Overgrown Garden Project

Hi folks,

Newbie here - a hello to everyone. I have a pretty big back garden (for London) which has become overgrown due to a lack of attention and talent on my part!

I've got to be honest - due to my lifestyle (I live on my own and work long hours, often away, including most evenings and weekends) it is highly unlikely that I'm ever going to be able to give it the kind of time and devotion that a garden deserves, so I am hoping to get it into a state where it looks decent but only requires minimal upkeep.

I am thinking that clearing it completely and getting it turfed is the way to go. I can spare the time to cut it once or twice a week if that's all I have to do but I know that anything requiring weeding will simply not get done. As it is, it's hard enough to keep up with cooking, cleaning and laundry.

Here is a photo of the garden in its current state:

Day 1:


Day 9:


Day 17:



So here's what I'm thinking at the minute just to try and get things under control:

• hire a brush cutter from HSS or somewhere similar
• cut everything down to ground level
• buy lawnmower and try to keep it reasonably level

I would like a nice lawn eventually, but the ground is not level and I'd like it to be. So my questions are:

• have I made the correct assumptions?
• does this sound like a reasonable plan?
• what is the best way to level the ground?
• is it possible to re-turf it myself, or should I hire someone to do this, or should I just let the existing grass grow?

Any other suggestions for low-maintenance things to do to my garden?


Many thanks!
J

 

Hello and welcome.

A brush cutter will do the trick, and I know you can hire them easy enough, but to be honest I don't think they should be hired out so readily. Brush cutters are seriously fierce kit, and I think the hire shops are too quick to send someone away with what is literally a a stick with an engine on one end and sharp steel blades on the other. Its not the same as using a strimmer. If a strimmer meets a lump of stone or something, the worst that happens is the string snaps. When a brush cutter meets the same lump of stone, it kicks like hell and may launch said stone like a bullet. I don't mean to sound patronising, I think anyone of reasonable fitness could use one, all i'm saying is just be careful because they are mental machines.

The trouble is, clearing it is just the start. There's an immense amount of work in building a garden once the ground is clear, but good luck, keep coming back here, and we'll see you right

 

Thanks for the reply - that's exactly the sort of advice I was hoping for. Would a strimmer be able to cope with tougher weeds? I have gone through the garden with my shears and I got a fair workout using them.

 

Actually I would ask someone who can identify what you have got in the garden, what shrubs perennials and bulbs (as you dig) you will savea fortune. I had this problem when i bought this house, there was only a few plants that I wanted to keep but one of them is a favourite. Hunnysuckle it flowers and fills the garden with scent. if i had ripped it out i would have lost/missed out on this for the past 13 years.

 

If you're sure you want to clear it, and there are no plants you want to save, then I'd spray the lot with Round Up as a first step. Given the area you need to cover, I'd buy the Round up concentrate. Its about £20 but makes up enough weed killer to blitz a small town.

Having mixed it up as per the instructions, simply pouring it all over everything in the morning, when no rain is forecast. If it rains within 24 hours of doing it, you'll have to do it again. Regardless, repeat the application a couple of weeks later.

If you do it more or less now, you'll have it all killed by the end of september, which is an important point because the active ingredient, glyphosate, is only effective while the plants are actively growing, which they will not be doing so much after september (or possibly a bit later given your location).

About a week after the second application, I'd take an ordinary strimmer, and chop everything down to a few inches above ground level. Don't take it right to the ground on the first cut for two reasons. Firstly, there are any weeds still alive, you want them to have some top growth ready for another dose of Round Up. Secondly, any hard objects are going to be on the ground, not likely 4 inches above the ground, so by cutting down to about 4 inches, you'll be able to see most hard objects before you inadvertently introduce any machines to them.

Once you are sure everything is dead, and there are no bricks, bottles, lumps of wood etc on the ground, then you can take it right to the ground. Unless there are any shrubs there, the strimmer or a lawn mower would do the job. Any woody plants can easily be pulled by hand (if they haven't got good roots down yet) or dug out before you start this stage.

