To hoe or not to hoe?

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Ourveggiepatch

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To hoe or not to hoe?
« on: July 26, 2009, 08:31 »
Hello

I was thinking of ways of tackling the ground elder on my allotment, do you think this cunning plan will work?

Once I  dug an area, lifting out clumps of roots and plants with the surrounding soil I then hoe any new developing shoots of young plantlets before they get established.

In theory they would then become weak over a period of months and should die off. Or is this just hopeful hoeing and will be totally fruitless.

As I alllotment totally organically as do the other lottie holders in on our site I dont want to use chemicals.

Thanks

OVP

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richyrich7

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Re: To hoe or not to hoe?
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2009, 09:01 »
Constant hoeing and pulling will kill it off eventually, I've done it myself in our back garden but it takes years
He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.

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Ourveggiepatch

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Re: To hoe or not to hoe?
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2009, 09:12 »
Thanks Richy, in fact my other half has just searched the net  too and it said the same, I love hoeing so it wont be an issue for me to take this wretched weed to hand.

By the way, it was brought over by the romans as a pot herb (apparantly) and pot being the ultimate word here - I wonder why!

Much aprpeciate you getting back to me.

Kind regards

OVP.

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tode

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Re: To hoe or not to hoe?
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2009, 09:51 »
Ive got a (large) patch of infested with the stuff, and Im into about the 4th year. I found that hoeing keeps it down, but to eradicate it, you have to dig it out  >:(
 I started at the edge of the patch, where it was most likely to get into currants and raspberries, and do a bit whenever Ive got time. But its a long fight.  :(
Apparently the Romans brought it with them, down their long straight roads, I presume. :)

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Ourveggiepatch

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Re: To hoe or not to hoe?
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2009, 20:46 »
Hi Tode

Thanks for the encouragement lol!

We have started digging it out taking with it the soil under and around, any little baby shoots appearing are being hoe'd

Good luck with your battle, keep up the fight and remember we are in it together - you and me plus all those hundreds of thousands of other's already in battle against ground elder  :ohmy:

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What Allot

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Re: To hoe or not to hoe?
« Reply #5 on: July 26, 2009, 21:50 »
You should see my marestail!!!!!!!!! :(

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Paul Plots

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Re: To hoe or not to hoe?
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2009, 01:06 »
I found this on the net at Celtnet Recipes

Ground Elder is a very common woodland plant, but not one that many people think is edible. In fact the young, bright green, shoots of ground elder make a very tasty vegetable.   

Personally I would want to check this out before eating the stuff even if the Romans brought it with them and dished it up!!

I thought it might be one way of getting rid of ground elder if the hoe was slow going!!  ;)

Ingredients
2 bunches (about 24 to 30 young stems) of Ground elder
25g butter
25g flour
1 small onion
1 rasher of bacon, cut into strips
salt and black pepper, to taste
500ml chicken stock
250ml single cream

Preparation / Method:

Remove the leaves from the ground elder stems and rinse them. Add them immediately to a pan (do not drain), cover the pan and sweat the leaves for 1 minute.
Add the butter to a pan and use to fry the bacon and onion until the onion softens then stir-in the flour. Slowly add the stock, stirring all the time until you get a smooth soup base. Add the leaves and simmer for 5 minutes. Blend with a hand blender then add the cream. Season to taste and serve immediately. If desired the soup can be garnished with toasted slivered almonds or croutons.

Please do check out the toxicity of ground elder first - I had always thought it was inedible or worse!!
Never keep your wish-bone where your back-bone ought to be.

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tode

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Re: To hoe or not to hoe?
« Reply #7 on: July 27, 2009, 08:17 »
I think the Romans used it as a cure for gout. But I don't know if it did/does work.
Can certainly drive you to drink though.  :(

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aelf

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Re: To hoe or not to hoe?
« Reply #8 on: July 27, 2009, 09:52 »
What did the Romans ever do for us?  :D
There's more comfrey here than you can shake a stick at!

http://www.wedigforvictory.co.uk/dig_icon.gif[/img]

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tode

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Re: To hoe or not to hoe?
« Reply #9 on: July 27, 2009, 10:15 »
Well, there's grondelder, and dormice, and errrr, well there must be lots of other useful things, mustn't there?  ::)

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richyrich7

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Re: To hoe or not to hoe?
« Reply #10 on: July 27, 2009, 10:56 »
What did the Romans ever do for us?  :D

Rabbits !  >:(

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Ice

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Re: To hoe or not to hoe?
« Reply #11 on: July 27, 2009, 11:01 »
This is what the did for us. :lol:

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Cheese makes everything better.

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tode

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Re: To hoe or not to hoe?
« Reply #12 on: July 27, 2009, 11:04 »
There you are then: rabbit stew with grounelder sauce, and grilled dormice for starters  ::)

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aelf

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Re: To hoe or not to hoe?
« Reply #13 on: July 27, 2009, 11:11 »
and carrots - don't forget the carrots!  ::)

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scabs

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Re: To hoe or not to hoe?
« Reply #14 on: July 27, 2009, 11:19 »
What did the Romans ever do for us?  :D

Brought peas?



 See what I did there? ;)

 

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