Overgrown Garden Project

the reason I expressed caution is the original poster said he lived alone, worked long hours and was often away at weekends. And that the garden had become overgrown as he hadn't had time to look after it. I would question whether he has the time to establish and maintain a lawn given those considerations!

It's only recently that I've really been able to give time to a garden, and I know there will be points where I can't do as much. I tend to try and plant informally and opt for plants that can deal with that.

If you're going to be away five weekends out of 6 say, it will be hard to have a lawn that actually looks good. I think weedy borders are a bit more forgiving. I know I struggle with being away two out of four weekends. I do need more appropriate kit, but this being a rented property I'm on a budget and unwilling to buy expensive equipment. All considerations when you're planning a garden I think, but of course everyone has their own solutions.

 

Yup ... but like most things, part of the outcome is the quality of the equipment (same with a Tennis racket, or a Musical instrument, for example), and in the case of a lawn if it takes ages, or is blinking hard work, then it won't be done as often, or with as much commitment ... and that will probably show in the results.

 

Hello! Thanks for all the replies. To answer the questions about maintenance, I am happy to spend some money on a good cylinder mower if it means ten minutes a few times a week - what I can't deal with is spending 45 minutes on my hands and knees weeding.

Newbie question on Roundup - the overgrowth is now starting to brown nicely. Some of the plants are withering and brown all over, and some plants have leaves that are starting to brown at the edges. My questions are:

• at what stage is the plant actually dead? Do I have to respray plants which are only partially brown, or is it just a matter of waiting?
• what do I do next with the dead plants? Do they need to be dug up, or can they just be cut down? Burned with a blowtorch?
• can I leave the cut / dug up plants to break down in the garden, or should they be collected and put into my green bin?
• should I wait for all the plants to die, or can I deal with the dead plants first?

Photo to follow tomorrow

 

Progress pics! Lots of brownage apart from some resilient critters at the very back!

Appreciate any comments on what to do next with the dying plants and how to tell when they are actually dead etc. Post is above. Thanks!

 

Everything brown is as good as dead. Anything not brown you could spray again (and wait another 2 weeks before being sure ...)

You could then strim the dead stuff (don't strim anything green if you want to apply more Glyphosate to it ... it needs to be actively growing in order to be killed, so "cut and then spray" won't be very effective) and rake up all the rubbish (and burn, compost, send to recycle).

 

Thanks Kristen - what about the stuff that's browning around the edges of the leaves? Do I leave that for a bit? Spray again?

 

NO harm spraying again, if you are not sure. Some pernicious weeds are hard to kill, and they may even come back after you have cultivated the soil, and additional doeses (before cultivation) will help to weaken them.

Only reason not to is if you are on a tight budget and need to use the minimum you can; if you want to be sure of a "good kill" then additional chemical will help, even if some is apply to plants already well and truly dying.

 

Hallo GGB,
have you thought of using this when the site's been cleared?
http://www.artificiallawn.co.uk/default.aspx

 

Jenny! Artificial lawn on a gardening forum, that's got to be against the rules!

 

My garden was bare earth three years ago but looked just like yours when I eventually got it. I got rid of most everything using a rotor mower with the box off. Tall weeds? I just approached them with the back wheels down and the front wheels high and pushed the mower into them. Her indoors did do some with shears. I tried using a strimmer but after repeated attempts I discovered that the mower saves more time.

Mowing definately evens out the ground, especially if you lower the blade.

Saving stuff amongst the weeds. Maybe it's too late for you but anything with spaced broad leaves and a woody stem I saved and I was glad I did. This is a Pussy Willow and some tall grass I saved. It's about 8 foot high after no more than what I assume is two years of seed growth from bare ground. I assume its because it found its perfect place. Six trees appeared this way.


As for the grass: I have another place and my neighbours started mowing the waste land outside their garden, which was just high weeds. Now its fairly lush grass, even though they used no weedkillers nor did anything to it. I think the act of mowing itself stops the weeds flourishing and as long as you use a collection box then you'll be stopping the weeds from seeding themselves. The grass then seems to crowd the weeds out. On my lawn I had a variety of horrible weeds but by mowing I reduced this to mainly clover. Large patches of grass I let grow tall and seed. Now, slowly, I can see how the grass is crowding the weeds out. So I reckon if you're prepared to mow twice a week then most of the grass will come back of its own accord and save you time re-turfing.

If you want to save time I'd also recommend keeping the grass and weed cuttings in a pile with some perspex or board over them. If you let them dry out like that their volume and weight will decrease by about 90% or more and that's a whole lot less work when you come to get rid of them - that's if you don't want to keep the resulting compost. Or you could just put the grass cuttings around your shrubs, but not touching the stems, and they'll suppress weeds. I reckon.

 

its probably easier on the pocket if you stay clear of the roundup and just buy the shops own make glyphosate concentrate as i know people say roundup is the best weedkiller but they are probably talking about the professional stuff. next time you buy your weedkiller look for the small print and check for the glyphosate content it will be on the bottle as a number eg. 9.2g/l glyphosate or something along those lines compare it to the shops own brand and the g/l will be around the same or greater than roundup depending were you shop so you could save easy 50% and probably get a stronger weedkiller and the plant turning brown is the last stage of the weedkiller working remember glyphosate works from the roots up and can take 14days to see the effects up top. ive sprayed the grass were my new border is going to be and im not waiting until its starts to turn yellow/brown ill give it couple of days then ill turn the soil.

remember roundup/glyphosate is not a residual its a contact only i had one guy tell me that he pulled the weeds from his garden then went round and sprayed roundup to stop the weeds from coming back. it was the 5l spray bottle he could have saved himself £20

 

The Round Up worked then

A decent strimmer would tackle that. Trouble is, on the left edge of the photo, two blurry for a positive ID but I see what appear to be white flowers and slightly triangular/heart shaped leaves. Is that bindweed?

 

Bindweed.

Our enemies are sent to make us stronger.

 

I fear it is. I spotted it a while ago and thought it looked like bindweed. What can be done?

 

There is no time for diplomacy. There is no time for sentiment. There is only war.

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/bindweed.43683/#post-551826