Thank you all very much! Sadly it’s got this way because I have a toddler and a 4 month old! I would much prefer hand weeding, especially on a cooler evening!
I’d dig out the dock and pull out the bindweed (and keep an eye out for it, keep pulling it out). Pic 1 the bittercress etc (there’s no horsetail), what are you going to do with the area? If you spray it, but do nothing, you’ll just have weeds back there soon enough and be spraying again, not much point. It doesn’t look like soil you can plant into, is it a path? What’s the plan?
I’d dig out the dock and pull out the bindweed (and keep an eye out for it, keep pulling it out). Pic 1 the bittercress etc (there’s no horsetail), what are you going to do with the area? If you spray it, but do nothing, you’ll just have weeds back there soon enough and be spraying again, not much point. It doesn’t look like soil you can plant into, is it a path? What’s the plan?
It’s just incredibly dry because of the weather and is poor soil with the typical new build excessive stone, debris etc. What was planted there didn’t survive. The plan is to rearrange some of the existing planting (hebes, carex) and add in some new plants, mainly perennials. I have similar patches on either side of the front door so plan to roughly make them the same. The other side is currently grass so will tackle that first and then dig over that side and try to improve the soil! It receives full sun for most of the day.
Improving the soil would be a good move. Regarding planting I guess it is reasonable to assume that with climate change we are likely to get more hot, dry summers like the one we have now. So it would make sense to look for plants that are drought tolerant, such as those that grow in gravel gardens. These often also cope with poorer soil,so you might save some money and effort, while knowing that your plants have a better chance of survival than those that enjoy fat, well-watered living. Win, win
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It doesn’t look like soil you can plant into, is it a path? What’s the plan?