grass and weed free borders

hi everybody its been a nice day today so i thought id have a go at sorting out my garden. i had moved in last year in autumn and have not done anything with it since today so the garden is a mess. anyway after cutting the lawn i decided to dig a border but the weeds are very well established and i dont want them to grow back, as is the grass. is there anything i can put down that will kill off all teh grass and weeds?
i want to plant some plants/bushes/flowers etc in the borders also, how long after putting down weed and grass killer would it be safe to start planting there?
thanks for any replies,
aaron

 

Hi Aaron

I'm dead against using weedkillers, preferring good, honest digging and weeding to get rid of anything unwanted, over several weeks, repeating if necessary.

I also plant densely with the cottage garden style, so weeds don't have a chance to flourish due to lack of light.

 

"is there anything i can put down that will kill off all teh grass and weeds? "

I think your best bet would be a weedkiller based on Glyphosphate, such as "Round-up". On a scale of 1-to-10 it is relatively safe, but keep it away from any aquatics (streams, ponds etc.) as it is harmful to fish.

Don't get it on any plants you want to keep either! and don't use a fine spray which could drift on the wind into your neighbours garden ...

"i want to plant some plants/bushes/flowers etc in the borders also, how long after putting down weed and grass killer would it be safe to start planting there?"

You can plant more-or-less immediately, but for best results leave the weeds to die for a couple of weeks, and then if necessary repeat the treatment on anything that has not keeled over.

Don't cut down any of the weeds before you treat them - treating the new growth that is just emerging now should be most effective, however some weeds, such as bindweed, may not have emerged yet, so obviously won't be killed, but it should give you a flying start.

But there are two schools-of-though on the use of chemicals, of course.

 

Roundup should kill everything, including plants if it comes into contact with them. I don't use it too much, I prefer to hoe. It should tell you on the container when it's safe to plant after using it.

 

Kristen. Great minds, etc.:D

 

If its just grass and general weeds, then digging over repeatedly will get rid of them, without having to spray with unnecessary chemicals. But yes, if there is bindweed or similar lurking, them something stronger is required.

 

thanks for all the replies. after a bit of thought i have decided to keep my borders chem free at the moment and just do it the old fashioned way. the only trouble is i live near a railway and fields which arent maintained. my lawn is absolutely full of dandelion leaves and moss, grass makes up only a small percentage. if i use some kind of weed and feed will this get rid of most of the dandelions? if so will i end up with a barren wasteland instead of a lawn?
thanks

 

I certainly don't want to convert you form non-chemical to chemical use, but you may care to read
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundup
the bit marked "Human and mammalian toxicity", Roundup is, relatively speaking, one of the safest chemicals, and its toxicity effects have more to do with the Surfactants (wetting agents, sort of like detergents, which help it stick to the plants) than the chemical itself.

All liquid chemical's tendency to drift on the wind when sprayed is a different story though ...

For a smart lawn there are a few things you need to do:

1) Get rid of the weeds. For Dandelions there is a crafty tool a bit like a long shoehorn which you push down, twist, and it brings out the plant with tap root. Or you can use Weed & Feed type products (but then you are back to chemicals); they are granular, so much less chance of them spreading onto flowers nearby etc., but be careful not to get the granules into the flower beds when distributing them.

Weed & Feed is a quite a bit more expensive than Feed only, and then spray with selective lawn herbicide, but its jolly convenient! however, I don't think it will do a 100% job on a lawn with a fair amount of weed, so its probably, actually, just what you want - it will kill a reasonable amount of weed, and encourage the grass to grown.

2) Mow. Mowing twice a week through the grass-growing season will encourage the finer grasses, and give the weeds a hard time. Using a collection box will catch the weed seeds, and they will then go in the grass-heap, rather than back on the lawn. A cylinder mower will be better, in this regard, than a rotary, but either will do. If you need a football-lawn, for the kids, then the finest quality strip turf is not what you are after anyway!

3) Maintenance. You need to maintain your lawn. Aerate, rake out the thatch, and so on. I think this is less important than the first two, to get you going, but others may disagree - particularly if your lawn gets squelchy to walk on after rain and so on. A jolly good rake would help, or hire/borrow a mechanical scarifier

 

thanks for that kristen, some good info to digest there. i dont really want to clear my lawn of weeds the manual way as there are so many dandelions it would take days. i might try the weed and feed for the lawn, i dont mind if it doesnt clear it completely just aslong as the majority of my lawn is grass im good!

 

I think that's your best bed. You can then spot-weed thereafter - and either use very little chemical, or do it by hand if its a small enough amount.

 

what would be good to use to do that then SG

 

Perennials, ornamental grasses, annuals. Once they get established and start self seeding, its difficult to tell what is a weed (to begin with)and what isn't, apart from the obvious ones like nettles and buttercups. I actually leave a couple of nettles at the back of the border for the butterflies.

When I get home I'll post a pic of one of my borders from last summer when it was in full bloom, but if you google cottage style gardening, you'll see what I mean - its a certain style that looks haphazard but is actually well planned to begin with.

 

Hope this pic helps....it was taken in September, its only a small section of the border but pack em in and the weeds can't survive I find!