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Creeping buttercup and spanish blue bells

sthlndngrowersthlndngrower Posts: 160
in Problem solving
My garden is swamped with spanish bluebells and creeping buttercup which we are gradually digging out from borders... it feels like a never ending task, which if i had the option of throwing in the trowel and giving up and just moving house to start a new garden I would!
Any tips or suggestions? I genuinely  can't face digging them out of the lawn too, and hope regular mowing will do!
Help!

Posts

  • EmerionEmerion Posts: 599
    I think regular mowing will stop the bluebells. We destroyed a huge patch of rampant bramble by strimming it just a few times in one summer - all gone, never came back. We’ve got Spanish bluebells  spreading into our lawn, and I’m confident that they will be gone when we’ve mown a few times. If nothing else, they at least won’t spread any further if you keep chopping them down during the growing season. In the border is another thing. We’ve been digging them out for years, and there are always more the next spring. Unfortunately  they are in amongst shrubs, so can’t be strimmed. I loathe them. 
    Carmarthenshire (mild, wet, windy). Loam over shale, very slightly sloping, so free draining. Mildly acidic or neutral.


  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Well  if your can't face anything else, slice them all off at the ankles.n

    I think the best thing to do is  hoik out the buttercups and slice the bluebells and forget them til next year. They won't be doing much more if you get them before they seed but the creeping butterfly will be creeping all year. There are  cheap pointy forked tools to get them out easily but I can't remember what they're called.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • SueAtooSueAtoo Posts: 380
    Daisy grubbers for creeping buttercups. My spanish bluebells are in so deep I'm going to try cutting them off at the ankles as suggested. 
    East Dorset, new (to me) rather neglected garden.
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