench, allowing potatoes to loosen up the earth, digging the crop out and forking out any remaining offending weed. This is the only solution if you are not a millionaire and have no ethical problem with buying gallons of glyphosate. I bought a small bottle of this last summer and diluted it to spray on a path that I was trying to make. There was no point in scattering grass seed on the path if the ground elder just covered everything. It seemed to do the trick but not entirely. The thought of spraying the entire plot just did not equate with the idea of keeping a plot. So I have abandoned further use of the weedkiller. Hopefully, I will be fully under control by the third season, only needing to carefully spot where the odd plants are reappearing.
In summary, ground elder is pervasive and will quickly colonise an area if you are not vigilant. It has a nasty rhizome beneath the surface of the ground and unless every millimetre of this is removed, it will keep bouncing back. Weedkiller can deal with it in very small areas but the best method is hard work removing manually from the soil, bagging it and taking it away from your plot. It cannot be composted in the conventional manner.
Anyway, Earthwomans fantasy of waking up to six foot weeds may have been a dream for her, but it has been a nightmare for me !! She has a great blog by the way with some good photos to inspire us all at the beginning of this years growing season.
