Weeds
Darren oxo
Posts: 1
Hi all i am new to the group also to the world of gardening after living in a flat for last 4 years
Ok the place i moved to had a small garden and to be honest its full of weeds with a few plants in there which are not really any good
i like to get rid if the weeds and maybe best to start all over again with it put new plants in i guess as i think there is only a small rose bush in there
what is the best way forward to deal with this use a weed killer ? etc
as i wont to enjoy it when the spring/summer returns
many thanks
Darren
0
Posts
Hi Darren and welcome! I think the best thing to do by far is treat it as a clean sheet and dig it all over, removing every piece of root you see. Modern weedkillers only work when the plants are in full growth, so spraying now would be virtually useless - all of the perennial weeds have already gone dormant.
Rather than tackling the whole thing in one go, I'd do it in sections but doing each section well. That way you'll see results as you progress which is important to keep you motivated - it's all too easy to take on too much as most of experienced gardeners know only too well from their early days!
If you do it before the hard frosts set in, those will help to break up any big lumps of soil which you can leave on the top after digging it over. When spring comes, fork-in as much compost or well-rotted (it's important it is well rotted with no straw or soggy stuff) manure as you can lay yours hand on. General purpose multi-purpose compost is fine if you can't easily get farmyard manure or spent mushroom compost etc.
By doing it this way any plants or shrubs you plant will get off the a great start and have enough food for several years.
Is any of it lawn? Or paving stones? It would be a good idea to do a little sketch with some idea of the height of plants that you want in various places so that you can check against this plan when you are buying plants. You could also drop some heavy hints about gardening type christmas presents to your relatives
In only my own way, pulling them up and getting rid of the roots is the best way and cheapest and in the end best. once on top of the problem and kept in check ,no problem .