Overgrown garden, I need help!

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some help with my overgrown garden... anyone with a spade can join in

But seriously, I have been in my house 2 years, which had previously been rented out for many years, so the garden had not been looked after and thus I have the delightful task of turning it back into a garden!

The front garden is just about manageable and with quite a bit of work, the grass is starting to look like grass rather than a clump of wild grass and bald patches, and although the flower beds are a bit on the big side, I've come quite attached to the rose bush that was planted when the house was built in the 60s and is still going strong despite the neglect.

The back garden however, is a different story, and I'll hopefully have uploaded the pic ok so you can get an idea of what it looks like. This was last year in March just before the heatwave, and took several days work to clear the flower beds and daily weeding. Then it started raining, and whenever it stopped raining, I wasn't able to get in the garden as often as I'd like, mostly due to work. So now I have to start all over again :(

Lots of weeds grow in the garden, amongst other things, the ones with the little pinkish flowers (I don't know what they are called) and lots and lots of poppies, plus something that spreads all over like a creeping plant, wild strawberries that yield no fruit and those weeds that look like little trees that snap off at soil level so can never get out the root. A big problem is that I get so little time in the garden, some of these weeds/plants grow to over 4ft!

My plan for this year is to reduce the size of the flower beds, as in their current state they are far too big for me to plant and manage, to extend a patio area from the back of the house, get rid of most of the crazy paving, to lay a new lawn and cover what is left of the path and round the back of the garage with gravel. Much as I'd love a full makeover, in the next few years I'll be knocking down the old asbestos garage so for now, I just want to get it back under control.

So, it's been a long time coming, but here's where I need the help... how do I get rid of all the weeds and stop them from coming back so lawn can be laid? I can keep on top of everything until spring before the whole thing starts growing again. My mum has suggested covering the beds with plastic, but if I was to do this, how long to kill off everything that I don't want? Any other ideas? I'm not keen on weedkillers as have a new puppy who is still eating everything he claps eyes on!!

If it helps, the house faces East at the front and West to the rear, so there is always some sun on the back garden from 10 in the morning.

All advice gratefully received!

 

Welcome to GC forums, jewell

Great idea to include a pic and which way your garden faces.

I'm sure others with greater knowledge than myself will be able to give you all the advice you need to kickstart your weed war.

Ooh, a puppy!!!??? Do post a pic of your pup in Pets Corner

 

welvome, I am a novice myself I think there are 3 ways of dealing with the weeds.
Cover them with weed control fabric
Weedkiller
Hand weed

I love your brick border edging.
You could just use some roundup on the crazy paving and use gravel to fill in the gaps with a sweeping brush. To gravel over would be very expensive. And theres a certain cottage garden charm I can already see in your garden
Can I suggest u paint ur fence panels the harden would look much better. U can see the diff in mine now I have staryed painting
So I would say
1. Paint fence panels
2. Weed and gravel all crazy paving areas
3. Get some weed control on borders and put bark on top to make it look nicer
4. Get some pots and summer perrenials to dot around the garden to give it a bit of colour.
5. Get on the rose section with me and woo will advise u on some major tlc for that rose

 

If you want to kill weeds in the cracks of the paved areas, mix a solution of salt, vinegar and water. You can pour it on carefully or use a paint brush or a sponge.

 

I would leave the crazy paving. It's nicely designed and adds character. It's easy to pour diluted bleach on it and kill the weeds.

The flower bed on the left, I would leave, cover with pea gravel (very cheap) and poke shrubs into it.

The flowerbed at the back, I would plant non-running bamboo all along the concrete fence and that'll hide the view of those houses.

Just make the middle all lawn, then, and bob's your uncle.

 

Thanks for the replies

For the weed control, could I do the salt/vinegar/water mixture on large areas and will it have any detriment to the soil? Or would I be better putting weed control fabric over the beds once cleared until I'm ready to turf?

The last time I had to get rid of weeds on a large scale I flagged/gravelled the lot which solved the problem easily, but this time I really really want some grass and plants that aren't confined to pots.

I have a clematis growing now amongst the weeds on the back wall that I planted since the pic was took, so I'm hoping that and maybe another one will cover the back wall.

Have been out in the garden with my mum today wafting our arms around and decided the bed next to the garage will be made narrower and I'll build up level to the garage concrete base using the edging stones from the back bed and keep this as a flower bed.

I will then have a bed about a foot wide across the back wall and right hand side which will be planted with shrubs, Put a gravel path next to the left bed broken up with some paving stones and gravel/flag round the back of the garage, everything else will be grass. The crazy paving has sunk in a lot of places so I'm not really that keen on salvaging it.

Sounds easy when I put it like that

 

On your beds you can use sheets of newspaper topped with bark. It will decompose over time but by then it should be pretty easy to just pull the odd weed or two. Don't use the salt/vinegar except where you don't want any plants!!