Ground Elder - How to deal with it...

Ground elder is a weed that I’d encourage you to look out for and try to deal with as quickly as possible. We’ve worked in gardens that have been overrun by it and it is a nightmare to get rid of! It’s classified as an invasive, perennial weed, which means it spreads quickly and it will come back year after years.

The main difficulty when it comes to getting rid of ground elder is its rhizome. Rhizomes are a creeping root-like structure that are actually adapted stems. They will spread underground and make their way through a border (or if you let them the whole garden) and crowd out any less vigorous plants in its path. Annoyingly this also means that the ground elder could have creeped under your neighbours fence or the waste land at the back. 

To make matters worse, the ground elder can regenerate from a tiny fragment of the rhizome left in the ground. Unfortunately this means that ground elder can enter your garden in any number of ways, untreated compost or in the root ball of a new plant.

What can you do?

There are a few methods, with varying success.

• As the rhizomes are close to the surface of the soil, it is possible to reduce the invasion by carefully removing them with a fork. This may have good results but it will depend on how vigilant you are and how regularly you are willing to repeat the process.

• If you have ground elder in your lawn you should be able to starve it by consistently mowing. No leaves, no food!

• Spraying is the best solution to the problem. Use a glyphosate based, spray directly on to the leaves during a sunny day, rain will make the spray less effective and it will kill the plant, rhizomes and all. We’re not big fans of spraying but when it comes to ground elder it’s the only way to get rid of it.