Where to start ?

My daughter has just bought a flat with a shared back garden. It has not been looked for years. A real jungle - 5ft high grass and weeds - I found some flowerbeds underneath. She will approach the other 3 tenants to get it cleared up, but where does she start??
Does she put on weed killer or does she rotavate ? She hopes to create a lawn, herbaceous border and vegetable plot.

 

In the jungle....best see what's there and hand weed,there may be shrubs or bulbs in there and you would kill them... if there are 4.. .they can take it in turns lol It's amazing how fast you can clear them, once you start.

Ladybird

[ 15. August 2005, 01:52 PM: Message edited by: Ladybird ]

 

Maybe I should have mentioned that the garden is about 100M2. Hand weeding could take some time. They will be able to do this in what is left of the flower beds but the majority looks like waste ground.

 

Hi ITJ
If you use weedkiller over the whole lot - it will kill anything useful in the existing flower beds I'm afraid, I'm with Ladybird on this - with 4 people they can clear it in a day, (10 x 10m isn't such a stretch) alternatively, you could use a flame gun on the hard landscaping, If she rotavates, she will, no doubt, chop up the weed roots and make more progeny! - There is no easy way I'm afraid! Using a systemic or other herbicide will get rid of everything - even the good guys! (+ if she's going to grow veg, I wouldn't fancy eating it after its been in contact with soil with poisoned plants) - nb - its now known that Glyphosate does leave residues. If they don't fancy doing it themselves, they could hire a gardener for the day to clear it, but make sure he/she knows what they are doing & can tell a wanted plant from a weed! - I have been called to many a garden, to make good the "mess" left by alleged garden maintenance people :rolleyes: (I garden for a living)

 

I'm with Bayleaf and Ladybird - clear the worst of the height of weeds by hand to see what you got first. Borders if they can be identified hand weed to preserve what may be there. Then see if you can work out what the rest was originally - then you can decide what to do with it and what you or rather your daughter and her friends want in its place, that will determine what method you use to clear the non border area.

 

Thanks for the advice, They have started with a strimmer on the overgrown grass. Problem is that they have now found a huge wasps nest underground.It looks a bit dangerous to tackle themselves, or does anyone know of a safe method. I covers about 2 M2.

 

What I would advise is, your daughter just takes the rotavator to the whole lot, clear it all.
Then she is able to put her own personality on her part of the garden. Seems a lot of work at the begining,but trust me it will soon take some shape.
Hope this is of help to you!

 

I have recently (sept 04) moved into a house that the owners had deliberatley left to grow wild for the last 20 years. I had brambles 6ft high, bindweed throughout, ivy, docks and stingers everywhere and shrubs that had reached 15 feet with trunks 3 - 6 inches in diameter.
I didn't think anything could be recovered and so I removed the lot - by hand. I scythed everything to ground level and dug out the shrubs with a grub-axe and a spade.
Then I dug over the ground to a spit's depth, twice, removing every fragment of root I could find (saving all the daffodil, bluebell and Cuckoo pint).
I didnt use a rotovator because that would merely have chopped up the roots and then I would have had hundreds of weed plants everywhere. It's hard work - but I believe it's the only effective method to employ.
Even after doing all this I am still removing the odd bindweed and bramble plantlet, along with stinger and dock seedlings, but I believe I am on top of the problem!
I recommend the hand digging approach because it's more effective and you also get to discover what's worth saving before it's destroyed...

 

Well done JC! what a great example!
In the Jungle - Are you sure its wasps? they usually nest above ground, unless there is something woody such as an old stump or structure? Recommend you contact the council about it if it is a wasps nest as it is so large- it may cost you to have it sorted but its worth it, if it was smaller it might have been safe to tackle it with a propriety wasp killer at dusk, but they will probably move on in the autumn anyway, if you can wait that long (& put up with loads of flying, buzzing, drunken hooligans spoiling for a fight!!!)
I had a wasps nest in the attic when I moved in - it was a thing of beauty, but bloody huge - had to put up with loads of them until they moved on. Also had one in the eaves last year (the neighbours had one removed, then they (the wasps that is!) set up camp at my house) I paid to get it removed. Wasps then moved in 2 houses down...
I think its 6 of one & 1/2 a dozen of the other as to what you do.

 

In the Jungle - re the wasps nest. Its heading into September, and thats the time they move on usually, but if you can't wait, as Bayleaf suggst contact the council. Most have a department that deals with wasps nests for free - as I discovered when I had a wasp nest under my eaves - and they started to enter the house. Not sure I liked the powder they applied everywhere but it worked.Sad but wasps in the house other than the odd occasions was not something I could live with.

JC - well done, you must have developed blisters on your blisters, but I have no doubt it was worth it. Congratulations

 

strim it all down to level, then you can see what needs done, the lawn area might be treatable and that could save you loads of work. as for the wasps nest, pour a medium sized bottle of vinager into the nest, they,ll move on immediatly.

 

Great job..JC....bet you are proud of it, inspite of the blisters lol Re Wasp nests, they need to be destroyed, as Bayleaf said, if not, they take up residence nearby and each colony will set up elsewhere next year. Vinegar ? more like Diesel and a match, lol if it is outdoors in ground, away from danger...but have buckets of water handy. Good luck !

Ladybird