Thank you thank you everyone. The bed is full of ground elder, nettles, green alkanet etc etc. It was obviously loved once as there are also some lovely plants struggling underneath all the weeds. I think I am going to try to dig some of the plants out and put them into temporary pots and then weed killer the weeds. Totally goes against what I would usually do but I just can’t see another way around this, it is so bad. It’s actually a quite big bed, around 20m long with some established roses, climbers and shrubs too, so I guess I will need to cover those. Its going to be a big job!
I agree with you @FledglingCottageGardener It is going to be a big job getting rid of the weeds in a bed that size. The ground elder is the worst of them that we can see in the picture. This time next year you'll be showing us your nice new border will you? Fingers crossed.
My advice re 'The Monster' is the same as most of the others - cut, dig, weedkill new growth.
Regarding the rest of the border I would tackle that by slowly but thoroughly digging it with a border fork, carefully removing as many weeds as you can and saving and potting up any treasures (as you suggested).
Once the ground is clear (save for shrubs / roses etc) I would keep it well watered for a few weeks and see what comes up. I suspect there will be a lot of weedlings and weed regrowth. You can either dig these out or spray as you think fit.
Personally, I'd keep going with that process until the ground is clear which might mean you have a bare bed for this year. If you plant up the bed while there are bits of nettle, ground elder etc lurking you are making for very hard work in the future. You can beat these weeds but it's much, much easier to do if you're not trying to work around plants you want to keep.
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
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The bed is full of ground elder, nettles, green alkanet etc etc.
It was obviously loved once as there are also some lovely plants struggling underneath all the weeds. I think I am going to try to dig some of the plants out and put them into temporary pots and then weed killer the weeds.
Totally goes against what I would usually do but I just can’t see another way around this, it is so bad. It’s actually a quite big bed, around 20m long with some established roses, climbers and shrubs too, so I guess I will need to cover those.
Its going to be a big job!
It is going to be a big job getting rid of the weeds in a bed that size. The ground elder is the worst of them that we can see in the picture.
This time next year you'll be showing us your nice new border will you? Fingers crossed.
Regarding the rest of the border I would tackle that by slowly but thoroughly digging it with a border fork, carefully removing as many weeds as you can and saving and potting up any treasures (as you suggested).
Once the ground is clear (save for shrubs / roses etc) I would keep it well watered for a few weeks and see what comes up. I suspect there will be a lot of weedlings and weed regrowth. You can either dig these out or spray as you think fit.
Personally, I'd keep going with that process until the ground is clear which might mean you have a bare bed for this year. If you plant up the bed while there are bits of nettle, ground elder etc lurking you are making for very hard work in the future. You can beat these weeds but it's much, much easier to do if you're not trying to work around plants you want to keep.