Taming the beast

Hi everyone, I have been battling fairly unsuccessfully with my garden for about a year now and as I finally have some free time to devote to it and I am utterly clueless I thought I would ask some advice. So here goes;

I inherited a totally unloved overgrown garden (the lawns were a meter high when we moved in) with apparently very good soil (at least the weeds seem to thrive). There are two patches of green surrounding my house, at the back there is a small patch of lawn surrounded by about half a meter of border and there is a large raised planter that’s about 5 meteres long, 2.5 meters wide and half a meter deep, and the planter is totally infested with bind weed. The back garden is quite shaded as it faces south and is surrounded by houses. And at the front there is about 5 square meters of dandelion riddled lawn surrounded by about a foot of bordering soil interspersed with tatty rose bushes. Also at the front is another large (7m X 2m) raised bed chock full of weeds (again mainly dandelions). As there is nothing that I really like in the front planter and it is so riddled with weeds I am tempted to drown it in weed killer, put down a weed membrane and start again, is this a bad idea? This garden gets sun almost all day by the way.

I spent a lot of last year weeding and didn’t manage to make much of an impact on either garden, but I did manage to tame them some what and at least get the lawns respectable.

From what I have read it sounds like I have a real problem on my hands with the bind weed, as you can see from the photos it has swamped EVERYTHING in the back garden, grown up the trellises, the shed and all of my other plants. I have read that a good glyphosphate weed killer should do the job but that I will have to nuke the whole area with it to get results and kill the root. There are also some lovely tulip bulbs somewhere in the back soil that surprised me last year, would the glyphosphate kill those?

I am interested in growing seasonal produce, I would love to grow raspberries or some other fruit and veg and I would love to have a herb garden. I also want to get the front gardens looking decorative or at least presentable as it faces out onto the street.
As for my own ideas of what plants to have, the only concrete idea I have had so far is that I would like to have Aubrisha (probably spelt incorrectly) trailing down the walls of both of the raised flower beds.

I know that September isn’t the best time to start your gardening endeavours but got to start some time!

So any advice you could give me about the bindweed, what produce I can grow, what plants might be viable and basically where to start would be greatly appreciated. I realise I have provided scant information so I please ask if there is anything vital I have left out.

I have included a few pictures so you can get an idea what I am dealing with.
Thanks in advance!

 

By the way, the two photos with the car in are the front garden.
Thanks!

 

Hi Dandelioned-excellent name there.

If you don`t want anything that is is that planter then glyphosate it all. You`ll need Pro Gards advice on how much and the correct procedure for it-he`s a gem for this sort of stuff.

I put membrane down myself, and then spent two days pulling it all back up because it is useless, also the soil underneath it was compacted I presume because of the membrane as it never was before.

The front looks okay for the time being, but you could dig out some beds and put in some bulbs for next year and that would brighten everything up.

I would use salt on the dandelions-everything else is too much like hard work and seriously dangerous to the surrounding grass, but I am no lawn fan, and I would dig over and devote the whole thing to roses and peonies if I had my way LOL.

The roses, if clean-ie no blackspot, then I would leave them til November and hard prune them right back and get some good thick growth on them next yr.

Don`t be too hard on yourself, your gardens look quite reasonable to me-especially given the state they were in when you started.

Good Luck and keep us all posted.

 

To get control of the bindweed will take a while, spray NOW with roundup and again at fortnightly intervals untill the weather starts to get really cold.

The best aproach is then to fork the beds over binning all bindweed roots, come spring you can either leave the beds fallow and spray any missed bindweed or simply fork it up as it apears. You will never totally eradicate it as it will undoubtedly be in the next door garden but you can keep it to a controlled minimum.

As for the tulips, they wont be shooting yet and you should find them when you fork it but if not then just buy some replacements.

 

Thanks for all the advice guys :thumb:, Any advice on what would be good to plant where?

 

Well good for you Dandelioned by taking the bull by the horns and wanting to get well and truly started in your gardens.

I'm a great believer in digging things out at least that way you will be able to find those tulips bulbs you so like, I did the same when we first moved in here there was not much to save but what I wanted to save got saved most of which were just the bulbs.

One idea would be to think what kind of style of garden you best like ie. ferns etc. would grow well in you back shady garden, varigated ivy would look nice growing along that fence and would eventually hide it all giving your garden a very enchanting woodland feeling when you sit out in it in summer. Shade loving spring bulbs will brighten up a misty morning too here's a link below of some to peruse at.
http://www.theplantexpert.com/springbulbs/Shade.html

Just one word of warning some of the bulbs are a nightmare to get rid of if you change your mind in future I'm still failing in my battle to be rid of the Lily of The Valley but then again their scent is worth putting up with so I think I'll surrender!:D

For your front garden how about getting rid of your lawn completely, putting down some weed membrane, gravel and having ornamental grasses instead to give you a tropical feel instead of a messy and boring lawn? Most of the grasses will keep their colour all year long and it will give your neighbours something to envy too or maybe you would like to keep a little lawn? If thats the case the grasses will work okay too here's an idea below.
http://www.potandgrass.co.uk/planting_guide.htm

Best of luck.:thmb:.Hel.xxx.

 

Hi Again, Dandelioned,

How about a hornbeam hedge at the front end of the front lawn-gives privacy without loosing too much light.