Ferns!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good evening fellow gardeners:gnthb:
I have a garden that I look after for friends and it is a very mature garden with masses of ferns:(. They really are taking over, has anyone got any suggestions as to how to get rid of some of them as most are impossible to dig out.

Many Thanks and here's hoping.

 

Are they ferns or are we talking bracken (which technically is a type of fern I believe but is so invasive it tends not to get lumped into the same category)?

Welcome to GC by the way

 

Hi, I am pretty sure they are ferns, the leaves unroll one at a time, if that makes sense

 

Welcome to the forum PeggtSue.
Yes I know what you are talking about. I introduced ferns to my last garden and lived to regret it.
They seeded in the cracks in the paths, the rockery - everywhere. Thet were just about impossible to dig out. In the end I resorted to weedkiller on them - and that was only partly succesful.
Good luck.

 

Hi there,

Yes that is exactly it, you have described my problem to a T:gnthb: Mmmmm I have wondered about weedkiller myself
How successful did you find it?
Thank you for responding:gnthb:

 

Look on the bright side, they die away in winter!

 

Mmmmm, indeed.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Ferns don't produce seeds like most plants, they spread by spores a bit like fungi. That means that while weedkiller will kill off an established plant, more will keep appearing because their will be millions of spores still lurking about. I'm not sure what the solution is though. If you crack it let us know