Beauty and the beast

Hi

I am not a 'new gardener' per se, I have done general gardening most of my adult life, I just don’t know much about it.

For the first 12 years I had always tried to keep my garden tidy which is about 100 yards wide, please see pictures 1& 2,

But over the last 8 years or so I have let my garden go to ruin through circumstances.

I have decided to try and sort it out now but its a lot to do for one person and not knowing how to resolve the problems with it.

My son helped me to cut the worst of it down but he spends a lot of his time out of the UK so I am limited for help.

The problem I have is not knowing why brambles keep growing out of what was the lawn along with the other growing things and how to get rid of it all and back to a decent lawn again. Please see picture 3 & 4.

I would appreciate any advice anyone could give me with how to do this please.

Trish.

 

Hi,

You need to use SBK as below, seems you can use it around grass as they say it does not affect it, have used it ourselves on brambles, very effective.

Hand sprayers now available, but for your large area the concentrate bottle used with a watering can and rose or spray bar seems the better way, one bottle should do ..

Readily available in many shops -

SBK Ready To Use Brushwood Killer 975ml | Wilko

Vitax SBK Brushwood Concentrate Killer 250ml | Wilko

 

Does it contain Glyphosate is that the ingredient that does the job.

 

Hi,

Not that we are aware of, see the manufacturers instructions and data sheet for full details.

 

I see it mentions 'Triclopyr, does not mention Glyphosate which is in the brand I have.

whatever I use it will have to be a large amount.

all I want to do is get rid of everything but the grass, if it ever grows again.

 

Hi,

We tried Gyphosate and other weedkillers on the brambles with little effect.

SBK worked 100% first time, just by watering onto its leaves, no need to soak the soil etc.
Just needs a week or two to be effective and all gone; not come back this year from a spring 2019 treatment.

If Vitax say SBK does not affect grass good, but its always worth testing a patch first to make sure yours is not affected.

Just follow their simple instructions and the brambles should be gone for good

 

I found this:

Glyphosate kills lawn grass, weeds and most other plants. A systemic herbicide that moves through plants, killing them from the roots up, glyphosate breaks down quickly in soil, so it's effective for killing a lawn to lay new turf or re-seed, or to convert the lawn area to an alternative use. Glyphosate also kills perennial lawn weeds, but lawn grass must be protected, or bare patches over-seeded later. Digging weeds out and improving lawn care provides long-term weed control.

The part I don’t understand is this:
it's effective for killing a lawn to lay new turf or re-seed

Why would you kill your lawn to lay another one? for a different kind of lawn?

I would settle for any kind of lawn at the moment!

 

Hi,

Glyphosate readliy kills the soft green plants like grasses, weeds etc, but cannot really tackle strong woody plants like brambles unless many applications are used.

Once its sprayed onto the plant any excess spray or drops that make contact with the soil just become inert, so by the time your weeds or grass have died back the soil is ready to be replanted or reseeded, no Glyposate remains.

Many other weedkiller if they contact the soil, they can stay active for several weeks or months so plant anything into such soil will just kill the new plants or seeds.

 

Hello Trish.
SBK and Glysophate are in effect systemic, meaning, as you already have stated in part. Kill the plant, actually from the top down. Depending how glysophate is applied, yes it will also kill grass. For what it's worth. It is neutralised on contact with the soil. That is why you could treat an area full of weeds and immediately sow fresh stock. Whereas some weedkillers will hopefully do their job but the residue remains in the soil for a while.

 

This is good news for me, I have bought 25 gallons of Glysophate and sprayed it on most of my brambles, only the shear volume stopped me from doing all of it, I am pleased to hear that it will not kill the soil, I had to do something.

I think I am going in the right direction, to kill everything and start again with a new lawn by seeding, does this sound feasible?

 

Hi

Could you help me identify what is in the four pictures below please, I think they might be weeds but I have this habit of cutting down growth which I am told later that they were plants and not weeds, the bottom one looks like cabbages to me.

 

No reply, I assume these are weeds.

 

I would dearly love a new lawn. The one I have is so poor and is more moss and weeds as opposed to grass. It need it completely re done to be any good. Also there are so may types of grass, ie, tough football friendly etc that starting from zero is sometimes the only way to get what you want. Good luck with yours.

 

They look primarily weeds.
Only concern is that you've got 25 gallons of glyphosate!
I trust that you have that in a diluted form.
It does a good job, but it's very unforgiving if any overspray gets on a precious plants foliage.
I'd use it with care weedaway.. (appropriate name!)