Shall I blitz my garden and start again from scratch?

Hi all

It is only fairly recently I've taken a proper interest in gardening, and I have to say I am really keen, but still a bit clueless.

My back garden is horrendous, but for the past few years I have been having a half hearted go at it, but now I'm really getting into it, I face a dilemma. Because of the half hearted attempts I've made over the past few years, there are some really good, well established plants in there. The downside is that they're not really in the best position, and the garden is absolutely infested with evil bindweed.

The bindweed is too well established for me to dig it out without disturbing my good plants, and it seems to immune to every systemic herbicide I've tried. I also have lots of creeping buttercup which I spotted early but naively left because I liked it, now it has completely overrun my herb patch.

So, should I cut my losses, blitz the place, and start again from scratch?

Can/Should I save anything (I have two Sage plants that I really like, lots of golden rod, some big dog daisies, a tree mallow and various wild things).

If I was to blitz it, when would be the best time?

As there is a bindweed problem, I though I might blitz the place and replace stuff with partially sunken container plants with fresh sterile compost and gravel over the surface to stop any baddies coming into contact with the soil before I spot them, and keep it like that for a couple of years so I can watch out for any more invasions. I also thought about putting part buried black plastic along the border between my garden and my neighbour's, because they don't even going their garden, ever, and to be honest you can tell.

Any tips or suggestions?

 

Hi,Id blitz it!! Time wise do it now whilst the bindweed is growing otherwise youll have to leave it till next spring.

Take cutting of the sadge, it roots really eaisly. as for the golden rod and disys, lift clumps and tease out the bindweed roots, cut back the folidage and pot them up.

Spray the weed growth with roundup on a fortnightly basis then fork over the beds etc in the winter.

Personally Id forget the plastic and gravel route and insted use 3" of bark chips, this way you improve the soil and futurebindweed roots will be farr easier to lift.

With plastic/ membrane the bindweed creeps along under it and comes up in the rootballs of the shrubs.

 

Hi Clueless, if it were my garden, i think i would lift all my good plants and pot them up, blitz the borders of weeds, or dig everything out and start again... Theres no easy solution, and when you get it upto scratch, Dont be so lazy.Haha

 

Hi Clueless dig up and save the plants you want to keep they may sulk a little but with a bit of attention they will soon buck up, you can always do what we did and put your plants in containers until the rest of your garden has been given the once over or whatever treatment you chose to go with.

We dug up all our 'want to keep' plants when they finished flowering at least that way you get the enjoyment of the flowers before the chaos that is surely to come after a dig and at least that way you can hack the plant a little so all the energy can go into making the plant stronger rather than setting seed....if you know what I mean?

I'm sure it will not be easy (nothing ever is) but do the hard work now and you will be rewarded in the years to come. Good luck and happy digging.Hel.xxx.

 

Well, I've started the blitz on my garden. I have cleared my herb patch (which had become more of a creeping buttercup and bindweed patch), pulled out a load of rosebay willowherb, dug up some of my shrubs and put them in containers and generally tidied up a bit.

I have found a new best friend in the garden. It's name is Glyphosate (B&Q's own branded version). I have been giving the remaining bindweed a weekly nice refreshing shower with the stuff and I went out today to do some more tidying, and lo and behold, huge reams of yellow straw like stuff that used to be my nemesis. Work will continue over the next couple of months, and it is my objective that by next spring, my garden will actually be a nice place to be for the first time in years.