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Starting from scratch!
Shona MacDonald
Posts: 1
Last year we bought a house that needs lots of working doing to it internally and externally! We started off by pretty much removing the old, very overgrown garden and due to lack of funds haven't been able to do a lot to it and now it's just a very big patch of mud! We have spent most of the Summer digging up weeds! It's unlikely we will be able to get turf put down this year so I wanted to find out if there is anything we can do (that won't cost much!) to stop the weeds completely taking over during the Winter? Any ideas would be gratefully received!
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Lots of cardboard, use boxes that have been opened up (from the supermarket) would suppress weeds, weighted down with some old bricks/stones. But a lot of weeds would, I think, be pretty much dormant over the winter.
Or you could, as someone has suggested on another thread about allotments, do the cardboard and then cover with a mulch like well rotted compost or horse manure. The worms apparently take this down into the earth. This would enrich the soil. But I would just use the cardboard. (hope the garden is not huge)
Good luck with it. If you have a greenhouse, you could start growing plants from seed in early spring so that you have a cheap source for planting out as the weather warms up.
You will have a few weeds coming up now but it's going into autumn now and since you have done the hard work of removing most of the weeds, your on to a winner.Is the ground level if it is get some grass seed and sow it in September, mow in the spring and then plan your garden. Grass is the best ground cover (cheap) with a covering of grass you wont be walking mud about.
You could also use old carpets to keep the weeds down , wonder if split black bin bags would work ,you'd have to hold them down though with bricks or equivalent .
If you shouldp
Oops gremlins again, what I was going to say is.............. if your planting bulbs anytime Mike Alan has a suggestion if you are troubled like me by squirrels, mice ,or whatever -------- getting your bulbs
I'd use weed suppressing matting. Available in 50 meter rolls cheap easily removed and re used. Old carpet is counter productive it won't allow the soil to breathe. Cardboard is ok but it will disintegrate quickly especially with heavy rain. Matting will last you till your'e ready to start on the garden and you can lift in sections to lay turf or create beds when your'e ready.