How best to clear an overgrown area
PollyR
Posts: 64
Evening all!
I was wondering if anyone has any brilliant ideas on how to clear an area at the bottom of my garden. It is basically no-mans-land between the gardens and a church yard, and has been overgrown forever I guess.
Other houses in the row have adopted the piece of land behind their house and I would like do do the same, mainly because it's full of brambles and bindweed and I spend all summer fighting it back. It would be nice to still have as an area for wildlife, or even to grow some veggies - although that seems a bit of a task at the moment!
Any ideas on how best to clear the brambles and bindweed? Is it just a case of getting in there and chopping it all back and when would be the best time to do it?
Here is a pic of the task!
Thanks for any ideas!
P
Posts
Hi Pansyface,
Yes, this is a dilemma. I would not like to destroy habitat but the brambles and bindweed especially are really invasive so I'm not sure what else to do to hold them back....
Plus it would be great to have more wild flowers in the area for bees etc. Nothing else can really survive at the moment as it just gets smothered.
Last edited: 15 November 2016 22:31:58
Buy or borrow a decent strimmer and work your way in and through it systematically. Remove what you cut off and take it to the dump or burn it. You are unlikely to get it all done in one go so any critters will have time to move on and shelter elsewhere.
Try and get it done over the next couple of months while everything is dormant and then you can start forking it over to remove roots. In spring you can zap any unwanted new growth with a glyphosate based weedkiller if you don't mind chemicals or you can just keep strimming and forking and hoeing till all the bad stuff is gone and you have your garden extension ready for planting.
Hi Tetley,
Yes, I was wondering whether now or early spring was the best time to tackle it - certainly before the plants start growing again, that's for sure! Hopefully if I am careful I can create space that the wildlife and humans can be happy with.
Well, by hand or strimmer, cut the vegetation down now to about 12 inches and then get in there with fork, spade and pick and get the bramble roots out, turning the soil and removing as much bindweed as you can. In spring the bits you missed will start to shoot and you can have another go. It's really warming work on a cold winter day and you will also glow with your sense of accomplishment. You won't kill the bindweed so you will be able to start another debate about weedkillers, next year....
This is the ideal time to clear the area as growth will be at a minimum and you will be able to down into the area as the leaves fall. Just take your time and ideally do it by hand. I understand why many people are against using strimmers / brushcutters but there are times when there is little option. Particularly if it's a very large area.
I would do it by hand as well but if you do use a strimmer or hedge cutter, use it a foot or so off the ground. That way you will not decimate any creatures. In both cases you need to watch what's under your feet. Once it is down to a foot high it will be time to get the spade or fork out and start digging. Good luck.
when you say adopted, do you mean legally adopted, or just put a gate in the fence and took it over without actually telling the land owner?
because just taking the land because it looks run down is kind of illegal and prosecutable, as its land theft.
Absolutely use the strimmer AT 12"/30cms above the ground. Apart from being kinder to wildlife it leaves yo something to grab hold of when forking over.
There is, I believe, a rule in English civil law about unused or unclaimed land being cultivated or cleaned up. After 20 years, it becomes the property of the person who has taken on its management.
Happened in the 80s to a plot of wild ground between our 60's house built on a former orchard and a 30 development built on former farmland but leaving a large area at the back to go wild. Time came when the owners wanted to build more houses and couldn't because so many people in the 30s houses had made wee allotments or play areas behind their gardens and acquired ownership thru usage.
I don't want to take over the land, put a gate on it or own it, I just want to do something to stop it encroaching on my own and my neighbours' garden and hopefully make it a bit nicer to look at and friendlier to wildlife. It belongs to a school I believe and they have been spoken to about clearing it by others in the street, but to no avail.
I imagine if they did do the job they would just turn up heavy handed with strimmers and mowers and raze it to the ground. Not the ideal scenario. Surely I couldn't get prosecuted for clearing some weeds?
Last edited: 16 November 2016 14:25:21