Perennials out of control

byronpatterson84 · June 2023

Hi All,
Looking for some advice on my current perennial problems. I have inherited a garden full of perennials and whilst I love a bit of colour early in the year returning to the garden it has taken control of several flower beds. My question is if I want to return this to lawn in some of these areas how am I best to tackle this. Am I looking at getting in a mini digger and removing the bulb infested soil? Could I dig down 6 inch and put a weed control membrane in before covering with topsoil and turf? Can I just simply turf and then mow early in the year to weaken the perennials? Weedkiller perhaps? Any advice from anyone that has dealt with this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Slow-worm · June 2023

Hi, we'd need to know what perennials etc etc, can you post some photos or give us some more details?

byronpatterson84 · June 2023

Grape heicenth, tulips, daffodils, snowdrops, spanish bluebells. There probably are others I havnt identified

Escapetothegarden · June 2023

I have a large patch like this, it drives me mad - really pretty to start with (after being patient with long floppy leaves and single flowers!) but then dies down to nothing! Will be interested to see the feedback!

Currently cleared a bit of it to plant a shrub there, wondering what will pop up next year 👀

Busy-Lizzie · June 2023

I thought you meant hardy perennials, but you meant bulbs. Keeping it mown will solve a lot of the problem.

Fairygirl · June 2023

I agree with @Busy-Lizzie - all bulbs, and if you keep cutting them back, they'll eventually give up, although it'll take a while with grape hyacinths as they're particularly tenacious. If you can get the area prepped well and seeded/turfed later in the year, the constant mowing will see them off, but it'll take a while to get the effect you want, depending on the amount there are, and how often you're mowing etc.

The alternative is to physically dig them up, and the Spanish bluebells might be the most difficult.

byronpatterson84 · June 2023

Thanks, they're currently in a bed with many other bits so it currently can't be mowed however I'm planning on clearing it and laying turf. I would say the grape hyacinth are the biggest issue as they are thick when in bloom and completely cover a 2msq area, no gaps.

Fairygirl · June 2023

Once you have it turfed, and regularly mown, they should weaken. However, you can get lawn weedkillers which can be applied to plants in grass without damaging the grass itself, so it might be worth getting some at a later stage if they persist.

byronpatterson84 · June 2023

I might give it a blast with weedkiller before turfing anyway and then it's probably just a matter of dealing with whatever is left. What's your thoughts on weed control layer beneath the surface?

Palustris · June 2023

One word DON'T.

Fairygirl · June 2023

I wouldn't put a layer of anything under the surface.
Weedkiller will only work on growing foliage, so you'd either have to start doing that now, and hope it's worked well enough by the time you turf [unlikely] or just keep cutting off the foliage/digging out. If the earlier bulbs have already died right back, there's no point using weedkiller as there's nothing for it to work on, so digging out is the only option.

If you used weedkiller and then wanted to turf, you'd have to wait a while anyway [many weeks] or the weedkiller could affect the turf too.

Perennials out of control

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