Desperately in need of advice/ help..

That's exactly what we did 38 yrs ago ,we removed everything , we dug it over weekly and it was left bare for 3years while we undertook the renovations on the old house.

The house was well over a 100 years old and was lived in by an old lady who eventually went into care , it was empty for a good few years before we bought it and took on the overhaul of the property and garden.

 

@Selleri thanks that is a very good idea about starting them of it trays. I do grow all ours and my Dad's summer bedding from seed anyway....what's a few more traysll,

He has several very large Buddleias already. His garden is already a great haven for wildlife, as I mentioned in an earlier post he even attracts ducks!! He has never been a real gardener, it was my Mum..she lived and breathed gardening! My Dad just worked on instructions, but since my Mum died he's had his heart set of turning this awful patch by this compost heap into a wildflower garden. Will definitely sow in trays now I think.

 

@JWK thanks for that ,I'm not clued up on weedkillers but that gel spot one looks just the job...I will go and arm myself with some... Into battle I go!!

 

This is the vision I have in my dreams....I know, I know...it's not going to happen.

Create a British WildFlower Meadow from Seeds & Plugs - Meadow Mania

 

Sorry for all the typos folks....it's this awful predictive texting!l

 

My next day of gardening at my Dad's is set for next Friday....so can I keep this thread going for the week please, any more great ideas or suggestions will be most warmly welcomed!

 

Almost all of my garden is devoted to the wildlife and over the past few years I've been just letting it mainly do it's own thing. I get a lot of wild flower seeds blown in from the surrounding fields/lanes and transported in by birds. Sturdy plants such as Red Campion seems to do well and holds its own against long grasses, Nettles, etc. Don't know about Ground Elder though as haven't got it here. Yarrow also does well and Ragwort, Red Valerian, Marsh Mallows, Thistles and Corncockles.

I look forward to your progress in pictures

 

Got some ground elder here at the edge of part of my garden that is trying to spread from the old garden of a derelict house and farm yard to the east. I kind of knew there was going to be some weeds growing in from that side so planted some vigorous shrubs and small trees in the area. The ground elder is not eliminated but the competition is making it less noticeable. It is low growing and adapted to take over an area with its perennial underground growth so instead of standard wildflowers that are adapted to grow fresh from year to year on disturbed soil planting flowering shrubs that will grow above it and out compete it might be the best way to go. I have a big lavatera shrub, a lilac tree, pheasant berry, some cape fuchsia and some other shrubs that seem to be growing fine and keeping the ground elder out of sight. I also planted some gerenium, rubus tricolor, evening primrose, geum, ajuga, vinca and some other flowers in the area and the usual ivy, nettles and brambles are competing with it as well. The area is visible at the start of this video clip. You mention you have some buddleia growing and some of these might be a good option to offer some competition. Another option I was thinking about was planting Jerusalem artichoke which will out grow most other things but they only have a flower for a couple of weeks around October.

I'm actually now started to reclaim the area of the derelict garden by burying the weeds in barrow fulls of used horse bedding and found a nice variegated laurel that I have got looking good again by chopping back the competition and just planted a new shrub there last week. Threw another ten to twenty wheel barrows on top of it yesterday so its an ongoing process.

 

@Upsydaisy ,..i see what you would like in your dreams and hope you can come up with something close if not as per dream,..many good suggestions from members for you to think about,..so i will add my two cents worth,..cut back the Ground Elder to soil level,..cover the area with Anti Weed Matting,..cover it with soil,..rake in your Wildflowers and they will grow quite quickly,..Birds will eat some but most that are raked in will survive.

 

Thanks @Macraignil , the garden is full of shrubs and is very well established as my parents have lived there for over 50 yrs now. As I mentioned my Mum was an accomplished gardener and lived for her garden spending all the daylight hours in it.
My Dad sadly has less know how and had to follow her instructions . His expertise was and still is in all things pond related. My mum passed away 15 yrs ago and so my Dad had to hire some gardeners.....but sadly over the years G E suddenly seemed to appear and was not really dealt with appropriately and is now absolutely everywhere sadly.
As you say in the established and fully stocked borders it seems less of an eyesore and can be pulled out easily to make it look better (albeit short term) during the summer months when Dad sits in his garden. No real problem there.

This bit at the bottom is only really wanted as a wildlife/ wildflower patch.... and in case this is his final summer I plan to do my very best to try and achieve it for him....although I have strong doubts of my abilities.


Thanks for your response

 

@glengarry23 , that's a brilliant idea, but how much soil will be required to cover such an area.....it's a large garden and it's now only me who is working on it ,not sure if my poor old joints will cope with moving quantities of soil ( if delivered) from his front garden all the way down to the far end.

I did suggest to him last Friday about putting down some weed suppressing matting and covering with bark ( thinking it would be lighter to carry) and then gathering all spare pots from family members and sow seeds in them.....but sadly I could see this isn't what he has set his heart on.

But yes if I was more able that's what I would attempt to do.

Thanks for your suggestion.

 

Hi @JWK , I've ordered a couple of the Roundup Gel that you kindly suggested the other day.
I've been reading up on it and as you have used it before thought I would check with you to see if I've understood things. I've read that you are suppose to let the weed grow a bit before applying the gel and what I can't quite grasp is ..do you only need to apply it to one leaf per weed or several ??

Thanks again for any help you can once again offer me.

 

Brilliant John .
Can't wait to commence battle. Bring it on...I in fighting mode now!!

 

@JWK glad to hear about this new form of round up. Years ago I tried to get rid of some weeds in the lawn and thought it would be a clever idea to use roundup and a paint brush them with a bit of roundup. The weeds died but so did the grass for a 3 or 4" radius around the plant! Obviously using it straight is too much so the gel must provide it at a proper dilution. I'll look for this product come spring

It is my understanding is that what the roundup does is make the plant go crazy and actually speed up to live it's lifecycle within a day or so without having time to produce seed or rhizomes.