Sowing onto nettles and ground elder? Help!

[user1485182339]

Help! I'm not a gardener. But I mowed down a patch of nettles and ground elder in the corner of the garden. I haven't removed the roots as it is beyond me; I need an award just for getting this far! What can I sow (or easily plant) onto the patch? Any wild type flowers or tall grass? Something I can do soon, that will look after itself, and can outcompete any nettles or ground elder that will come back? TIA.

I know this is not the answer you want, but you will have to clear the ground if you want to plant something else there. There isn't anything really that would be able to compete with nettles and ground elder. If digging up the roots is not possible, you might need to think about weedkiller.

Really? Waaaah! I don't want or need anything pretty. Just something which doesn't creep relentlessly or sting the baby while they crawl about. There must be something that prevents nettles and ground elder from taking over the whole of the British countryside? Or do I need a sheep?

How big is the area? An alternative would be to cover it - with black plastic or the traditional old carpet - which works as a green option.

Drawbacks - not really practical for bigger spaces and you need to leave it for up to a year to really smother the weeds.

A goat might do the job, but I can't think of any plants that will beat those two thugs

I’m afraid digging up as much as possible is the answer. Nettles are easier to deal with than ground elder.
I’ve planted spring bulbs and perennial Crainsbill geranium, the larger variety such as Johnson’s blue, Wargrave or Rosanne over my patch of ground elder. It seems to surprise growth and hides it. I just pull out the bits I see coming through.

I'd suggest the easiest way is to cover the area, and meanwhile park some containers on top of it. Any or a mix of perennials/shrubs/bulbs which you can plant out in the space when the ground elder has died, or bedding plants, or cheap and cheerful seeds eg nasturtiums, or herbs, or... well, anything that will fit in a pot which suits the light/shade in this area.

In our woodland-y bed, the pulmonaria absolutely outcompetes the ground elder and nettles. It's taking over!

Go out and buy yourself a proper garden fork - stainless steel ones are the best - and use that to dig with. Get it into the ground and start levering all of the yellow nettle roots out. The ground elder ones are white.

If you leave fragments of roots in the ground they will regrow.

It's actually quite satisfying once you get into it.

It will take more than a year to smother the nettles...

How big is it?

Glyphosate is the best solution to your problem. Spray it over the whole area on a dry sunny day. It will be taken down into the roots and kill them off. This is essential as even a tiny bit left behind will regenerate. It takes time and may need to be repeated.
I would then cover the dead vegetation with landscaping fabric and plant a few hardy plants, surround with mulch and keep an eye out for repeat infestation. Good luck!

Actually, your best bet might be to wait till shoots start regrowing, then treat it with weed killer. I know if you have a baby around that may make you hesitate, but if you follow the instructions using glyphosate should be fairly safe. For ground elder in particular you will need time and repeated applications, but much easier to clear a patch completely than deal with the weeds still growing through things you like and want to keep!

We have a bed where the ground elder competes with lily of the valley ... I want to keep the latter but there is now enough of it I think I need to try to dig the whole lot up, save some of one and "nuke" the rest ...

I have loads of ground elder.
I refuse to use weed killer as we have a huge amount of exciting wildlife in our garden.
To be honest it’s a fight you won’t win. I dig it up as I see it and do a full sweep of the garden every week or so.

Here is one example of the wildlife in my garden and why I don’t use weed killer.

Your best bet may be to just keep mowing. It will keep it contained, even if it doesn't stop it completely. Every time you see a nettle start to pop up, get a fork in and haul out as much root as you can find. If you keep it up, the stingies will lose the fight eventually.

We grew potatoes in our patch of ground elder. THe potato roots seem to have taken over and the grown elder hasn’t been as much of a problem over the last year

Some of the wild geranium family killground elder, itjonk its the microrhiza group. Have a look on rhs website.
Ime nettles need digging up, but they are ok to do, as the roots come out whole. Don’t use weed killer if you’ve got a crawler.

Thank you for these suggestions!
It's a large patch, so covering it won't be ideal, as it would be quite unsightly. I like the idea of potatoes, but am concerned they need a lot of care? See point above about not being a gardener!😳 Or just mix 'n match from your suggestions for other plants to try? What's pulmonaria (except being 'pulmonary' in some way?). The patch gets a combination of full sun and dappled shade from a tree above, depending on the time of day. Any good?
I will try to give it a pitchforking but when I poked a shovel at the ground afterwards it felt like an impossible task to further.

I like geraniums ohyes. Is my mix sun/shade useful for that?

I can't think of any plants which will smother ground elder and nettles. If such a plant existed it would be very, very popular

If I was trying to tackle this problem in my garden, I would do as PP said and cover with something impermeable and leave for at least a year.

Rather than leaving it bare you could try covering with black landscape fabric, plant some shrubs through it, then mulch thickly with bark chips. The weeds will eventually die.

Alternatively, mow it. Then keep on mowing it regularly. Rake the soil and sprinkle with grass seed. Water in dry weather. Nettles and ground elder will eventually be replaced with lawn.

Personally, I avoid using glyphosate or other weedkillers, especially with a little baby around.

pulmonary. => lungwort - attractive little plant with variegated foliage, said to resemble the surface of - you guessed it - lungs Likes shade.

• pulmonaria

Thanks for checking the dictionary, concrete.
garden what a super list!
Thank you everyone.