Do you have ground elder in your garden? If so, how have you controlled it organically? Weed killer isn’t an option for me.
In our new garden there is a very healthy patch of ground elder, Aegopodium podagraria that is growing in a border underneath an established shrub Magnolia and a very old established privet hedge, Ligustrum ovalifolium. It also runs under the boundary dry stone wall.
As an organic gardener, I don’t want to use chemicals of course, which leaves three options:
- dig out!
- cover over for at least 2 - 3 years
- let it grow and not worry about it
Number 3 isn’t really an option because of the style of planting I want to grow here, I want to establish a natural plant community and the ground elder would run wild. I do plant to cover some of it (no.2) and the rest I’ll dig (no.1).
However! In a bare area of soil I would not be worried, I’d keep it empty and dig it out and over the number of years I’d be rid of it. But with the drystone wall, the privet hedge and magnolia, the ground elder has some strongholds at their base and roots. There is no real way to give out all of their roots.
So the question is, how to I remove this plant permanently?! Any tips very welcome.