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I'm losing the battle with the pendulous sedge

EvecakeEvecake Posts: 19
in Problem solving
It's been going on for nearly a decade.

The problem is my garden is all patio, not my choice, I rent. When I moved in the garden was overtaken by sedge.
I don't hate it, I do think it looks lovely, but you can have too much. it just overwhelms a garden so fast. Especially this year. It has loved the weather this summer.


We managed to get rid of a fair bit of in in the beginning (I was fitter back then).
But it's hard to keep on top of when you have to work. I pick the seedlings out from between the patio slabs. But sometimes I'm too late, been too busy with work, and I cannot get them out.

I've tried growing other things between the patio slabs in hope it stops the sedge from growing, that did not work.

I try to get rid of all the seeds before they blow through the garden but just the act of picking them out from the bushes of sedge spreads seeds.

And then all of a sudden I have these huge monsters of sedge. It's impossible for me to dig them out when the roots are under concrete.

There are many cats around, and I'm a bit scared of using weed killers to be honest. Boiling water didn't really work, just made it brown but I was still unable to pull it out of the ground.

Do you think occultation could work?
If so any tips on how to do this, best time of year... that kind of thing?

Obviously if I owned my home I'd get someone in, have those patio slabs dug up and have a nice lawn put down instead.


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  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    Most plants (marestail and brambles excepted) will die off if you exclude all water and light for a long period. Are you likely to stay in that house for a few years? If so, a possibility may be 'sheet mulching' a section of the garden - cover it with something like a DPM sheet from a builders' merchants (very thick heavy black plastic). You'd need to strim all the sedge off first, cover it, weight the plastic down and leave it for several months. It works on grass, never tried it with sedge so someone else may come along and say 'no chance'. 
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • EvecakeEvecake Posts: 19
    Thank you @raisingirl, that was the kind of approach I had in mind.

    And annoyingly there is some bramble that has managed to hide its growth in the sedge too!
    My garden is full of things that grow too fast for me to keep up with. 

    We are likely to be here for a few years more. 
  • gondorgondor Posts: 135
    Evecake said:Do you think occultation could work?

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I take all my pend. sedge out as soon as I see a tiny sprout. It's too much of a thug and the roots can get too deep to remove easily.
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    It's tough stuff. I think I would set aside a weekend and just get the lot out. Lift a slab, if necessary and use a pickaxe to get leverage. Once the worst is out, it will only take five minutes each weekend to check for emerging babies. Covering the place with plastic may work but it will look awful and make the area unusable for months. It doesn't grow very quickly so once you are on top of it, the battle is won.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I'm afraid you need a good weed killer. It's perfectly acceptable to use something to get on top of it. Then you need to eradicate [at first sight] any tiny piece that re appears, as @Fire says. 
    If you don't, you'll spend your life trying to just keep on top of it and you'll start dreading being out there, or even looking at it, and it will just make you depressed. It's vile stuff. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    I don’t think occultation would work long term, as soon as you lift the blackout material off it will go again. My bete noir is deep-rooted bindweed. I left a very heavy duty membrane down for 18 months in an attempt to clear an area. When I lifted it, the damn roots were still there and very much alive 😠 

    With the roots being under the patio, a strong, systemic weedkiller might work, but for it to work effectively the sedge has to be in active growth so you would need let it grow in the cracks for a while to have some leaves to apply it to, so it can be fully absorbed down into the roots. It shouldn’t harm cats unless they are in the habit of eating the leaves.

    If the patio is not too extensive and you are prepared to go to the expense, you could strim it back level with the slab (or use a weed burning wand to do likewise), lay the suggested heavy duty black membrane down, lapped up and fixed around the perimeter, and then a thick layer of gravel over the top. If it’s in your garden I assume it is widespread in the area too, so you will have seeds blowing in. But they should be easy to hoik out of the gravel, provided the membrane is tough enough to stop it’s roots penetrating it! You would need to consider how and where water drains and box around any existing drain covers to keep them functioning and free of gravel.

    Have you tried a weed burning wand? I find it a very useful tool for keeping persistent weeds in the cracks of stone paving and steps in check. It probably won’t kill sedge for good, but a weekly scorching of the cracks then brushing up the charred remains might be easier than getting on your hands and knees to pull out each individual seedling. It’s also strangely satisfying!
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    I thought "occultation" was only used as an astronomical term... (shows her ignorance...   :o  )  ...but it's certainly quicker than saying "excluding light" so perhaps I'll try to adopt it.   :)
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • EvecakeEvecake Posts: 19
    Posy said:
    It's tough stuff. I think I would set aside a weekend and just get the lot out. Lift a slab, if necessary and use a pickaxe to get leverage. Once the worst is out, it will only take five minutes each weekend to check for emerging babies. Covering the place with plastic may work but it will look awful and make the area unusable for months. It doesn't grow very quickly so once you are on top of it, the battle is won.
    I think that is the proper answer, but I have arthritis in my spine. I'm not physically able to do that! 

    And the owner of the house doesn't want the slabs removed either. 

    I try to keep on top of weeding out the babies but I work very long hours. So I go out when I'm making tea and do little bits then.
    It's just too much for one person! 
    I've never had a garden so difficult to look after before. 
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    That's difficult, @Evecake. Do you have a friend or relative you could exploit?
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