Where to begin

finnbleK1xeTuT- · June 2022

I'm a gardening novice. I've moved to a house with a completely overgrown front and back garden. There are some nice plants in there for the cottage garden style I want but an awful lot of stuff I don't want, including loads of ivy, mare's tail, brambles, moss and grass. I would love to get to a 'blank slate' of soil and somehow save the plants/bulbs I like. I have no idea where to even start. Can anyone point me in the right direction or just tell me where to start? Many thanks.

Obelixx · June 2022

It's a bit like "how to eat an elephant?". One bite at a time.

Start with the area nearest the house or path or garden gate - your choice - and work out. Pull the brambles up with their roots then leave to dry out a day or two. They can then be chopped and added to a compost heap or bin. Same with ivy .

Mare's tail roots go down very deep so, initially, I would just hoe or cut off the tops at soil level and leave them aside to dry completely before composting. You can tackle the roots when you can see what's left you want to keep and can fork over the soil between to remove roots or you could treat any new mare's tail growth with Brushwood herbicide which is systemic and will be taken down to the roots. Be very careful not to get it on other plants. You can search this forum for other threads just on mare's tail.

Moss comes up easily and can be composted. As you cultivate your soil and add organic matter to improve fertility and texture, the moss will disappear.

Remember to take photos of before, during and after and of anything you need to identify as a keeper or a weeder so you can ask on here.

Buttercupdays · June 2022

I think it would be best to cultivate a little patience first, as high summer is not the bet time to be disturbing plants you want to keep and there may be more things in there than you have seen yet, like later bloomers, self seeders or bulbs.

You can start some careful cutting back of the obvious weeds now, and the grass, but leave anything you can't identify. If you think it might be a plant you would want, you can post a picture on this forum and someone will know what it is

Then you will be able to see and enjoy the plants a bit better. When autumn brings cooler, damper weather you can begin proper clearance. It might be better to lift and temporalily pot up the the plants you want to keep, so you can get in there with a fork and dig out all the weeds and their roots. Keep an eye out for any bulbs though. Again , a pic on here should help with ID if you aren't sure what they are. when you achieve your 'clean slate' you will have the exciting bit, of deciding what goes where. Help always available on here if required!

finnbleK1xeTuT- · June 2022

Maybe gardening is just physically tougher than I ever appreciated. What I'm struggling with is how impossible the task seems. This is a bit of front garden and you can see the saxifrage and primula I'd like to keep and a bluebell there whose bulb I'd like to save. And my intention was to lift and move anything good and put it into a cleared space in the back garden. But a) clearing a space in the back garden seems impossible - I have 'cleared' a space but the ivy roots just go down and down and fill the space, so it's just going to come back isn't it? To actually clear it of ivy it feels like I'd have to get in a mini digger! So I was thinking I'd get a bunch of compost bags and transplant things into bags? And b) it's really, really, really hard to dig anything up from the front garden! The top 2-3" is a densely matted moss and although I've sharpened my spade, it doesn't cut through. I'm using a fork now because the spade just wasn't happening, but even with the fork it's hard to make an impact. It's like the whole garden is covered with a layer of coconut matting! Is it just this slow and hard? It's going to take forever to lift all the good stuff. And then I still don't quite grasp how I get rid of the stuff I don't want? I know I'll never get rid of the mare's tail, but I'd like rid of the grass. Do I have to lift this 2-3" of 'coconut matting' from the whole surface? Will I have to replenish with top soil? I understand the point about the wildlife - I'm leaving all the ivy on the shed in the back garden as I can see there could be birds in there. I don't think there's anything in the rest of the back garden but in any case it's clearly going to be decades before I finish tackling the front garden

Thanks for all the advice so far.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030279/uploads/editor/15/1qav8vk2fpww.jpeg

AnniD · June 2022

I can really appreciate how overwhelmed you must feel, looking at the one photo gives me some idea of the scale of what you're taking on. You're dealing with years of neglect and as you appreciate, it's going to be a long haul.
I would concentrate on the front garden for now. Identify the plants you want to keep, and give them a really, really good soaking for a couple of days beforehand. It might be worth investing in a mattock to help lever them out of the ground.
Old compost bags, plastic washing up bowls, wheelbarrows, anything like that will help to store them. Other forum members might well have other suggestions. Freecycle etc might help.
Tempting though it might be, remember you don't have to keep everything (although l probably would). You can divide the clumps which will give you more plants .

