changing the garden, need advise.

[glacier1]

Hello! [:)] this is my first post in the gardening section.  I've have my whole garden re-vamped in the sense that they've divided 1 side for vehile parking, and I've had concrete borders placed in order to keep grass from growing over to the pathway.  The pathway has been layed with a membrame underneath a good foot of compacted gravel. If I could post photos I'd be able to show you! 

My question relates to my garden, as diggers have been going over the ground again and again during wet weather the state of the grass is terrible.  Not only have we got common (hard to get rid of) weeds, but also the quality of the grass is poor, you can walk out of the house and you can find the same grass outside as in. 

I have thought that a complete re-vamp is needed, I can't aford to lay turf down, I don't think this is needed because spring is coming and seeds can work just as good.  I am going to use a culurvator to churn up the soil, and then flatten the ground. 

I have been advised to put ROUNDUP on the ground to kill the weeds, what do you think?  How does it spread?  I have always seen roundup as a liquid product that sprays onto the weeds.  Also, how long do I have to leave it once it's down on the ground?  My other worry is that I have plants that are established and I want to keep.  Will I kill them if I put this poison on the ground?  How do I go around this? 

My 2nd question relates to seeds.  What kind of seeds do I need?  What are the most drought resistent seeds and where will I find the cheapest large quantity to buy? 

When I lay the seeds, I will have need to have firstly cultivated, poisoned, and then rollered the garden flat before laying them?  Am I correct? 

Thanks for advise.

David - Drome

[ukhostland]

Hi David,

If your soil has a bit of clay in it your other problem will be due to compaction, with air spaces in the soil (that the plants need) destroyed.

Cultivation of the soil (once it is dry) will correct this howver. Roundup is a very effective weedkiller provided things are growing strongly. It needs to be mixed with water and sprayed on. It breaks down rapidly in the soil to become harmless but if you touch plants you value with the spray expect them to be killed as well; do it carefully and in still conditions.

Seeds are available from your local, friendly garden centre in a range of varieties to suit varying conditions. Elsewhere in these Forums others have suggested going to the agricultural stores for grass seed. If you are happy with a lawn that looks like a field this offers a very cheap solution.

The task order is: weedkiller, rotavator, rake and roll, sow the seeds and lightly rake in. Water if you can and keep the birds away!

Turf is hard to get and expensive but it does exist: try Google.Fr. An alternative option is to turf near the house/patio and the edges of all the beds and seed the rest.

Have fun,

Colin

[Pierre ZFP]

I disagree strongly with the statement that Roundup is harmless and breaks down rapidly - it don't.

I used to think it was OK and I admit I used a lot of it but no more.

Have a look at this thread and the links contained therein

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1198047/ShowPost.aspx

My 'lawn' if you can call it that was in a terrible state but thanks to lots or regular cutting/scarifying/rolling and feeding twice a year I now have more grass than weeds!  Don't expect your lawn to be a quick job though.

Gosh I've just realised that my posts to Clacier today have been very negative, sorry about that, I don't mean to be, I'm a very happy chappy really [:D]

 

 

 

[glacier1]

Hahahaha! well!  I was in a good mood until I've read your thread, now I'm going to throw myself off the closest bridge thanks to you saying that both selling wine plus using weed killer is a bad idea! [:P] only kidding mate.  I'm cool, I like to put "ideas" out here to have people's thoughts.  Thanks for that. I too am worried about roundup! [:)]

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]

I disagree strongly with the statement that Roundup is harmless and breaks down rapidly - it don't.

I used to think it was OK and I admit I used a lot of it but no more.

Have a look at this thread and the links contained therein

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1198047/ShowPost.aspx

My 'lawn' if you can call it that was in a terrible state but thanks to lots or regular cutting/scarifying/rolling and feeding twice a year I now have more grass than weeds!  Don't expect your lawn to be a quick job though.

