From Jungle to Garden - A (very slow) work in progress!!

jo1972 · 4 May 2009 at 12:25PM

Hi all

MrsBartolozzi pointed me to a couple of threads on this board as I am determined to have a decent garden this year. I've got a big garden and feel embarrassed to say that I've had it for 17 years and never done anything with it apart from cut it down. And when I say, cut it down, I mean cut it down!! This happens once a year, it grows and the next year or the one after it happens all over again! (Please don't shoot me down in flames

)

My eldest DD is 17 and wouldn't be bothered about having a decent garden, except to sunbathe in :rolleyes: but I have 2 younger kids DS who's 6 and DD2 who's 3 who would love it. OH has no interest in gardening and don't think there is much point at the moment trying to enlist his help. We live in quite a small place considering there are 5 of us and I reckon the garden is probably more than half the size of footprint of the house so as you can imagine, when the 2 smaller kids are either playing loudly, or kicking off, it would be great to have a haven that I could send them to or I could escape to :rotfl:

Now, the garden at the moment is Jungle material, I shall take a photo a bit later for you (then will definately be flamed!). I am hoping it is not as bad as it looks, but will explain later about the tarpauline that covers the garden that actually went from ground level to 4ft high over the last year later

. I live in an upstairs masionette, downstair's garden leads directly from their back door into their garden but mine is behind theirs with no direct access from the house, there is a path leading past their garden into mine, BUT mine is huge compared to theirs

There is no way on earth that I will be able to afford to get someone to cut down and remove and actually do something to the whole of the garden this year. I've paid £500 every couple of years for someone just to cut it down and take it away. But I am hoping that I will find a gardener that will be able to chop it down, get rid, tarpauline half of it and make the other half usable, some for planting and some for the kids to use. The other half will be a work in progress over the next year with a view to having a whole garden to use next year!

My DS (the 6 year old) has expressed a real interest in gardening, mainly because it's dirty and also because he loves watching Marco Pierre White and Masterchef and wants to grow his own food! So I am hoping to get some pots in the meantime whilst the garden is progressing so that he can grow me some herbs and simple veggies to cook with.

Any advice along the way will be appreciated. Posting my pictures later on will be a huge huge embarrassment, but I feel I need to do this to enable me to get my bum into gear. I need the extra room!!!

Any advice (and support!!) would be fantastic as I'm not green fingered, but I think this is because the task is so huge and at the moment not at all manageable plus I have no garden tools whatsoever, also not a clue in how to start!

So here I am, eager and willing to learn

Jo.x

RAS · 4 May 2009 at 1:02PM

Welcome

We do not do flames on this forum, the only things that get barbequed are the home grown produce.

Given the amount of stuff you are generating I have some good news for you. If your garden grows 4 foot a year, you have very fertile soil which will grow great veggies etc.

Rather than paying anyone to cut it down and take it away, what you need is a compost bin or two, to turn all that lovely vegetable matter into more lovely soil conditioner. Best in the shadiest corner. your six year old can help by weeing on it at intervals.

However, do learn about perennial weeds before you start making compost. Avoid adding thistle, bind weed and couch grass roots to the compost.

If you can get hold of three old pallets, you can rig up a bin at no cost.

The tarp is a good idea, but even better, try and find old plastic sheets that you can cut OR large cardboard boxes. If you get the cardboard, lay it on the ground, then add the grass etc that you have cut from the other half on top. Then you can plant things through slits made in the cardboard and they will grow and cover up the cardboard whilst the weeds are slowly composted underneath it.

olly300 · 4 May 2009 at 1:21PM

Have a look at this site:
http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/weeds.htm

To help you identify your weeds.

As RAS you should avoid composting any that are perennial.

jo1972 · 4 May 2009 at 2:15PM

Okay, I've been out to the Jungle and taken pictures :eek: I think it looks worse than it is :rolleyes:

As you can see in my first picture, there is tarpauline stuff on the ground, when you stand on this you can feel that the ground is hard underneath, so I'm hoping that the brambles have just come from a small secluded spot and spread :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

In the second picture you can see my 4ft high tarpauline (the light green bit) which I'm presuming the brambles are growing quite happily underneath and pushing it up :eek: the brambles in the forefront of the picture are dry and dead, so I'm hoping this is a good thing

The third picture is from my back window up stairs, it's the full picture, dreadful isn't it? I'm surprised the neighbours haven't started complaining!

Thanks to RAS and Olly for the advice so far, seems I've got a lot of gen'ing up to do :rotfl:

Comments and flamings (BBQ'd or not!) are welcomed

xx

jo1972 · 4 May 2009 at 2:22PM

Whilst saving my photos I found some photos that I took of the garden the last time I had it chopped down, complete with original tarpauline that is growing out there now!! This is where I'm hoping to be in a few weeks......

