Help! Weeds, weeds and more weeds!
retrowife
Posts: 1
My husband and I built our own home a few years back and 18 months ago decided to create a garden. Neither of us know anything much about gardening but we are full of enthusiasm and willing to learn! The area around our house was literally a field which had not been cultivated for roughly 40 years! We dug out flower beds, dug them over, added top soil and planted herbaceous perennials given to us by two green fingered aunts who divided them off their own established plants,
We have fought a losing battle with weeds - mostly grass and buttercups - then last year we had a baby which meant the garden was neglected. Now it is very overgrown and the flower beds are largely grass. Is there any way back without digging all the plants out and starting again? I'm afraid that we are going to lose plants by digging them out along with the grass by accident. Hubby wants to try weedkiller but I'd rather not as I'm afraid that would be the end of the plants.
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Well you won't lose the plants, that's the first thing to say, and now is one of the best times to start weeding out the grass and buttercups, both of which will be more obvious than any perennials. There's no substitute for weeding by hand and it remains the most effective way of reducing the number of weeds in a garden. Weedkiller is indiscriminate and will kill everything it touches. The ground is wet and weeds will lift easily. Take out everything visible asap and keep an eye open for germinating weeds, they germinate 365 days a year, so if you get on top of it now, the weeding in the spring will be hugely reduced. It is the only sensible option if you want to keep what you've already planted, and the results will be worth it in the end.
As Dave says, hand weeding is the answer. Gardens always need weeding, especially to start with. Once weed seeds have got in they will germinate, but eventually, after regular weeding there will be far fewer of them and the original plants will be bigger and stronger and will help push weeds out of the way.
I feel for you. My garden is surrounded by uncultivated, rough fields. I am plagued with creeping buttercups, field grass which grows like a miniature bamboo, brambles, nettles, wild willow and foxgloves which smother small plants, to name but a few.
I have to hand weed beds and veg. and weedkill paths, steps and any uncultivated areas. I use weed matting around trees,fruit bushes and shrubs where possible. Heavy mulches of bark and slate make weeding much easier and spot weed killer weeds like dandelions which have grown secretly through the roots of perrenials.
So a multi pronged attack, but you have to do it very, very regularly. I swear weeds appear overnight! Even within minutes when your back is turned.
I sympathise and am in the same position - biggish garden, most of it still to do, so probably 80 percent of it is still mud and weeds. Its very difficult when plants you buy are small and there is plenty of space for weeds to spring up.
joyce is right there is not just one solution. My most successful bits have been heavily mulched with bark. I also used green manure type seeds in large areas i had no plants to fill, they supress weeds, improve the soil and are great for bees.
This is something that is going to cost a lot of time, energy and inclination. If the beds are now mostly grass, I would be tempted to wait until the spring and dig out the clumps of perennials. Move them into a nursery bed and then put weedkiller down. Wait a few weeks then spray again if more green shoots appear. Dig it over and wait a few more weeks if you can. Then replant. Put a thick layer of mulch down and keep an ever vigilant eye on the weeds. Deal with any you see immediately either digging them out or use spot weedkiller. I walk round my garden every morning and try to deal with weeds as soon as I see them. They are pesky creatures.
I'm a mega lazy pseudo gardener, so I cheat with weeds when I can.
I don't like using chemicals, but there are times like with brambles you can't really avoid it.
The 'normal' weeds can be got rid of in a couple of lazy ways.
1) Black bale wrap plastic. It's the stuff farmers put over silage. Exclude light, kill the weeds. This is long-term as it needs to be down for months to get all of them. It would require rescuing what you want to keep first of course.
2) Use a cultivator. This is double edged, regular runs over with a cultivator in hot weather will totally eradicate grass. It may though spread some roots of nasty weeds like mallow, so you need to deal with persistent perennial weeds in some way first. (weed killer or sheeting or dig 'em root and all)
3) Combine the above, sheeting, cultivator followed by sheeting. Remove it 12 months later, no weeds.
4) When you come to plant again, using weed suppressing membrane, you lay it out, cut slits in it and plant in the slits. It lets water through and you can disguise it with a bark mulch.
It will give you a fresh start.
That is interesting Edd, it reminded me I should have mentioned in my previous post what to do about existing seeds in the soil. The plastic sheeting can be lifted in the summer to allow a 'flush' of weeds, this allows all the seeds left in the soil to germinate. Just when they think they are winning, back on with the black plastic sheet.
I think my brambles must be a lot more vigorous than yours, Charlie. Chopping them back seems to make them grow stronger! Like pruning a rose.