Then I'd dig the whole lot over, or if you have more money than time, then hire a rotavator to do the job. Mix in some sand and manure (if the soil needs it), level it, and seed it or turf it. Then you'll have a starting point to work from

 

I'm not really attached to any of the current plants, but I will check with my mother as she quite enjoys a bit of light gardening and tended it a bit when she visited last year. I'd sooner flatten the place and just restore it to grass myself

Regarding Roundup - is it worth getting the Pump n Go sprayer? It doesn't say on the product info but I'm guessing it's refill able. I'm game for going out and buying this tomorrow! I assume you can spray it even on tall weeds rather than cutting them down first and then spraying.

 

I blitzed a whole garden with Round up once, using just a watering can for the initial bombardment. I think the 'pump and go' thing is just marketing, ie a way to separate you from your cash. At the end of the day, you need a mechanism to get the round up onto the weeds. A watering can will do that perfectly well.

 

Fair play - I'll go get a watering can tomorrow then

Related question: my front drive has some unpaved areas where a few shrubs grow. There are also lots of weeds... is there any way I could cling film the base of the shrubs and spray the weeds with the Roundup, or would the Roundup kill the shrubs too?

I may have jumped the gun, but I ordered some weed membrane earlier in the day in anticipation of clearing the garden - I assume this could still be useful.

 

Don't forget Roundup kills just about anything it touches, so use on a windless day and be careful it doesn't drift to your neighbours gardens when spraying. They will not be pleased.

 

Important advice, I feel

Can just confirm that it only kills anything it touches, and doesn't transmit through the soil?

Also, how much actually needs to get on a plant for it to die? Does it have to coat all green bits, or will a vapour drop on any part of a plant kill the whole thing?

 

It neutralises when it touches the soil, therefore doesn't transmit.

It doesn't have to cover every inch of the plant, but as long as it coats a fair bit of foliage it should work. It's a systemic killer which is absorbed and finds it's way down through the stem to the roots. You should start to see results in a week or two. Check out the instructions on the container, that will guide you.

 

Don't get round up on any plants you want to keep.

If there are weeds around your shrubs, it may be worth doing that bit the old fashioned way, ie just pulling the weeds out. Unless its bindweed, then there's another strategy but we'll assume it isn't for now, as your shrubs would probably be dead or dying if bindweed had been left unchecked.

 

Are you sure you want a lawn?

Being away is not really conducive to maintaining a lawn, and although you may feed that weeding is a bore it won't take any longer than mowing (assuming you have gone for reasonably low maintenance).

How about a topiary garden? Cut the bushes a few times a year. Whole thing could be put down to, say, gravel - and with a membrane under that you'll have almost no weeds to worry about.

Or some sitting out areas for you to enjoy / entertain in.

If you want a smart looking lawn then that's quite a lot of work and, in particular, that you are available to mow it once a week regularly (i.e. same time +/- 2 days each week) and when it is actively growing 2x per week.

if you are (relatively at least!) money-rich & time-poor I think I would look at lower maintenance, or "get a man in".

If you go the lawn route consider someone like Greenthumb to do the maintenance for you (that's the fertilise and weed-killing aspects), leaving you just to do the mowing.

Personally I would seed it, rather than turf, and do it in the Autumn (late September, so starting your Blitz now the ground will be ready by then). Soil preparation is the same, seed or turf, but although Turf is "instant" seed will establish better (shouldn't need to water it to get it to take), and give you a wide range of choices of seed to suit a) how "fine" you want it to be and b) how much shade you have.

For a nice lawn you'll need a decent cylinder mower too.

However, I am assuming you want something looking nice, with stripes, rather thana rough patch that some kids could kick a ball about on!

 

If you are going to weedkill the whole lot ... please can I pop round first and harvest the good stuff before you kill it off?

 

Good luck with your project.. know that feeling we have spent nearly 4 months sorting the mess out here. One thing for sure the brush cutter is one of the best things to handle such a jungle. I'm sure it would do yours in no time..took a quick pic in the store room of it & the box. This item has def got my/our vote