I think the fork will probably lift a lot of it out, but if you can afford it it might be worth getting a bit of muscle involved as @Fire suggests. If you don't have any family or friends who can lend a hand, it might be worth asking your neighbours if they can recommend anyone. I appreciate that you might want the satisfaction of doing it all yourself and l can relate to that, but sometimes it makes sense to get someone else to do the hard yards while you sort out the plants you've lifted and make plans for your new garden
The kids and grandkids might be interested. I have lucked out and found a neighbour doing an RHS training and it's a good match. She gets a local garden to play and experiment in (and loads of plants to take home). I get a lovely, highly motivated Rose to work with. The two of us get so much done.
If there is a horticultural collage locally, they may have students itching to get their hands in the soil.
I recently dug out a medium sized well established weed border after years of neglect (my landlord kept saying he wanted to concrete it, as it's sort of part of the drive, but that's not happening), I started on the front and just dug over a bit a day, with a fork and a hand fork, and one of those things with 3 spikey prongs on. I had some good old 30s jazz/swing for company, it helps! Anyway I thought it would take me ages, but once I'd got going and could see it getting cleared, it didn't take long. Now it's got flowers blooming and is so much more welcoming. It doesn't really matter how long it takes, the trick is to just be 'zen' about it and never let it become a chore, just pat yourself on the back and admire whatever you do. 😊 I don't really like helpers, they always inadvertently leave bits in that need to come out.
Do sparrows nest on the ground? In dense vegetation maybe? I have been thinking for a while that the sparrows make an absolute racket but now I'm thinking they probably only make the racket when I go out there - because they're alarmed at me walking by their nests. When is it safe to assume they've all moved on and it's ok to start cutting back? I know someone mentioned hedgehogs too so is there a time between birds leaving and hedgehogs arriving when it's safe to take the strimmer out?
They do nest in hedges, so if they're making a racket when you approach it's possible they have nests there. When they stop doing that l would assume the chicks have fledged, but l would still check inside if you can just to double check. I wouldn't disturb the hedge until the racket has stopped.
Hedgehogs are trickier as they can lurk in thick undergrowth pretty much the whole year round. I would mark out an area you want to strim and then literally run your hands through it at ground level. Wear thick gloves because if you come across a hedgehog you'll know about it, and also there could be other wildlife lurking. Whe you're as certain as you can be that it's safe, strim that section and then do the same with the next bit. I know it's a faff but l have seen hedgehogs with horrendous injuries caused by strimmers and usually it's the case that they have to be put down.
If you do find a hedgehog, if possible move it to a quiet sheltered section of the garden in the shade, without down a dish of water and contact your local rescue for advice. If you don't know where your nearest rescue is, contact the BHPS. https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/found-a-hedgehog/
In your first picture you had 'London Pride', this can be propagated just by breaking off the rosettes and planting them in pots. You won't need to transfer the whole plant and they can be quite thuggish. Just keep going small areas at a time. If you do manage to get youngsters helping, just one at a time! My father used to say 'One boy, good; two boys, half a boy and three boys, no boy at all'.
Thank you! That is really helpful to know. I have been trying to carefully dig them up and worrying I'm doing a bad job of it, so it's immensely helpful to know it's that robust and I don't have to stress over it.
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I appreciate that you might want the satisfaction of doing it all yourself and l can relate to that, but sometimes it makes sense to get someone else to do the hard yards while you sort out the plants you've lifted and make plans for your new garden
Anyway I thought it would take me ages, but once I'd got going and could see it getting cleared, it didn't take long. Now it's got flowers blooming and is so much more welcoming.
It doesn't really matter how long it takes, the trick is to just be 'zen' about it and never let it become a chore, just pat yourself on the back and admire whatever you do. 😊
I don't really like helpers, they always inadvertently leave bits in that need to come out.
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/gardening-for-wildlife/plants-for-wildlife/garden-hedges/hedge-law/
They do nest in hedges, so if they're making a racket when you approach it's possible they have nests there. When they stop doing that l would assume the chicks have fledged, but l would still check inside if you can just to double check. I wouldn't disturb the hedge until the racket has stopped.
Hedgehogs are trickier as they can lurk in thick undergrowth pretty much the whole year round. I would mark out an area you want to strim and then literally run your hands through it at ground level. Wear thick gloves because if you come across a hedgehog you'll know about it, and also there could be other wildlife lurking. Whe you're as certain as you can be that it's safe, strim that section and then do the same with the next bit.
I know it's a faff but l have seen hedgehogs with horrendous injuries caused by strimmers and usually it's the case that they have to be put down.
If you do find a hedgehog, if possible move it to a quiet sheltered section of the garden in the shade, without down a dish of water and contact your local rescue for advice.
If you don't know where your nearest rescue is, contact the BHPS.
https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/found-a-hedgehog/
Hope this helps