Removing Shrubs

Andrew_Ryan_89

Hey guys,

My front garden is looking a little messy as certain shrubs and flowers are looking quite depressing. I want to remove a few small bushes and flowers and one particularly large shrub (around 5ft high and wide).

The earth beneath is rock hard. How do I got about getting this stuff removed?

Many thanks!

Slinky

Wait until mid winter and dig them out then when the ground is softer.

Ectophile

If you're keen enough, a mattock will shift even hard packed dirt.

If you're trying to get the roots out, leave a good length of stem above the ground when cutting back, to give yourself something to grab hold of.

getmore4less

As above Mattock they will take out 2' tree stumps with a bit of effort.

a shrub is nothing

If the ground is rock hard it will have horizontal roots anyway, cut a circle and lift out

try to leave the largest upright to use as a wobbler to see which roots are holding the stump.

The best £20 you will ever spend on a garden tool if you have any clearance work or have hard ground.

A micro for £10 can be a good option if you will have tight space work to do

Andrew_Ryan_89

Thanks for the responses. How much do you reckon it will cost for a gardener to do it? I have no shed and present so not a big fan of buying tools I will seldom use as I will have no place to store them!

moneyistooshorttomention

Hire someone with a mini-digger. It'll be done as "easy as pie" in no time flat.

Mojisola

Andrew_Ryan_89 wrote: »

My front garden is looking a little messy as certain shrubs and flowers are looking quite depressing. I want to remove a few small bushes and flowers and one particularly large shrub (around 5ft high and wide).

The earth beneath is rock hard. How do I got about getting this stuff removed?

Andrew_Ryan_89 wrote: »

How much do you reckon it will cost for a gardener to do it?

The ground should be a lot softer if you've had the rain we've had today.

Doesn't anyone in your family own a spade or a fork or a mattock?

If not, look in the small ads in the local free paper for gardeners and ask for a couple of quotes.

Not being able to see the work necessary, it would be half an hour's work or several hours.

getmore4less

Andrew_Ryan_89 wrote: »

Thanks for the responses. How much do you reckon it will cost for a gardener to do it? I have no shed and present so not a big fan of buying tools I will seldom use as I will have no place to store them!

If you have a garden you will have to start some where you can't get a gardner in every time unless you are earning good money.


A mini Mattock is £10 that could be a good compromise just a bit harder work for the bigger jobs but will store in a small bag.

Tesco have a fairly decent fork for £1.50 at that price you could just leave it out.

Andrew_Ryan_89

Thanks guys, one more question. Once the shrubs are removed, I'm going to place pea gravel. Would just placing a liner be good enough to stop weed growth?

xyz123

Get a decent liner. Do two layers if u r concerned and then decent layer of gravel....

Ectophile

And then, once a bit of soil and dust has blown in, the weeds will start growing in the gravel.

You can't win against weeds, but at least they should pull out easily.