Clearing a bramble filled garden

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Watch out for lots of wildlife living in the jungle. Not all of it takes kindly to being disturbed this time of year, especially when there could conceivably be protected species in there.

gardenroute

If you've got a brushcutter, that's probably the best tool for the job. Cut through the brambles, and then cut through them again to reduce them to a manageable size. Use a fork to drag them out.

I can't see the problem with bramble roots - they're shallow rooted and brittle; a mattock or even a spade will knock out a bramble root easily. Fragments will come back but they can be dealt with weedkiller, or dug out.

At least in Sussex, its too dry to sow lawns, etc at the moment, so it might be easiest to clear it, dig out all the large bramble roots and then strim it until the autumn; at least then you;ll see if there is any nice plants/ a lawn 'hiding' under the brambles rather than killing everything with weedkiller. But it is a good time to spray weedkiller if the bindweed is a real problem.

As jojo said watch out for the birds - you don't need to do the whole garden in one go anyway.

Patchwork_Quilt

The best weedkiller for round here is Resolva. It works better on some things if you bruise the leaves before you spray it on.

We're revamping an old garden and I would echo the posters who advised taking the long view. I'm in my third year of five.

The piece of equipment I would really like is a left-handed sickle. Perhaps a machete might do but it means that you can hold and dispose of the weeds with one hand whilst wielding the tool with the other. With things like shears, loppers and even strimmers, you need two hands to operate and it takes much longer to pick up all the rubbish.

Good luck

Sally_A

Agree with gardenroute, use a brush cutter to get as low as possible, use a fork to drag out the cut off bits. Carrying them to the bonfire can be a bit tricky as they have a habit of whipping back and getting stuck in your hair or on your clothes. I bought a piece of tarpaulin about the size of a picnic blanket from some cheapo store in Pontypridd, it has handles on each corner, so you just lay it down, scoop the brambles onto it and take to the bonfire.

Going4TheDream

Have to agree with Dafty Duck - chemicals that kill the roots are the best option, our garden was not touched for nearly 15 years and our garden was full, we tried the friendly digging up method but the roots travel and go on forever..after two years we bit the bullet and sprayed twice in one year, and then once the following... 6 years later they still randomly appear!!!!