Once you've got everything out that you want to keep, you've got a couple of options. Dig it all over by hand, use weedkiller, or pay someone to do the hard graft. Alternatively bribe friends and family with the promise of beer and a barbecue (but only at the end of the day !). If you do this, you will know that there's no danger of them digging up plants that you wanted to keep.
Maybe hire a skip, or set up a relay to the local tip.
Hope this is of some help

JennyJ · June 2022

It looks as if that was once a lawn. The "coconut matting" is most likely the old turf roots, thatch and moss all mixed together. That means the ground will probably be very compacted, and, as you've found, hard to dig into. It'll be a bit easier after a good spell of rain so might be best left until autumn if you can, otherwise try giving the area around a plant that you want to dig out a really thorough soaking the day before. I'd probably pour on a can of water, leave it a few hours to soak in, and repeat a few more times.

I think you'll find that the plants will have a lot of grass mixed in with their roots, which will regrow as soon as you've planted them so it might be a good idea (although slow and tedious) to try and get it out while you have them out of the ground, or maybe pull off and pot up small divisions to grow on.

By the way, if the bluebell is a spanish one I'd get rid of it if I were you, before it spreads. They are rampant thugs and many of us spend hours every spring trying to get rid of them.

a1154 · June 2022

It can seem overwhelming at this time of year when the weeds are huge. I don’t have an idea of the scale, could you take photos of the front and back?

If there is nowhere you can use as a nursery bed, buy some compost and get some plastic pots free from Freecycle or some garden centres let you take pots, and start potting the things up you want to save. Wait until after you’ve had a lot of rain to dig, as the ground will be hard otherwise.

I’d do a really rough garden plan of what you want where and include everything you need. Don’t forget compost bins, water butts etc.

Do you have any houses near you with nice gardens? Get some ideas and try not to want an instant garden. It’s not like that, it does take time and you will enjoy the process.

Obelixx · June 2022

As @Buttercupdays says it is not the best time of year to be disturbing plants but you can make a start on pulling brambles and cutting back the ivy. That will make a huge improvement and help you see more clearly what there is. It's easiest pulling plants when the soil is softened by rain, or a sprinkler on a hose pipe.

Don't let it get you down.

finnbleK1xeTuT- · June 2022

Thank you for all the sympathy! I feel better already. The front garden isn't big and I've strimmed it back now but it's nevertheless overwhelming when you've no idea what you're doing and lamentably no upper body strength at all! The back garden is bigger and I've honestly no idea how I'm going to get on top of that. On the front garden, once I've got up the things I want, would it be right to just strip that whole top layer, a bit like you would if you were lifting turf? I have to say, despite the fact that it's all a bit of a nightmare, it's so absorbing and interesting. I really resent having to stop now and do some work!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030279/uploads/editor/hx/qa1bgxv2upmh.jpeg

JennyJ · June 2022

It doesn't look as bad as I'd imagined! If you want a "lawn" but aren't bothered about it being perfect and all grass, strimming, cutting a neat edge (a flat-bladed spade will do if you don't have a half-moon edger) and then regular mowing will probably do the trick. Then you can concentrate your efforts on the border areas. Grass will have spread into them (it does that) so getting that out will make everything else look much better.

AnniD · June 2022

I have read that you can mow an existing area of what was once lawn, and after several weeks it will look like something approximating grass. It may not be a bowling green, and it might be a struggle for the first few cuts, but if the existing grass is fed and watered it will at least be serviceable until you decide what to do next.
I stand to be corrected, but if it looked tidy that would do for me, and you can always use @pansyface 's description of a wildlife friendly habitat if anyone comments

.

I'm sure you're already aware of this, but if (when) you take a strimmer to the back garden please check for wildlife in each section before you start. Hedgehogs in particular can be really difficult to spot as they get right down inside and my local rescue has had some brought in with horrific injuries.

Where to begin

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