Can anyone identify this weed and tell me how to kill it!

[SheilaWilde]

My garden is literally covered in this weed. Every year I (mostly) get rid of them and then by spring (because I'm neglectful and rubbish at gardening) they come back x 4! The roots are massive. Other than covering my garden in cardboard is there anything I can do?

@eddiemairswife

I have decided to like my dandelions. Do children still believe that if you pick them you will wet the bed? The French call them Piss-en-lit.

They're a diuretic, hence the bed-wetting association. But they're also quite tasty.

Oh I have this in my garden. It's my first year with a proper garden and I'm still learning. It's growing around some raspberry canes, will I have to remove it?

Oh please leave it be…bees absolutely thrive on it

Please don’t use weed killer. The bees will take it back and kill the colony. Nobody should be using these vile chemicals on their garden.
Go on, flame me but stop using f**king weed killer.

I'd rather have alkanet than the bloody ground elder. I've been fighting it for 5yrs. Over the Easter break, I dug and sieved every 3 days for 2 and a half weeks. Today, there are dozens of new shoots. I can't beat it. Alkanet would be such a refreshing change.

I live nearby and it's everywhere here!

I pull some up but leave a large clump in the corner for the bees as it's so pretty. As well as gloves wear long sleeves too as it its so itchy. The roots tend to snap at the bottom too if you just pull them so using a fork is easier.

@oatmilk4breakfast

Oh please leave it be…bees absolutely thrive on it

I'll definitely leave them a patch, they do love it. I just would rather my whole garden wasn't covered in it.

@MrsJulianFawcett

Please don’t use weed killer. The bees will take it back and kill the colony. Nobody should be using these vile chemicals on their garden. Go on, flame me but stop using f**king weed killer.

I definitely won't use weed killer. I never have and I'd rather have an over grown/wild garden than use chemicals.

@ShowOfHands

I'd rather have alkanet than the bloody ground elder. I've been fighting it for 5yrs. Over the Easter break, I dug and sieved every 3 days for 2 and a half weeks. Today, there are dozens of new shoots. I can't beat it. Alkanet would be such a refreshing change.

I did the same two years ago with the Alkanet but it's back with a vengeance. I'm never going to have a 'manicured' garden but I'd at least like to use some of it. I think I'm lucky enough to have ground elder too. I still rather fancying the goat idea 🐐

@scrivette

I live nearby and it's everywhere here!

I pull some up but leave a large clump in the corner for the bees as it's so pretty. As well as gloves wear long sleeves too as it its so itchy. The roots tend to snap at the bottom too if you just pull them so using a fork is easier.

I think I've now got so many because after I'd cleared then (mostly) three years ago by digging over the whole garden. For the last two years I've been pulling them up - so I've probably hung myself by my own petard.

@WellTidy

The tool is super strong. It was recommended on gardeners world magazine last year and I knew straightaway that it would be perfect.

I've just ordered one! I'm quite excited. Thanks for the recommendation.

I lost pretty much a whole lawn to the stuff (turns out strimming is not a good approach). Eventually solved the problem by moving house 👍
Karma got me though as new garden has bamboo and ground elder...

ground elder is very tasty (similar to spinach)

@purplesequins

ground elder is very tasty (similar to spinach)

Ground elder is okay in a salad and my tortoises eat it too but not in the quantities required to get rid of it.

@Menopants

Green alkanet. You have to dig it right out and roots left will grow. Just keep digging them up and hoe out any seedlings

These were established when we bought our house. I have been doing exactly this for 3 years with this bastard plant. They are if anything more prolific than ever.

Honestly i hate weedkiller but i do find myself longingly eyeing up the roundup and weedol....

Alkanet. We have a tiny garden and it took me years to get rid of it. And even now I keep my eyes open and find the odd seedling.

I have plenty of other things that the bees love, and that I love too.

It is Germander Speedwell you need a 'broad leaf' weedkiller which will not kill the grass - although it will also kill any other plants that are sprayed. DH is a gardener.

It is certainly not Germander Speedwell, for several reasons - its size (overtopping nettles and buttercup), the leaf shape and arrangement, the arrangement of the flowers, and, most importantly, that it has 5 petals and not 4. DH may be a gardener but that doesn’t automatically make him a botanist.

Posting in support of the alkanet identification. It’s very frequently mistaken for other plants.

We had some in our neglected garden but I’ve managed to get it under control since taking a proper interest in the space over the past 12 months. Now that I know what the seedlings look like I just try to make sure new ones are whisked out before they get to maturity. We have plenty of other pollinator-friendly plants that don’t spread so aggressively and push out other things.

Speedwell is very pretty, much smaller plant, more purpley blue and slightly stripey petals.

It’s alkanet as already said.
No advice I’m afraid, I just wanted to post in solidarity of the other poster who has ground elder.
I’ve not managed to get rid of it in my garden but it is certainly less that it was.
I let it grow in one patch, behind the pond, as it’s very hard to reach, nothing else will grow there, and it gives ground cover for the snakes.
I do wonder if letting it have a patch is a compromise and it’s being less vigorous elsewhere as a thank you.

@MerryMarigold It wasnt me who was saying it was speedwell, I was giving all the reasons why it wasn’t!

Actually, your comment wasn’t quite accurate. Though some species of speedwell have more purply flowers, and some species have striped flowers, the suggested Germander speedwell, Veronica chamaedrys, has flowers the same colour as green alkanet, with no stripes. The misidentification is what happens when people justlook at the colour of the flowers and ignore all other features of the plant.

I quoted as I was agreeing with you. I'm not botanist but I do like speedwell!

Yup. And leave the dandelions alone too while we’re at it. The bees are on their last legs and it’s no wonder

It will also kill the hedgehogs that root about looking for the beetles and worms. It will kill the birds that feed on them too and the voles and shrews and the butterflies and moths.