Hi all. I have a problem with bracken just beyond my boundary encroaching into my land. We keep mowing it when we can (in the growing season that is) but we can't really keep on top of it. So what I was thinking was if I plant ivy around the boundary, it might swamp the bracken out. Does that sound like a good plan, or would it be a disaster?
Trying to think of the right idiom... adding fuel to the fire? I think it would just make a bad situation worse Maybe more of a physical barrier would work? how much boundary are we talking about?:WINK1:
Don't sound like the way to go Dave. I would think more about barrier methods & a serious amount of salt. I've got similar problems with nettles & creeping thistles coming through from the field next to the plot. I've put a foot wide bit of carpet up against the fence to keep an exclusion zone. Can't use herbicides as the field is grazed but the only reservoir for the pest plants is where the fence is, its a pain in the bottom. Not legally allowed to use salt though, as its not a registered herbicide, so i'm not endorsing that course of action and this in no way reflects the views of Gardeners Corner.
Wow, I hadn't appreciated what a big problem it is. I don't envy you trying to control that clueless.
I knew it was nasty stuff but I didn't realise it was taking over the world. I can't save the whole countryside myself, but if I can tackle the stuff just outside my perimiter, that's a good start. In my case, there is only really the roadside that's the problem. My plot has woodland at one end, so no bracken problem there, a sheep farm on one side, and another farm that is always looked after but I don't know what he farms on the other. There is a fairly wide belt of land on the perimiter of the sheep farm that has been left fallow. The old farmer got a grant to do this, and grow native trees there, but he died before his project was finished, and his elderly widow hasn't taken any interest, so that side too is filling with bracken. That's not such a problem though because I the ground there is flat enough to get the petrol mower on it, so at least on my bit I can control it easy. Its the road side of the perimiter that's the problem. The topology there is so uneven that any mechanised solution isn't really practical, plus with the patch just outside my boundary being completely neglected, the bracken thrives there and just comes back in no time. All that said, I have a new cunning plan. Over the last couple of years we've been slowly but surely restoring the hedgerow. If we can get that really dense, maybe it will act as a barrier to the bracken and block out its light. EDIT: Thanks for the link Zig, that is more useful than you might have realised. Armed with some facts about the problems caused by bracken, I might have a better chance of getting the national park authority to let me plant native trees and shrubs on the disused bit of land between my boundary and the road. If I can do that, then there's more chance that I can eventually swamp out the bracken in that area.
