New to gardening with very little idea

Hi all,

Coming on to this forum is like a God-send! I joined last night and have been anxiously waiting to post my gardening problems all morning so here I am!

I have two gardens - one front, one rear - which I would love to make more use of but I am gardening-illiterate. I don't even know where to begin. The only thing I can do is cut the grass and water it occasionally but that's all I've been able to do. It's a real pity as because when we moved in both of the gardens were lovely but I was too busy to look after them.

I would be really grateful for any advice regarding both of my gardens. The problem with the front garden is that it seems to be infested with some horrible plants/weeds and I don't know how to get rid of them, ie. what products to use, should I dig them out, etc. The back garden is pretty much the same but worse. I will post pics of that later on.

So any help would be absolutely brilliant. Many, many thanks in advance!



That's a wide pic of the front garden. As you can see there are some weird lettuce looking shrubs around the edges (and a couple within the square)



This is some of the folliage around the sides - horrible leafy things.



Some of the horrible plants around the edge



And that leafy thing is within the turf. When those grow they look quite lettuce like.



And another one.

I'm very frustrated because it makes the lawn look horrible when it could look so much nicer.

MANY thanks in advance for any help!

 

The Lettuce like things are Dandelions.
Deep tap roots make them difficult to remove.
Weedkiller can work, but often just removes them on a temporary basis.
I think individual digging out is the better method, but you are likely to leave some root in.
Others may have more radical ideas.

The red plants shown are Clover. Bees and butterflies like them, gardeners often dont.

Good luck

 

If your lawn is modest in size, and the weeds not very widespread, I would use a spray "Lawn Selective Weedkiller" and just spray it on the weeds (you can get a ready-mix one at the garden centre, so you won't need to buy asparyer, its more expensive that way, but if you only have a few weeds it will be cheaper than getting all-the-gear ...). Make sure you get one specifically suitable for use on lawns, as a general purpose weedkiller will kill the lot - grass too!

I, too, don't know how effective that will be on the Dandelions, but repeated spraying every two weeks (just a squirt enough to dampen the leaves) will weaken them over time.

Don't use a liquid selective weedkiller just before it rains (allow 6 hours dry) otherwise it will just wash off.

If the weeds are "everywhere" and its not fesible / ecconomic to just spot-treat them then I would use a granular Weed & Feed (combined selective weedkiller and lawn fertilizer). You will need a "seeder" to put it on with (doing it by hand will be uneven, and the bits that you put plenty on will be a dark green, and the bits you miss an anaemic yellow!), so it may be a silly outlay for something you only do once or twice a year. Maybe a neighbour has one you can borrow? This has the benefit of also feeding your lawn, so it will come up a nice smart green, and the growing grass should then grow to "expand" and fill the gaps where the weeds die. (This is the time of year to feed your lawn)

Weed and Feed DOES need to be watered in, otherwise it may "burn" the grass, so apply shortly before rain is forecast, and if you get no rain in a day or two you will need to water it in (e.g. using a sprinkler, provided you have no hosepipe ban)

Or, Plan B, get in touch with Greenthumb and get them to give you a quote. They provide a "lawn servicing" service, and will come out a few times a year to apply weed killer and fertilizer and you should have a nice lawn without having to have all-the-gear. For small lawns I think they work out quite cost effective.

(Suggest putting your Town / County in the "Location" field of your profile so folk giving advice know where abouts you are / what your temperatures are likely to be etc.)

 

I think if it was mine, I'd try the following.

Make sure the lawn is watered and fed. I'm sure some products are better than others, but a general 'shake on' lawn feed would be a good start. Water it in well.

Then every week, at least once per week, twice is better, mow the lawn.

Grass loves to be mowed. Weeds don't. Gradually the weeds will weaken and the grass will overtake, as it should.

 

it's a small lawn .... this is what I would do:

get a flat nose screwdriver and pull all the weeds by hand .... you may not get all the roots out, but it's not a problem and it will not take long to do

then mow the lawn .... but only mow the top 1/3 .... after mowing, water well

2 days later, add a lawn fertilizer such as Scotts Lawn builder (available from B&Q or Homebase or most garden centres)

water well

then mow twice a week, and continue to remove any weeds that appear and water the lawn when it's dry

fertilize again in July with Scotts lawn builder, mow, water on a regular basis

In the begining of november, sacrify and aerate .... then mow, wait 2 days and add a lawn winteriser fertilizer (lots of debate about this, but I can say that the lawns that I have added a winteriser lawn feed are looking lush, thick and very green right now .... compared to those that I have not)

you can take it a step further by overseeding and adding a thin layer of topsoil at the end of Oct/beginning of November

your lawn will be lush

 

Sorry Clueless, dandelions are a nightmare and in my garden mowing will not weaken them, they continue to grow and multiply.

Therefore I agree with Kristen on this one. Weedkiller is the way to go. If you try to dig or pull dandelions out and the root breaks you can be sure they'll be back in a few weeks.

 

The main problem with dandelions is that the top 3" is ridiculously weedy and brittle. They break off if you so much as look at them ...

Beneath that is something akin to a Parsnip with enough fuel reserves to light London for a millennium ... that's the bit you need to get out, and it will go down a foot or 18"

I've been digging them out of the borders as evening exercise for the past week. Makes a right mess of my mulch, wouldn't want to do that sort of damage getting them out of a lawn, although there are long, thin, dandelion weeding tools tailor-made for the job - but I've never tried one.

