We have a jungle!!!

Hi all,

We're new so please be kind!

Our garden Is an absolute nightmare, it is literally covered by horrible weeds 3 feet high on every square inch :(

My plan is to chainsaw the whole lot down to the ground and deposit the lot up the end the we don't use.

As we understand it, there is some brick paths and a few flower beds under the mess, as we've only just moved in.

We just want all the weeds gone and them not to come back anytime soon!

We have access to basic gardening tools, a chainsaw, and a very small amount of money should we need to buy anything.

Is there a weed killer that would last for months? Or are we going to have to periodically go through this every so often?

Many thanks in advance for any advice given

Kev & Marie

 

Wecome to the forum, Kck74.

If you cut the weeds off, most of them will just regrow, although they would struggle with repeated cuttings.Chopping off would prevent some of them from making seeds, though, which is good. Was there any lawn? If so, this might respond to a few mowings even if it was a weedy lawn.

Weed killer will work from the first application, although a follow up application may be needed. It's a good time of year to use weedkiller as the plants need to be in full growing mode when you put it on. You will need to NOT chop them down before using weedkiller so there is plenty of leaf to soak it up. Downside - if there are any good plants hidden in the jungle you will kill them as well. Could you ask the neighbours if anything was in there?

Warning- a lot of these weeds will already have dropped seeds, these will germinate when they are ready, so be prepared to keep up your efforts. Weedkiller won't destroy them.

If you are prepared to wait longer for results you could cover the weeds with black plastic or old carpet and leave till next Spring. If you are preoccupied with decorating the house and don't have a lot of time for gardening then this could be an option. It could also help to avoid the regrowth from seeds problem. The ground would remain clean underneath the covering until you were ready to deal with it.

If you cut weeds down, you could build a compost heap at the back of the garden, using a few old palettes for sides. That way, you'll keep the refuse tidy while making some lovely compost for when you put some plants in. One day you may want to cultivate that bit!

If it was me, I'd go round pulling out by hand all the weeds that would easily uproot, then dig out the rest with their roots using a spade. You don't say how big the garden is, though, and there's no picture so I don't know how tough the weeds are - I certainly wouldn't blame you if you decided on the weedkiller - try to check for decent plants first though, there may be more in there than you think. Try to post a piccie for us.

 

Hello and welcome Kck74

Please don't do that. I'd hate for us to know that someone was going to risk doing themselves extensive injury.

If the weeds are 3 ft high, then you have no way of seeing what the chainsaw is going to meet at ground level, and how much it will kick, or worse, whether it will meet something with sufficient force to snap the chain causing it to come round in a whipping action and slash you right open.

You'd be far better off hiring a brush cutter. You can get ones now with hardened rubber blades that don't kick as hard when you meet a half buried brick.

Better still would be to not cut any of it yet, but to just blitz it with RoundUp, which needs foliage to work on. If you do that, don't get the ready mixed stuff because it will work out expensive. Better to get RoudnUp Concentrate and an old watering can or sprayer (something that you will ONLY use for this job), mix it up yourself as per the directions, and blitz away.

Once its dead (yellow, brown and black), then take the strimmer or brush cutter to it and see what you're left with.

 

First thing I'd do is get your camera out and take lots of photos to post here. There may be some plants you want to keep in among all the weeds and by killing the lot off, you're killing them off as well.

I would dig sections of weeds up at a time so you can see what else is hidden there. Post pics of anything you are unsure of so someone can identify them for you.

I know it's tempting to blitz the lot but if you take a bit more time now, then you may end up with some nice mature plants rather than having to start again because you've killed everything.

Once you've posted pics, you'll get lots more good advice

Oh and welcome to GC

 

The least labour intensive and cheapest treatment is covering with old carpets from Freecycle, and time. My local recycling centre is giving away compost for free, you could try yours as this could be spread on top of the carpets about 3" deep for a clean tidy surface. You would have to rake this over occasionally though. You can spend the rest of the summer looking at other peoples gardens ( try googling National Garden Scheme) and the winter planning what you will do with yours.
By the spring the weeds should not be a problem and the compost will be great for laying over the ground. (Just whip the carpet out and away leaving the compost behind, like the tablecloth trick?)
Of course its worth a look to see if there is anything worth saving before you do this. Soooo.... How big is your garden, and can you post any pictures?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

Personally I'm not very keen on carpet. Once it starts to rot down it becomes a nightmare. I would also caution against using the foam-backed type carpet on any areas where you might want to grow vegetables - no telling whether the chemicals might get into the soil and be absorbed by the plants.

But if you can be sure that the carpet won't be down for long its a cheap & cheerful weed suppressing material. I only used it under new hedges - where I am sure that it won't ever need to come back up again.

 

Right!!! Thanks for your replies

There's a lot to go on there...

We Will post some piccys at the weekend so you can all have a laugh

We genuinely want to see what we're dealing with here, ground wise, so some shock and awe is on the cards (you'll see when we show you some piccys, please don't laugh!)

We understand that it's not a quick couple of ours one weekend, so, we will invest in a barrel of round up and see where we go from there.

As far a power tools are concerned, please don worry as I am a pipe fitter welder and use things like this all day every day and have copious amounts of PPE

Pallets a a composter is a great idea, as we have a big area up the end that we can utilise.

As far as leaving/saving plants are concerned, there's a huge magnolia that were going to keep and a tats about it.

We will keep you all informed on our progress and will upload (some probable) horror pictures ASAP.

Thank you all for your wonderful, learned help.

Marie & Kev

 

For chainsaw you need more than regular PPE ... you need fibre leggings that will stop the chain dead by clogging it up. Don't even think of using a chainsaw without them please. You also need a face mesh rather than just eye-wear.

 

If you use a chainsaw on soft weeds, all that will happen is it will fling them everywhere except where you want them, and some will not be cut at all but simply knocked down. Then you'll have the painstaking task of raking it all to work out what is cut and waht is simply knocked over. Then having established that, its rinse and repeat. (I must confess to having tried exactly what you are planning).

What about anyone else who might be about though? Apart from the chainsaw flinging bits of garden everywhere, if you bust the chain, there is a (albeit small) chance of a high speed cutting chain going airborne.

 

Fair enough, he chainsaw idea has Been vetoed, were now going to hire an industrial strimmer like the council use and (I hasten to add) take our time about it

Cheers n' thanks for the help all.

Kev and Marie

 

Hi Kev and Marie and welcome to GC. I don't agree with everyone here and we bought a place here in Portugal in 1997 that everytime we came the weeds were up and above the Megane Scenic so it disappeared. We cleared the land ...



... and now we have the 'jungle' we want today ...

http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/an-algarve-garden-2013.49341/

Do what YOU feel is right to do and the best of luck to you ... and we want to see pictures!

 

Welcome to GC, Kev & Marie

Oh how exciting!!! Here begins your voyage of discovery and adventure; not only of your garden but of your gardening learning curve

I doubt anyone will be laughing, but wading in with yet more advice and suggestions for you As you can see from the replies above, there are some very knowledgeable people on the forum who are all willing to give you advice based on their experiences and wisdom; and, like you, they all had to begin somewhere

Looking forward to seeing the pictures Oh and could you put your (generalised) location in your profile as that will help too (very general will do).