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Weeds growing in new Portugeuse Laurel Hedge
billyp7WmtKKM
Posts: 34
I am a novice at gardening and planted a Portugeuse Laurel Hedge and was advised just to dig holes, with enough room for hedge and plant.
The soil looked fine and now that I have planted the hedge and because it is being well watered, with summer weather, to establish the hedge, loads of weeds have grown around the hedge and it looks like my hedge may have battle on its hands with the weeds and may get infected.
I did not know I had to put weed killer down first. learning curve.
I have a hoe to remove the weeds and the roots, but this is a real pain and manual task and I struggle for time as they keep growing around the new hedge and some are massive and overpowering the small hedge.
The hedge still seems to be growing ok, but I have been trying to remove surrounding weeds.
Is there anything I can do? Any advice?
Should I just continue with the hoe to remove surrounding weeds regularly to keep away from the hedge? Could I put weed killer on the weeds and try and keep away from hedge? or should I remove hedge, put weed killer down and replant? 270 of these, so would be big task.
?
Thanks in advance.
The soil looked fine and now that I have planted the hedge and because it is being well watered, with summer weather, to establish the hedge, loads of weeds have grown around the hedge and it looks like my hedge may have battle on its hands with the weeds and may get infected.
I did not know I had to put weed killer down first. learning curve.
I have a hoe to remove the weeds and the roots, but this is a real pain and manual task and I struggle for time as they keep growing around the new hedge and some are massive and overpowering the small hedge.
The hedge still seems to be growing ok, but I have been trying to remove surrounding weeds.
Is there anything I can do? Any advice?
Should I just continue with the hoe to remove surrounding weeds regularly to keep away from the hedge? Could I put weed killer on the weeds and try and keep away from hedge? or should I remove hedge, put weed killer down and replant? 270 of these, so would be big task.
?Thanks in advance.
0
Posts
Weedkiller only works if it has something to work on - ie foliage in good growth. The weeds won't infect the hedge either.
Unfortunately, the advice you were given was really poor, which is why you now have a lot of weeds. The only solution is to dig out the weeds carefully, and also make the border a little wider. That will help avoid competition for water and nutrients. If you're very careful , you can use a weedkiller by dabbing it on the foliage, but pick a dry, calm day to avoid getting it on the hedge. Perennial weeds will just keep coming back otherwise. You may have to do it a few times to get a decent result.
It's difficult to see what weeds you have there - but you'll just have to try and get in and dig them out.
In a little while. most of them will be a bit more dormant, which will make it easier, but you'll just have to get stuck in to get ahead of them.
Once you've done that. you can apply a really good mulch of something like bark, which will help to keep them suppressed a bit, at least over winter, and that will also help the hedge a bit more. If you wait until there's some decent moisture in the soil before mulching, that's also helpful.
Good luck with it.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I agree with @Fairygirl about making that bed wider and adding a mulch once the weeds are gone and the soil is thoroughly moist.