Little Weed

[thebigegg]

Hello anyone who can help. Was advised to post on this site by a friend who had received some Stella advice here so here I am. Not been gardening for that long really so as you can imagine make all the usual mistakes of the novice, but with a bit of patience and effort usually manage to get there in the end. I have a garden that to be honest is a bit big for me and therein lies the problem my garden is in two halves split by a small culvert, crossed by a wooden bridge. One half looks great but the other largely due to neglect looks not so great. You can’t see the soil for the weeds. On that side also there’s a huge cracked willow and I mean huge, it has three trunks and roots show through my weed patch in places, making rotovation a none option. I do mow the weeds just to make the area look tidy but I know this is probably making the weed problem worse. My wife would like a wild flower type meadow over that side but I have to get rid of the weeds first, my neighbour said poison the weeds (not the environmentally friendly option) add a few ton of topsoil and start from scratch... Help!

[Paul mabbott]

"Weeds" are many different things so you'll need to describe them - if they're deep-rooted perennial weeds then you'll need to get rid of them before you can grow anything - but the willow seems a far bigger problem. Yes, they have very extensive roots and you won't be able to grow anything near it. Can you explain why you have a willow tree growing on a gardening plot?

By and large, it's better to leave any ground that you don't want to crop fallow - that is, leave the weeds to grow but just keep them trimmed low a couple of times a year.

There is no real reason to use herbicides if you are fairly fit and committed!

If you decide on a 'wild' (natural?) area then there are other threads on this forum or let us know!


Good luck!

Originally Posted by thebigegg

Hello anyone who can help. Was advised to post on this site by a friend who had received some Stella advice here so here I am. Not been gardening for that long really so as you can imagine make all the usual mistakes of the novice, but with a bit of patience and effort usually manage to get there in the end. I have a garden that to be honest is a bit big for me and therein lies the problem my garden is in two halves split by a small culvert, crossed by a wooden bridge. One half looks great but the other largely due to neglect looks not so great. You can’t see the soil for the weeds. On that side also there’s a huge cracked willow and I mean huge, it has three trunks and roots show through my weed patch in places, making rotovation a none option. I do mow the weeds just to make the area look tidy but I know this is probably making the weed problem worse. My wife would like a wild flower type meadow over that side but I have to get rid of the weeds first, my neighbour said poison the weeds (not the environmentally friendly option) add a few ton of topsoil and start from scratch... Help!

[thunder]

If you take off the mowings each time you mow the weeds you should gradually reduce the soil fertilty and get more 'interesting' weeds

henrya

[JennyS]

Whats the difference between a 'weed' and a 'wildflower' - I've never been clear on that one?

[solus]

No difference a "weed" is just a flower growing in the wrong place.

[Bramble]

^^ The wrongly placed specimens in my garden are shifted into a corner of their own. It's like a detention centre for weeds

[Hobjob]

Originally Posted by JennyS

Whats the difference between a 'weed' and a 'wildflower' - I've never been clear on that one?

Well little weed was the girlfriend of Bill and Ben


(Showing age)

[wildflower]

I would just do a hard days labour and remove the weeds and rake it over and restart i created a large wild flower patch on my old veg plot as i was fed up of weeding between the vegetables..I placed a small pond in the centre and planted grasses and ox eye daisys and in the late aug/sep i also planted some foxgloves and lupins..Then in the early march i planted some wild flower seeds from suffolk herbs as i found the ones you get from supermarkets dont have so much variety in the packets..i planted three different kinds..bees/butterflys/and cornfield...in the first year it was very colourfull and this is year 2 and you can hardly put a pin between the plants and they just keep on coming up..The worst weed i get is chickweed and i try to remove as much of that as i can in the early spring..but its all so closely planted the weeds cant take hold..Some weeds as people call them are very attractive and i keep the ones i like..

year 2....

[BeowulfIII]

lovely garden, in the spring of year 2, how much replanting of dead flowers did you need to do or did they all just come up by themselves?

[wildflower]

They have all come back themselves i left the seed heads on and they scattered themselves..I have hardly touched it to be honest except grab some chickweed out of it in february..they are still coming through i still have the loosestrifes,marshmallow.willowherbs,and a few other bits and bobs to flower.. if i was staying here i would thin it out a bit but i shall be moving next spring so i have just left it to self seed and spread..its a bit dense in places..
i have wildflowers in all my borders mixed in with herbs..i wont be doing that again as i have to walk through wildflowers to get at my herbs so i shall seperate them in my next garden..
I suppose the birds have eaten some of the seeds as last year i had a lot of field poppys and they havnt come back its just so dense i reckon only the strong are pushing their way through..