Gosh I've just realised that my posts to Clacier today have been very negative, sorry about that, I don't mean to be, I'm a very happy chappy really [:D]

 

 

 

[/quote]

[glacier1]

Hey Colin,

Thanks for your advise, I will be sure to do it in the order that you say.....I do have my reservations about roundup, but it's the only thing that will work well on my garden, I am worried about leaving trace amounts in the ground that will polute the earth.  My ground is a mix of sandy/clay.  I'm not far away from the old river bed.  I did have conifer's all around the walls of the house, but one by one they all died.  It seems, that about 20 years ago the plot of land where my house sits on now used to have fruit trees, and the man who used to treat the trees used to dump his produce (pesticide etc) directly into the ground.  This is now illegal but the damage is done.  All trees planted on my plot dies one by one.  Conifers come from the north, I can only but imagine that they require a large quantity of water in order to grow.  We have frequent droughts here in the Drome/Ardeche, and I can't help but think that this is a cause of most of the problems.  This is the reason I decided to destroy all trees around my house, I put up a larger block wall, with crepi.  The grass needs to be drought proof.

Cheers!

David

[quote user="ukhostland"]

Hi David,

If your soil has a bit of clay in it your other problem will be due to compaction, with air spaces in the soil (that the plants need) destroyed.

Cultivation of the soil (once it is dry) will correct this howver. Roundup is a very effective weedkiller provided things are growing strongly. It needs to be mixed with water and sprayed on. It breaks down rapidly in the soil to become harmless but if you touch plants you value with the spray expect them to be killed as well; do it carefully and in still conditions.

Seeds are available from your local, friendly garden centre in a range of varieties to suit varying conditions. Elsewhere in these Forums others have suggested going to the agricultural stores for grass seed. If you are happy with a lawn that looks like a field this offers a very cheap solution.

The task order is: weedkiller, rotavator, rake and roll, sow the seeds and lightly rake in. Water if you can and keep the birds away!

Turf is hard to get and expensive but it does exist: try Google.Fr. An alternative option is to turf near the house/patio and the edges of all the beds and seed the rest.

Have fun,

Colin

[/quote]

[ukhostland]

I knew I would get in trouble for suggesting that Roundup is harmless: ah well, you must do as you feel best.

There is another possible explaination for the death of your trees, other than pollution from dumped chemicals. There are a number of common  diseases (Phytopthera is the beastie of the moment) which kill off roots and move through the soil in the ground water.

There is, I'm afraid, no cure for these diseases and they are causing serious problems in the UK, France and everywhere else.

I've just come back from a business trip to the UK with a car full of plants and paint. Lots of work to do here!

Colin

[glacier1]

Last time I went to the UK I bought some plants and paint too!  I just can't find hamerite black paint for the gates!  Is there a French paint which works well for metal?  I seem to paint every year or so because it just fades.  I have pleanty of work, I want to get on-top of the garden this year pretty early.  I have ordered wood from my local saw mill and I am going to put up fencing all along the house and the neighbours side.  I can't put wooden pannels up because I'm close to the Rhone and we seem to have a lot of gusty winds when the minstral blows as it did last night. 

Good weather promised for next week....better get cracking! [:D]

[splishsplash]

We used St Junien black metal paint for our balcony railings & I think it's better than Hammerite.

It's available from most Bricos & not overly expensive.

[dragonrouge]

May I respectufully suggest you have your soil professionally tested it costs about £19 take samples from around the plot put them in the sample bag provided and send them to the very nice people in York.  Within three days and by email you will have a report on what your soil has or has not. You can test for PH values chemicals residual stuff and its very comprehensive.  I have no financial involvement with these people but have used them for years.

Then you can take it from there.

[ukhostland]

Who are these people you use for soil testing? Do they have a web site?

My own contact (I used to use them all the time) seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth so the last couple of times I used the RHS

Colin

[glacier1]

thanks for that, I will look into testing my soil for chemicals....I think it's important to know if ever we are to grow our own.  I just spoke to my mother here now and she thinks like me that we would have to think twice before eating anything grown in our garden.....I think it's poluted.  thanks for your adbise.

[dragonrouge]

Its Yara Phosyn Ltd Manor Place Wellington Road, The Industrial Estate Pocklington York 01759 302545.  They do have a web site but I just cannot put my hand on it at the moment.  There is a great guy there who gives advice and his name is Adrian Peter Dawson.

 

rdgs