Evil Weeds
SirKatherine
Posts: 2
Hello. I'd appreciate any help you could provide as I am a novice gardener and as such, I apologise if this comes across as primitive and I'm sure it's going to be a long post with lots of pictures.
I've just got the keys to this new flat. This is what the garden looks like. I've given it a dose of Roundup Xtra-strength (concentrated liquid that one must dilute) and this is what it looks like 3 days later... pretty much untouched!
I've been trying to identify the weeds and apart from stinging nettles and dandelions, I'm not sure what the rest of this nightmare is. I'm starting to get really frightened as I think some of this might be bindweed and Japanese knotweed which I have read can take years to resolve! Also there is a rather strange woody twiggy thing growing towards the back, on the left of the pole which can be seen in pics 1 and 3. What on earth is it? I have included pictures for you all to laugh at me with.
I have no idea what to do as I need to sort the garden out fairly quickly for rental purposes. When I'd viewed the property originally, it wasn't anywhere near this terrible! The plan at that time was to lay down weedproof ground cover and astroturf (or similar) to make it easy for tenants to maintain and pet/child friendly etc, but I'm worried these evil plants might take over and come up through like something from a horror film.
Can the weeds be tackled by myself or do I need to call in professionals?
Please help! What are these weeds and what should I do?
Many Thanks,
Katherine
Posts
I'm pretty sure that's knotweed, yes. So oh dear.
You've also got some bindweed and lots of nettles. Plus some creeping buttercup and brambles. These are a pain, but not SO difficult to deal with, especially in such a small space - elbow grease is the main weapon. However, the knotweed...
The strange woody twiggy thing is possibly the only non-weed
. Some kind of shrubby thing, not sure what.
If you've just bought the flat and you've got Japanese Knotweed then the vendor is legally bound to have told you about it on form TA6. If they haven't and they knew about it then they are guilty of misrepresentation and you could claim against them. You could enquire of your solicitor or you could try trading standards or the local council for help and advice. You should win any claim against them; if as you say it didn't look this bad, then they must have done something to it to make it look better!
There are numerous threads about ways to eradicate knotweed on this forum - type Japanese Knotweed into the search box. I got the above legal information from a recent thread, it's on the second 'search' page, at the bottom: "Japanese knotweed on a neighbour's property " 3.10.2015, but there is also information about how to deal with it and lots of advice from forum members included. I'm sure more will follow my post. Welcome to the forum and Good luck!
If you want to rent out the flat ASAP it might be best to employ professionals as they have an obligation to get rid of the stuff. Knotweed will come through anything you can put down.