Weeds rampantly growing throughweed fabric - help please!
Lorna4
Posts: 2
Hi all!
Newbie here hoping someone can help with a problem in my rented house.
There is a 3m by 4m section at the back of my garden which is completely overgrown with weeds including brambles and nettles. My original vision was to clear it, turf half and establish a wildflower mini-meadow on the back half.
While the rest of the garden is transformed I have finally given up any hopes of clearing this section. The problem is, as I soon found out after moving in, that at some point in the past weed fabric was laid over this entire section and with soil covering it and now the weeds are rampantly growing through both - nettles, brambles etc. It's basically impossible to clear the weeds or lift up the fabric as the two are entangled.
So I'd like to know what the best way of managing it without clearing it by hand is. I've now put up a shed and a trellis to screen that section and have given up the idea of making it instantly beautiful, I just need a simple management technique, preferably one which could yield nice results eventually..
I was thinking of suffocating the weeds with blanket coverage of something for a year (perhaps not more weed fabric though) or trying some weedkiller, then digging out what I can of what's left then putting compost down and planting my wildflower meadow in the hope that this will have the best chance of rivalling the weeds.
Would this work or are there any better ideas?!
Thanks!
Lorna.
Posts
Not a quick fix Lorna but at least it's not a big area. If you can cut everything back with a strimmer or shears, cut through the fabric right round the edge with a big knife, then divide it into smaller square sections, you might be able to dig out most of it a piece at a time. Brambles often have quite shallow roots. New growth that comes through could be treated with weedkiller. It will need going over a few times though. I had a similar problem at a previous house where the pond liner had been taken several feet up the bordering bank and planted up. Large areas of chicken wire had been put down too, to hold the mossy grass in place at the edge and it was all tangled up with weeds, brambles and horsetail. That was the only feasible way to tackle it as we couldn't use weedkiller because of the proximity to the pond.
If you do a little bit at a time, it will seem less daunting, and you could cover up the bits 'in waiting' with heavy black plastic once you've cut the weeds back just to help prevent too much new growth. Old compost bags weighted down will do the job.
Pity you hadn't put the shed on that bit - would have sorted half the problem right away!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I'd cut off the dead sticks and glyphosate the regrowth for a start.
Brambles and nettles probably came on from the top. Brambles spread by rooting at the growing tips and cover land that way. Nettles spread over the surface. If you're very lucky the fabric will have held some the roots on the top.
But agree with Fairy, not a quick fix. Just one of the reasons I don' t like these fabrics
In the sticks near Peterborough
Thanks both, I think I will try a combination of both your suggestions, sounds very pragmatic and kind of tallies with what I had in my head. Weed killer first then cover while tackling the fabric/weeds a bit at a time. The good thing with the screening is that it has bought me time to do this so I no longer need a quick fix, and it looks good, I'd just like to get it sorted eventually.
Fairy, the shed is pretty small and was moved from that part so underneath is ok for weeds but the fabric has a lot of soil on it so there's still a bit of work! But it's much less than it would have been and shows me, a novice, how that all works.
Thanks again both, really grateful, must remember to take pictures and update you
If you weedkill, don't cover afterwards, just let them die and repeat the kill if anything regrows
In the sticks near Peterborough
I agree that there is nothing for it but hard work
. And I agree that maybe you should tackle it a square metre at a time. I often find that jobs like these seem daunting when you begin, but once you make a start they are not so bad, and you will get a kick with each area you manage to clear. If you can't face it this year because you are cultivating the rest of the garden, then a sheet of black dpc plastic well anchored with bricks and stones will make it easier to face next year. You can buy it from places like Toolstation or Screwfix - 3m x 4m will cost about 20 quid. You could lift it every time you get a spare hour and fancy a workout, and then replace it once you have got some weeds out, to stop them growing back.