Killing the weeds

Naomim

Thank you all for the comments.

So I need to invest in some heavy duty gloves 🤣 

I think my plan is to start on the borders as I think the grass would just look better if I have some bordering plants.

My neighbour to my left,  whose garden I'd love to have is 80 and it's immaculate. She has been known to ask me to cut the grass and de-weed before 🤣  MrM not so impressed when she asks (not that he's ever cut the grass) but I am all for keeping up neighbourly relations. 

Naomim 

twopenny

I got a lot of ideas from my elderly neighbour years ago. I so envied her rockery wall. Now I've moved somewhere with another 80+ neighbour. When you hear a ladder it's her! Beautiful garden.

Many people I know used to mow older peoples grass while they were doing theirs. Now I meet some who charge them over the odds. I offered to do my neighbours during lockdown when she fell and bruised her back but she wouldn't have it lol.

I got some good gloves from ProperJob is there's one near you. A pound or two and impervious. But the leather palmed ones crop up in Poundland. Later in the year they are sold off in supermarkets (pink ones) so I stock up. But you should only need one lot for this.

I just hope you don't have beautiful gelled nails. Using a heavy hand protector cream and leave some under your nails before you work is good too. I actually have indulged in some Crabtree & Evelyn Gardeners Hand Scrub and Gardeners Hand Cream. It is amazing what that does for diy  and gardening hands.

You can get your trug and beautiful nails when you have a beautiful garden

Naomim

I had beautiful gelled nails until a year ago! Now I have better things to spend my money on 🤣  I'm happy to keep my nails short these days. Thanks for the tip on hand cream.

I've never heard of proper job. I'll have a little Google.  

theoretica

Don't aim for bare soil - you want  to balance getting rid of what you don't want with planting and encouraging what you do want so that new weeds have less space to grow.  And lawn cutting, it keeps the taller weeds unhappy.

Davesnave

Excluding light from such a small area to kill weeds is a waste of time when you could be growing something. Killing them with glyphosate will also take 3 weeks. Frankly, I could deep dig that lot in a day and a lady I know who's partially disabled did exactly that last week in 3 sessions, removing about 5 barrow-loads of stones.

Personally I'd go for taff's dig, remove and plant immediately, a little at a time if time/spare cash is limited.

Naomim

theoretica said:

Don't aim for bare soil - you want  to balance getting rid of what you don't want with planting and encouraging what you do want so that new weeds have less space to grow.  And lawn cutting, it keeps the taller weeds unhappy.

This is what I did with the grass/weed area last year, just kept mowing and looking at it now, it does look slightly better than it did last year.  I was planning on digging the borders and putting mulch over it. Would that be the right thing to do?

Davesnave said:

Excluding light from such a small area to kill weeds is a waste of time when you could be growing something. Killing them with glyphosate will also take 3 weeks. Frankly, I could deep dig that lot in a day and a lady I know who's partially disabled did exactly that last week in 3 sessions, removing about 5 barrow-loads of stones.

Personally I'd go for taff's dig, remove and plant immediately, a little at a time if time/spare cash is limited.

Thanks, I'll have a think about doing this. We did dig it all over and removed loads of stones previously but obviously didn't get grass seeds down quick enough and the weeds came back with a vengeance even after we thought we'd got all the roots.  I've also struggled with the local wildlife eating the grass seeds! 

I know whatever I do wont be a quick fix but we've lived here 16 years and no plans on moving.  The garden was kept fairly tidy but was just grass until 2016. When we had a lot of building work done and the builders used the front garden as a dumping ground and killed it.  Lots of stones and rubble was removed.   I just want a garden where it doesn't make our house look like we're the ones with a fridge, tyres and knackered old car dumped outside it 

Naomim

Naomim

@twopenny I looked for  Properjob - no stores within a 50 mile radius of me.  

twopenny

Shame. Think they are west country but expanding.
Morrison's have some leather backed ones at 2pounds or so. 

kdotdotdotdot

I wouldn't worry much about clover - they look pretty and feed bees.  Dandelions and thistles are a right pain because of their very deep roots - easily a foot down.  I played 'whack a mole' with thistles in a flower bed and no doubt will do so again this year.  I leave dandelions to flower (the bees like it) and then pull up what I can get hold of before it can turn to seed.  Although I hate weeding, I somehow find pulling up dandelions very soothing, almost like squeezing a spot!  

Naomim

I took photo's of the front garden. I've also joined a couple of FB groups and quite looking forward to getting something resembling something nice to look at.