Argh, buttercups!

Hello,

My hubby and I have just bought our first house, which has a nicely sized rear garden with mature plants and a few which pop up and surprise us every now and then.

We seem to have quite an abundance of creeping buttercups (which I thought were plants until my mum told me otherwise!).

I've been digging up the odd one by the root when I see them, however we have quite a large thick patch of them in a couple of areas and I'm at a loss as to how to tackle them quickly and easily?!

One patch is right next to our boundary fence so i don't want to use weed killer if I don't have to as the neighbours have pets are nearby.

Help!

Natalie

 

Hi Natalie,

You're Mum's wrong, Buttercups are plants.

 

ziggy play nicely she doesnt know your humour yet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranunculus

some say use weed killer but me i dig them out the roots are like tenticles though so can be fun, good luck

 

Grow a lillte meadow and then just cut in August

Spruce

 

Haha, yes they are plants but they're ones that take over your whole garden aren't they?

Funny enough what I want to plant in their place are some orange ranunculus bulbs - had no idea they were the same family.

I tried to dig them out with a weed knife. We're lacking garden tools with it being our first house. Maybe if I went and bought a fork would that get them out easier? It's clay like soil with stones in it so a bit of a hard area to dig through.

Does it matter if I don't get all the root out? How do they spread?

Natalie

 

I wouldn't mind keeping a few spruce as they're native and eventually have a nice yellow flower don't they?

But then again I'm worried that if I leave them then they'll end up out of control. I'm too much of a novice to deal with anymore than we have popping up.

X

 

i lift mine with fork, get as much of the root as you can and if you really want to keep some plant in container

 

I try not to use weedkiller on the lawn what I normaly do is feed that area to give the grass more vigour and the grass tends to swamp the weeds out then with regular cutting they soon dissapear with my lawn, occasionaly (family & friends) are coming round I go around with a old bread knife and slice the leaves & roots off yes I know they may grow back but its a quick fix when needed as a certain memeber of my family likes to find fault he used to work at Kew Gardens !!!.

Lets have some photos we love a photo or two on here

And welcome to GC FORGOT TO SAY

Spruce

 

Your ranunculus are a far superior species so get 'em out while you still have control and moist soil. A nightmare job once the garden drys up a bit. It all helps to burn off calories

 

I'll give you a 2 for 1 deal for my Dandilions!

 

And welcome aboard this happy , mad boat. Hope you are a good sailor!!

 

Get them all out or your garden will look like this:


(not my pic - from http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrismullineux/)

I love seeing them in the field adjoining my veg plots, but they have infiltrated growing areas and just when you think you've cleared them they start sending out runners from the perimeters where they've been lurking.

 

Sorry Natalie, welcome to Gardeners Corner. I started being silly & then had to go out

I'm guessing you're talking about Creeping Buttercup, its not too much of a pain to keep under control, but as the name implies, it spreads by runners, like Strawberries.

If you want to have a Lawn like Scrunge's pic then you'll need Meadow or Bulbous Buttercups and a few Moo Moos.