Apparently the ground is full of clay, don't know what that means in a gardening capacity. I'm thinking I might pave some of it (only half will be done this year remember) and will have lots of pot type things.

choille · 4 May 2009 at 2:34PM

I'd start on the brambles. Get some very heavy duty gloves - I use welding gauntlets - and a gardening fork. If you can dig out the knuckle root & pull the plant from the ground - great. It's easier when it's been wet & the ground is soft. Stack them somewhere for a few weeks. They'll dry out & you can burn them, but don't do it next to anything flammable like a fence! And best to do it when it's not windy or neighbours have their washing out.
If it all seems a bit overwhelming, I'd put up 4 canes marking out a metre/ yard square & concentrate on clearing a square at a time.
Some councils sell cheap compost bins. Anything green & soft, preferrably without seeds on, put in there to rot down. You can put seeded things in, but until you get into composting & can get it to create heat - then they'll seed - creating problems when you use it on the garden.

Good for you - I hope hubby will lend a hand.

Lotus-eater · 4 May 2009 at 3:23PM

First the good news, you have an absolutely perfect vegetable and fruit garden there, absolutely perfect, well apart from the trees next to one side of it, but you can deal with that.
It's sheltered, should get good sun and shade, isn't too big, lovely!

I'm very interested in what those concrete and brick things are in the bottom pictures, they look almost like some sort of ready made bends.

You need to clear it, you need to manure it and then you need to plant in it.
Set up the compost bins next to the trees, they will take moisture and goodness away from any crops you plant next to them. Put anything not growing there as well.

Work out which way is South (let us know) and think about what fruit you want to plant, it takes time to establish, so get it in as soon as you can.
If you do soft fruit now, you can pick some next year.

Other than that, take it slow, bit by bit as choille says.

Bad news, it's going to be really tough to take out the brambles. Think about just doing a bit then planting that bit up. You are going to be looking at mainly starting planting in earnest next year tbh, aim for that.

£500 a year is an awful lot to spend on clearing a garden. If you spent £300 on plants, tools, compost bins and seeds, you could have a totally full and productive garden.

jo1972 · 4 May 2009 at 3:29PM

Choille and Lotus-eater, thanks for your responses.

I don't intend on doing it myself, it's not a cop out, I work full time and have 3 kids plus am decorating indoors at the moment so will be getting someone in to do it. Problem is finding someone that will actually do the job properly rather than the cowboys I've had in the past that say they've rotivated it and soaked it in heavy duty weed killer only to have the tarpauline grow within weeks!

Great idea about starting small and expanding, once it's cut down it will seem more manageable straight away as you can see from the before and after photos above. If my back is to the house and I'm facing my garden I am facing North, as the garden is a whole other garden away from the house the whole garden pretty much gets the sun.

I am a very impatient person, but realise that I won't probably get anything edible or pretty out of the garden till next year that's why I thought I'd get some pots and get DS out there and start planting now to keep the momentum up!

harib0uk · 4 May 2009 at 3:34PM

I think you have a great little spot with good potential there.

Looking at the second picture in post #5 it seems you have some path ways and some areas that would be ideal for raised beds.

I would be inclined to clear along side the paths first so you have good access, then look at the area in second picture (post 5) where the wheel barrow is... that would be great for raised beds for veg/fruit growing.

Rather than paying someone £500 to just chop it down get your self some tools and tackle a little bit at a time.

Is it all just brambles or are there nettles and other weeds in there too? Might be an idea to chop them down to 6" above the ground so you can see what's what, then tackle the issue by digging then up. Choose a corner create your compost pile and just bung everything there for the time being until you can get something more permanent in terms of composting.

I'm trying to work out from the pictures how the garden is set out.. As it would be nice to have a grassed area for the kids to play on.. Looks like you have some nice wide boarders between fences and paths, for flowers and shrubs and fruit and veg.

Do you know what direction the garden is facing? North or south?

Edit just seen the other replies and yours while posting - tbh I don't think you will get anyone to do a proper job for £500 You really would be better doing it your self a bit at a time. Also if heavy duty weed killer has been used on the ground.. I don't think it's a good idea to grow veg and fruit in it for a few years!

jo1972 · 4 May 2009 at 3:41PM

harib0uk, the garden is north facing.

You can get an idea of the main set up of the garden by looking at my downstairs neighbours bit of the garden that is in this picture below. My pathway is in the same place and runs right from hers to the end of my garden. Over where the wheelbarrow is there is sort of concrete strips which are full of dirt (and brambles!) which I think would be perfect for my DS's herbs (?) but I think they look awful, probably look better when it's organised and stuff that should be growing is growing and looking nice.

ETA: I don't think any heavy duty weed killer was used at all. Yes they worked hard and cut it down and got rid of it, but there was no evidence of anything other than a machete and a couple of forks and wheelbarrow taken into the garden....I know cos my neighbour was keeping an eye :cool: they were happy to take the £500 and drink my beer :beer:

jo1972 · 4 May 2009 at 3:44PM

Just looked again at the picture above and you can't really see her pathway as she dug it up recently! It's where the white chair is.

From Jungle to Garden - A (very slow) work in progress!!

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