There are always drainage holes in a membrane. Weeds will grow through them to get to the light. The best
spray to use is Roundup Tough and Deep Root Weedkiller. You may need several bottles ! Watch the weather forecast for 3 dry days any time of year.

The weed sounds like ground elder and a glyphosphate based weedkiller will now be required to kill it. It won't work at this time of the year as the weeds need to be in growth to absorb the weedkiller. Wait until spring starts and spray then.

ow and dont do it if its windy either as you could spray the wrong thing .

Thank goodness we don't have ground elder here in the desert, but we have other things just as bad! Glyphosphate is probably the only way, and don't be surprised if it takes a year or two of regular spraying to sort the problem out. Bulba, does ground elder produce seeds, like our bermudagrass and nutsedge do?

I assume that it does, Tug. It produces flowers but never leave it to seed. The rapidly spreading rhizomes are the chief problem.

I was wondering about the seed because that can extend the "battle" up to ten years longer, if it is like our "invaders"!!

Agree with super strenth glyphosate - could be one of the convolvolus bind weeds you have or ground elder. A suggestion, if you are of the green mind, and that is ... 6-8 inches of wood chip (not bark) from your local tree surgeon, spread over the entire area. Ground elder and bind weed, are suppressed briefly, but when they do come up they are incredibly easy to pull up by the metre, because the roots are rooted in chip rather than soil. Anything in flower, now or at a later stage, has to be immediately removed. As tugbrethil suggests ... one year's seed is worth seven years' weed. Also, weed suppressant fabric only works from the ground up, and doesn't stop weeds flying in and settling. Everywhere I find this fabric I pull it up and ditch it!!!!

hi folks,

Thanks very much for the advice. I'm going to be looking at having the super strength glyphosphate in the shop later. I'll be buying some for having in reserve as well. The stuff is thriving and very green at the moment, so it may well be worth spraying now. Nothing ventured...

I want to be able to spray at the start of the season too.

I'd love to say I'd be using Avkq47's advice re the woodchip, but I'm just ruthless :)

The advice on the fabric is noted too. At least I'm not going to be having to make plans to remove all the gravel that's down in order to lay more fabric. That's a labour saving device worth remembering.

thanks again,

celticsprite x

IF you do not want anything to grow in the shingle area ever then use a solution of diesel and liguid soap{fairy} sprayed on the whole area. Just diesel will be a fire hazard so make sure to add half a bottle of soap to one gallon.

Ouch, Mrb! Diesel will certainly kill the weed but it will make a huge mess. The gravel will be greasy and sticky; if you walk on it you will tread diesel back into the house; it will stink; rain will wash diesel off onto other surfaces and flower beds, not to mention into surface water drains to then pollute the local streams - wait until Environment Agency officers trace it back to your garden.
Sorry, Mrb, but I am afraid that I just cannot second that as a reasonable option.