OMG, it's a jungle!!

linzibean

We looked at a house yesterday we're going to be renting soon, and the "garden" is in fact a jungle! We want to sort it out and have a vegetable plot, a small lawn, a greenhouse and a little seating area. At the moment it is a huge pile of brambles, thistles and goodness knows what else! Does anyone have any non-weedkiller heavy ideas for clearing the space, other than going in with a machete??

Plum_Pie

I bought somewhere in the spring with a wild scruffy garden and cleared with shears. I found a few nice little plants under the weeds and it relieved a lot of stress I was experiencing at the time! How big is the garden? Have you made a plan?

tanith

You could Hire a heavy duty strimmer and cut down the worst of it, you will be surprised at what you find as a neglected lawn can look like a jungle if left for too long... you could ask the owner for a reduction in first months rent if you agree to clear the garden for him.....worth asking anyway

linzibean

It is approximately 20 x 30m, so not too big, though there is a front garden too about 2/3 of the size of the back, as well as a driveway to the side. We have made a bit of a plan - we're going to try and terrace the left hand side out into two tiers of vegetable plots with two plots on each (so we can have 4 plots to switch around), a wildlife garden / small pond, then on the other side have a greenhouse at the top right hand corner with the compost bins and water butts, and a lawn on the terrace below it. It's going to be hard work growing anything on the right hand side because there used to be a house there and there is apparently lots of rubble! But we'll have lots of raied bedding for flowing plants and hopefully manage to get a half decent lawn to grow if we give the soil some TLC over the autumn / winter.


Looks like so much work though!!

paddy's_mum

I'm with Tanith on this one. My very first thought on reading the original post was "heck, that's a lot of work to benefit the landlord - will he reduce the rent, pay for it to be done before you move in or grant you a long tenancy"? Imagine doing all the work and then six months down the line, the Landlord gives you notice to quit. You wouldn't even have had time to produce your first daffodil or runner bean!

In your shoes, I'd be growing as much as I could in tubs so that if the axe falls, I could take most of my effort with me.

A machete may be the most practical first step as, if nothing else, you will be able to see what's there after a couple of hours of slashing and clearing.

Perhaps build your seating area out of slabs laid on sand (ie no cement) so that they also can move with you. Bolt your greenhouse down for ease of removal in future. (Sorry to be such a cynic - it's the voice of experience!)

A sturdy lawnmower run repeatedly over what was once a lawn can work wonders in restoring it to an acceptable level. If there is no lawn as yet, maybe make that your second big task as we are just coming up to the time when a new lawn can easily and cheaply be made from seed.

I wish you luck and success with it. Happy gardening.