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Garden overgrown with weeds

Uncle TUncle T Posts: 2
in Problem solving

My niece and I are trying to resurrect an old garden plot in a home recently purchased. It is now overgrown with weeds that we have cut back and I am a relative novice to gardening. To get to all the roots would be a mighty effort and are wondering if there is a way to "suffocate" the weeds during this year to have good soil for next year. I saw the post regarding cardboard covering but we are considering laying gardening fabric over the area (about 10 plots 6 X 12 feet) which is large, but not as large as I think prior posts. If we use gardening fabric, should we lay topsoil over it then pull up in the fall to not allow new growth of weeds? Much thanks in advance- any help is appreciated!

 

Posts

  • GardenmaidenGardenmaiden Posts: 1,126

    Hi

    I would leave your gardening fabric in place and then just push back your topsoil and cut it where you want to plant, then put the topsoil back in place. I think what you suggest would save you and your niece a lot of hard work in the future and give you an immediate blank canvas to plan out what you want the garden to look like. Good luck!

  • GemmaJFGemmaJF Posts: 2,286

    I started to renovate my garden after a six year break last year. I covered it over to exclude light.

    In the first year after removing the covers I had to keep on top of the weeding. Particularly things like mallows and thistles that were deep rooted had survived the light being excluded and they really needed all the roots dug out. I've won it back now without too much effort thanks to using sheeting. image

  • Uncle TUncle T Posts: 2

    Thanks for all the guidance!  Let the battle begin...

  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,052

    That's the spirit Uncle T

     

    Devon.
  • LeifUKLeifUK Posts: 573

    I would be tempted to allow regrowth then glyphosate. The extra strong stuff on ebay, Rosate 360, is good value. That is what I did with a 15m by 4m area. Some weeds such as field bindweed and bramble come back, but continual cutting will exhaust them. Even tough I dug out most bramble, and lots of bindweed, it came back for three years, and some is still appearing, but it is now very weak. Alternatively when perennials grow back, cover them with pots, then after a month, snip the growth. 

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