How do you cope with a larger garden?

Is there a process that I've not yet discovered which would enable me to keep on top of things? I've tried concentrating on one area at a time, but whilst my back is turned, the rest of the garden becomes choked with weeds (mostly brambles, nettles and ivy). This year I've tried to spread myself out meaning that no one area of the garden looks particularly nice and bare patches are visable instead of 4' high groups of nettles and such.

Should I be doing something more over the winter months to help manage the overwhelming arrival of garden chaos in spring? Unfortunately the land outside of my garden is wild and unmanaged... this is where the brambles and ivy creeps in from. Recently I popped weed killer on some nettles covering an area of about 30'... the nettles died, but digging up the miles of roots was back-breaking. Now that part of the garden just looks a mess!



Half way through clearing



And how it looks now with the weeds on the other side of the boundery. Lol... now what!!!



My previous gardens have always been such a pleasure to care for... not now though :(

 

Kazzie,
whilst many of us would love to think and dream of being right by a wild area, it has a huge price tag on it.
Many other GC members will identify and empathise with your predicament and I'm sure, will offer encouragement and good advice,
Jenny namaste

 

It took about 10 years of working full time to bring our acre under control and even now we still get huge numbers of weeds from outside and from ones we miss. It can be done, but not in a hurry. Instant gardens are only on TV.
As suggested, decide what you want in the garden and where you want it. We also put 1 metre high shade netting all the way round the boundary and that does slow down the ingress of unwanteds.
http://www.ideasforgardens.net/Berghill-FGT/
Keep a photographic record of what you do, it helps when you feel you have achieved little to look back on what you began with.
http://www.ideasforgardens.net/berghill/CoachTrip/

 

Hi Kazzie. It does seem daunting doesn't it.
I'm also trying to create gardens from fields and woodland so know exactly what you're on about.
I agree with making plans of what you would like first. Start with one area at a time. Don't try and do everything everywhere. You'll just run yourself ragged. When you've decided where to start, clear everything you don't want from there.

Where we are, we started with the field in front of the house, as that is obviously the most used/viewed part.
We cleared the whole area then leveled it. Then Paths, flower beds, trees etc were put it. One path led to nowhere, because we knew there would be steps and another path added later, when we started another section.
Forward thinking will save time later.

I've chosen mostly shrubs and ground cover plants to help stop the weeds and save "gardening time". Choosing mostly low maintenance plants.
We also have paved areas and graveled areas with membrane underneath.
We spray weed killer regularly on all the areas we want clear.
Some areas of our land are just left at the moment. You do get some nice wild flowers and insects that way too.

As far as maintenance goes,
my OH takes the lawn mower (ride on) round all the grassed areas about once or twice a week. I do all the hand weeding and pruning in the beds and rockeries. I just take one part of the garden at a time and work my way around.
Is a bit like the Forth bridge, by the time you finish, you have start at the beginning again. But then all gardens are like that.
Our gardens look o.k for the majority of the time now and are quite easy to look after. I've put some before and after photos here: http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/drive-garden-and-before-after-pics.44557/

As we reclaim more land, we have more to keep tidy, but it hasn't been a problem thus far.

 

Thank you for the suggestions and encouragement. Working through...

Alas, paying someone to help is not really an option at the moment.

My thoughts are to concentrate on the garden which is visable from the house. The entire garden is on a steep hill with several large terraces... the house is at the bottom. Unfortunately, the most visable parts of the garden are the slopes leading down to each terrace... these are difficult to work on (keeping my balance).

There are so many areas that need attention, but the bit I'm working on at the moment is on the same level as the house. This photo shows the garden as I walk out of a back door. You can just make out the incinerator and wheelbarrow in the distance... from the area shown in the above pictures... lol, how small it looks in comparison to the rest of the garden, but it feels large working on it.



The edging on the left is the boundery... you can see how the brambles and weeds are pushing through (I've put weed killer down, but not got to digging them up yet - again, that is a steep slope down to the boundery, but it doesn't look so steep in the photo).

Solid fencing or any type of screen is not an option. Maybe some low hedging could work?

The plans for the bit I'm working on is to continue the lawn there and to possibly add a seating area / pagola at a later date.

Palustris... many thanks for the link to photos of your garden. It is a huge help seeing how others deal with things.

 

Mandy... you have done a wonderful job... what an inspiration (which I need plenty of). Unfortunately I can't use a ride on mower due to the slopes... so do envy you!

 

Wow already!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 

We have slopped areas too. Our place is on a hill. Although we have terraced some of the places we've made into gardens now. I would inquire at a good retailer for a possible mower. When we were looking there was a model that could cope with higher inclines than ours. (Might take a bit of nerve to use it though.)

OH used to mow this field before we got the sheep.



This is an area surrounding the pool. (under construction)
This is after it was leveled a little to make it less of an incline.


What you've already done looks fab. Carry on with the good work.

 

Many thanks again for the replies. I think this kind of brings me back to the first post... how the heck do people cope? The 'small' area I am working on has rhododendrons growing along the bank taking it up to the next level (I think they are wild). The garden has a lot of rhodos here and there and I find these quite high maintenance when put with everything else that needs doing (I go around pinching the heads off after flowering - is this correct or not really needing to be done?). The rhodos near where I'm working are mixed with brambles and weeds too!!!!

Rhodos circled


And looking down on my newly weeded mess showing the rhodos on the bank



Sorry about all the photos... I just find things so hard to explain, hopefully they show how flipping difficult the areas are.

As for rockeries, I have quite a few dotted around the garden... some are doing well and others are an embarrassment!

 

Mandy, maybe sheep are the answer! I had a guy come round from a mower shop to assess whether a ride on could be used... he said it would be too dangerous. It's hard to show how steep it is in areas:

 

I think you're being really hard on yourself Kazzie.
As for the rhododendrons, yes you can dead head them, but it's not essential.
In the Ferndown area of Dorset there are lots of people with huge hedges of them. (some wild) I don't think they would bother to remove all the dead flowers.

 

You're doing a great job. Even with much less land I usually find at this time of year that I've lost the war against the weeds. Each year gets a bit better though. I think my mistake was to try to create too many beds at once without enough to fill them.

 

Crossed posts.
I think if the slopes are too steep your best bet is to re-make the slopes at a better incline or terrace as many as possible. Heavy work but it would be better in the long run.