Overgrown Garden, PLEASE HELP

Hi,

I am a very inexperienced gardener who is about to take on a huge job in attempting to return
the jungle behind my Mums house back into a garden.

About the job
-The garden is hugely overgrown with weeds (mainly nettles) etc...
-It is a very large garden (200 sq M approx)

I would like to complete clear the garden of weeds etc.. and start again; eventually laying turf, plants etc...

I have been told one way to do this would be to cut down the weeds and nettles, use a rotavator/dig up any roots, use a flame gun to kill them off and finish the job with some chemical weed killer.

Questions
Please can anyone advise if this is the best way to tackle this job?
If I use chemical weed killer when would I be able to lay turf? (I understand t may be a while)
What would be the best weedkiller to use?
Should I use a rotavator or will this just help spread the weeds?
Is there a better way to do this?

Basically any help/ opinions will be much appreciated!!!

Thanks

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Bryan. Right now I think it would be best for you to check out some of the threads in the 'Projects' forum. A number of members have been in a similar situation to yourself and have given written progress along with pictures for members to see. It would also help members to help you, if you were to post pictures of the area you need to deal with. Good luck!

 

Hello and welcome.

I hate to offer counter advice, but I disagree with advice you've received about getting rid of the weeds. Here's why (in order of what you were advised to do):

* Cut down the weeds: So then there is no foliage for a chemical weedkiller to work on
* Rotavate: Smash weed roots into tiny but viable pieces and spread them all over the garden
* Flame gun to burn off weed roots: Unless you have access to some pretty awesome flame throwers this isn't going to work. I have a 'weed wand' which I use to help light the barbecue grill. Its no good for anything else. It takes about a minute to destroy a dandelion.
* Finally, chemical weedkiller. There's nothing left for it to work on, unless you go for a residual/contact herbicide that will then stop you growing grass until it wears off.

A much quicker, infinitely easier, and much more effective strategy would be this:

Buy a bottle of RoundUp Concentrate. Don't get a ready mixed one because you're effectively paying for the tap water that dilutes it if you do. A small bottle costing about £10 last time I looked will do the whole lot. Buy a cheap water can that you can use exclusively for this task, @"M" will point you in the right direction there Mix up the RoundUp as per instructions, and water the whole lot with it, preferably on the morning (the weeds have to be actively growing for it to work. At night they sleep, so by doing it in the morning they'll spend all day absorbing the active ingredient, glyphosate). Repeat this step about a week later. If the ground is dry because it hasn't rained for ages, water it BEFORE applying the RoundUp, because the weeds need to be in active growth, and not shut down in survival mode as they will be if they are dehydrated.

After a couple of weeks, you should notice the whole lot turn yellow, then brown then black. Once its all pretty dead look, then chop it all down to about 6 to 8 inches in height. Don't go right to the ground. Give it another week and watch for survivors/newly germinated weed seedlings. If there are any, then repeat the steps above.

After that, then you can safely clear it, and rotavate if you want because all the roots will be dead. You then have a blank canvass.

Don't rush it. If you're not ready to lay turf or seed it until September, fine. That's best anyway, because by then the weeds wont be competing as hard as the grass, so in the battle for supremacy the grass has the better chance of winning.

 

Best of all, Clueless's way is fairly effort-lite compared with all that slashing, rotavating and flaming you'd otherwise have to do, sweating cobs under the burning sun. A little gentle watering and spraying in the cool of the morning - I know which I'd prefer.

 

Buy a red watering can especially, Wilkos' 3 poundish ,as you can never use it for anything else but weedkiller.You will never remove any residue.
Clueless has given you excellent advice, get your preparation right now while you have time, then by Autumn you could be seeding your lawn or laying turf.



'

 

Thank you all so much for your advice. I am so glad I posted this before starting as by the sounds of it this will save me a lot of hard work.

I have attached some pictures of the garden in its current state and will post pictures as I go.

Wish me luck!!!

 

Blimey, you got your work cut out there Bryan.

Luck

 

Don't s

Don't say that, Zigs, you'll put him off!

Bryan, stick with GC and it'll be like Kew Gardens in no time.

 

Cor, you mean £16 to get in?

Take no notice of me Bryan, Madahhlia's right

 

Hahahaha, dont think I could bring myself to charge that much!!!

Once again thanks for all the advice, will post pics as it develops!!

 

You may not get a good kill with weedkiller on mature weeds, and quite a lot of growth at the bottom may not get a sufficient dose. I would be torn between spraying with weedkiller and cutting the lot down, and then spraying the young / strong regrowth (but if we have a dry spell you'd do best to water the "weeds" to get them growing strongly again before you spray - don't leave it too late in the season).

Cutting the weeds down would also make it easier to see if there were any plants in there worth rescuing.

Personally I only ever use a sprayer with weedkillers. Too much runs off using a watering can and thus the outcome is nothing like as effective.

 

What's your timescale on this, Bryan? You could try the weedkilling advice to get at least a partial result right now, even if it's less effective on tough old weeds. If it doesn't work completely you could use black plastic/old carpet to cover crucial areas over-winter which will clean the ground fairly well, or respray in spring on young foliage which is growing strongly.

In fact, if you don't have much time for spraying right now, covering areas of ground with cardboard or plastic sheet or old carpet would do pretty much the same job as weedkiller in the long run, and leaves the ground ready to cultivate.

It would be a good idea to get in an experienced gardener to check it over to see if they could spot any decent plants to save before you go in for the kill. Anyone you could ask?