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Hiya! I'm new to the forum and wondered if anyone can offer some advice on weed removal? Just moved into a new build house with a large garden that's currently an empty plot covered in weeds, though it does have some lovely wild flowers growing in there too like poppies etc! We're planning on landscaping the garden as its on a slope and building retaining walls, then turfing some, planting some, and building a nature corner which we'll leave wild and overgrown and let the wild flowers run riot!
The problem is, we need to get rid of the weeds before the landscaping can take place, as the ground is completely buried at the moment. I've dug up as many of the wild flowers as I can and planted them where they'll be safe, but I'm not sure what to do to get rid of the rest of the weeds?
It's a rather large garden so digging them all up just isn't practical, but I hear weed killer is nasty on wildlife so i'm not sure what to do? Any advice would be gratefully appreciated! :)
Laura
Sometimes in my opinion have to compromise and use roundup,otherwise use a big agricultural black plastic sheet that farmers use on silage clamps,all agricultural merchants would stock them but you may have to leave the weeds covered for a long time.Know i will be lambasted for saying this but do not believe weed killer harms much wildlife.Best of luck whatever you do but if you use roundup do not worry if the weeds take a long time to die as in general the slower a weed dies the better the likelihood it is completely killed.
I too moved into a new house and my 'garden'was covered with weeds,couch grass,horsetail etc. I dug out a lot but the ground was as hard as concrete!
In the end I did use a weedkiller over a large area.I only used it once and that got rid of practically everything.
My garden is now a haven for wildlife-frogs,toads,newts,hedgehogs and of course birds.
Sometimes you have to compromise but the end result should be worth it!
It's not always easy to hug a hedgehog.
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't.
madpenguin said: What is the time scale??? I set a run of Chickens on the strip I needed to clear and moved it about as they cleared the plots- I used a boxrun with overhead housing borrowed from chicken keepers at local allotments. I clear smaller strips by setting the grandkids guinea pig run over weedy bits and get the plus of compost acelerator as I clear the hutch. Hard weeds are a problem but using weedkiller also has a time scale for re-using the land.
What is the time scale???
I set a run of Chickens on the strip I needed to clear and moved it about as they cleared the plots- I used a boxrun with overhead housing borrowed from chicken keepers at local allotments.
I clear smaller strips by setting the grandkids guinea pig run over weedy bits and get the plus of compost acelerator as I clear the hutch.
Hard weeds are a problem but using weedkiller also has a time scale for re-using the land.
Hello Laura and welcome.
I must admit that I only use a fork and trowel for weeding but have a small garden - I'd probably feel very differently if faced with a large weed-strewn plot. There are now many weedkillers which claim to be wildlife-friendly and lots of the nastier products have been withdrawn. Always follow the instructions though and perhaps treat a bit of ground at a time and cover this for a while as suggested. It sounds as though you plan to create a real wildlife haven - I feel quite envious as I'd love to be able to do more.
This is the link to our Homes for Wildlife project
http://www.rspb.org.uk/hfw/about/index.asp you'll find lots of useful advice here
Good luck
Watch out for swifts
Thanks for all the lovely helpful advice! I decided to have a go at some weeding with a trowel and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting! Think the recent rain has helped loosen the soil up a bit. Managed to do about 1/4 of the garden in about 3 hours, so a few more afternoons and i'll be done! :D I daresay some of the weeds will reappear again in the future as some roots broke in the soil, but i'll have to be good and keep on top of it with regular weeding! :)
I found no less than 8 ladybirds while I was weeding, so the aphids on my teasel better watch out! :D
Hand-weeding is quite therapeutic and you do get to see all sorts of 'up close' wildlife! I have been known to use a glyphosate based weedkiller, which is very effective (kills weeds down to the roots) but doesn't go into the soil or poison wildlife. And as said above, the end result should be worth a little destuctive action in the meantime!
Make the boy interested in natural history if you can; it is better than games [Robert Falcon Scott]
There are some weeds where hand weeding just does not cut the mustard, bindweed for example. I am very particular about what chemicals I use in the garden, I’ve invited the wildlife in so it would be hypercritical to harm them.
I use a systemic weed killer in a hand sprayer, and only target the few weeds which cannot be hand weeded. There are many weed killers on the market, I choose the ones where you can replant immediately, I avoid the types which say don’t replant for 14 days, this seems to suggest they have damaged the soil.
I agree with Cartimandua, hand weeding can be very therapeutic if you have the time. The key to weeding is to get the weeds before they set seed.
Build it and they will come.
another tip for weeding is to get one of the long hand tools for removing dandelion from lawns - they go right down the tap root so you can remove it all. also if you have to resort to glyphosate then spray the foliate and wrap a plastic bag round it.
Izzy