Secondly, the blighters are adapted to growing flat - so will happily grow below-mower-blade height and allude getting cut, and weakened :( Chemical warfare recommended

 

Radical Dandelion cure coming up!
Take a sharp trowel and chop the top off. Make a hole in the root (screwdriver) and put a few drops of bleach into the hole (small plant = 2 drops, large = 4 or 5 drops).
You may lose a small amount of grass around them (I never have with the large ones as it's easier to aim the bleach) but it will grow back quite soon. The Dandelion will die!
It's radical, but as long as you're careful (and have a steady hand) it's effective.
Only worth the effort if you have just a few though.

 

Works for me I've got a few in a moment, just because I've let the grass grow a bit lately, what with it having been winter and all

 

Thank you guys so much! Some of these posts have actually got me quite inspired. I've been pretty depressed about the whole thing, worrying about hiring someone to sort it out, etc. But because I don't know anything they could charge me anything. So it's been really frustrating. I really like the idea about taking the dandelions out with a screwdriver - you're right, they seem to have parsnip like root to them. Horrible things.

I think that would work best followed by Dim's suggestion of fertilising the lawn - I've never really looked after it properly so it could do with some TLC like that.

My back garden is similar and I'll post pics of that too when I get a chance. I'll cut it of the weekend so that you'll be abe to see the what the lawn looks like. Ive been worrying that i might have to get it re turfed but maybe I might be able to get away with just looking after it with regularly care/fertiliser, etc.

Very excited about getting started on this now! Thank you so much for all your wisdom.

 

Firstly I should say that I'm no expert when it comes to lawns, but this is what I've done through trial and error.

I've found that the more dense my lawn, the less weeds I get.

Every spring (usually in April but did it in March this year because I'm impatient) and autumn (September) I scarify, aerate and mulch (with a thin layer of compost), then sprinkle more lawn seed on and rake gently.

On the back lawn I never get weeds, because I chuck so much lawn seed on it (four dogs make bald patches in it every year) and because it gets more sun. However, I'm not particularly fussed about having a pristine lawn as long as it's thick and grows to fill the gaps.

In the front I used to get loads of weeds, but I went round spraying Roundup on the weeds every time they popped up, so I hardly get any now. Because I only spray a little at a time in the middle of each weed, I don't notice any patchy bits in the lawn, but any patches will soon fill up in any case as grass fills the gaps.

The main problem I have is getting the grass to grow on the north facing side of the garden.

If the lawn hasn't been aerated for a while then that would probably be where I'd start as I've found the grass seed takes much better if you do that (basically I just poke lots of holes in the lawn with a fork).

I also give it some fertilizer a couple of times a year.

Around the edges, I'd probably dig out a border to make it a bit more interesting and you can then add some colour to the garden.

Good luck!

 

If you use a spray to kill the weeds make sure there's no wind. It can blow onto other plants and kill them.

 

Have you tried a shade seed-mix? I did that here, in a shady patch where the grass grew poorly, and its revolutionised it! I do cut it a bit longer too.

 

Another trick is this. Take a selection of plastic bottles of differing sizes, and wash them out and cut the bottoms off and remove the lids. In effect, making different sized funnels.

Get an ordinary spray bottle of RoundUp.

Place a cut up plastic bottle over one of the target weeds, the right way up. Point the Round Up sprayer nozzle right inside the top of the bottle (which is over the weed), and spray thoroughly. Leave the bottle in place for at least a few minutes, so that the vapour has time to settle. Ideally leave it for a bit longer, so that the Round Up has time to dry on a bit. The point is, the cut up bottle will ensure that the spray can't drift off target.

If you follow the weedkiller routine, you will need to do it a few times to get the problem under control. Dandelions, I find, are a little bit resistant. Not immune, just they put up a bit of a fight, so a few treatments will be necessary. To make life as easy as possible, it would be wise to devise a route around the garden for your spraying regime. It just means that you don't have to use up mental energy remembering which bits you've already done and which ones you haven't. Then once a week, work your way round the garden, treating the weeds with spray (using the bottles to protect surrounding grass and plants).

Don't physically damage the weeds after spraying. It will slow down the rate that they absorb the spray. The one exception is if you see a flower forming. I find that weed killer'ed dandelions seem to flower faster. Maybe its my imagination, maybe its the dandelion trying to produce seeds in a last ditch survival attempt, but whatever, don't let them flower because Round Up isn't carried to the seeds they produce.

If you start this regime now, I'd expect the dandelions to be under control by early May.

Be warned though, your lawn will look worse before it looks better. Once the Round Up kicks in, you'll have great patches of yellow dandelion leaves, then they go brown and sometimes black. Even once the dead dandelions have been removed, you'll have bare patches where they were. Don't panic though. Mix some grass seed with sharp sand and scatter on the bare patches, and water it in. In no time at all between the new grass seed, and the existing grass creeping in, the bare patches will become lush grass.

Another word of advice, don't use cheapo weedkiller. Its a false economy because it doesn't work as well so you end up using lots more of it. I've tried most of them, and the brands, and find Round Up to be the best. Even if you don't choose Round Up, at least make sure its a glyphosate based product. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in many off-the-shelf weed killers. It is 'systemic' meaning it is absorbed by the plant and carried down to the roots, so it kills the whole plant dead. Glyphosate is non-selective, meaning it will kill any plant it comes into contact with (but is harmless to animals - except aquatic life - so don't use near a pond or stream). Some products are based on some other chemical whose name I can't remember. They are selective (often sold as lawn weed killer, they are not meant to effect grass). They also don't work. They are not systemic, and only damage the foliage of the weeds on contact. They appear to work faster than systemic weed killers because the weeds will look dead much sooner after treatment, but it is only superficial damage. Probably ok going forward once the problem is under control, but to get it under control in the first place, the more targeted approach with Round Up is better in my opinion.

 

Thanks for the tip about the bottles clueless, very useful