Advice needed please......

[tired]

Ok, the sun is shining and the first cuckoo has started cuckooing, and I am trying to remove the weeds from my flower beds.

The only problem is, is that I don't know the difference between weeds and flowers!

Would anyone or even all of you consider telling me how to tell the difference, or even post pictures of the most common weeds!!

I don't want to use weedkiller as I have cats, which like to investigate everything and we also have a lot of lizards that run around.

Another question is how do you keep cats off of flowerbeds once they have been dug out? Its like a giant litter box out there!

Would appreciate any advice please..... (As long as its not 'start by getting rid of the cats!') [:D]

Thank you. 

[Benjamin]

Cats: take an empty washing-up detergent bottle (or similar). Fill with water and spray cats every time they look as if they're going to do what they normally do. They learn very quickly.

Weeds/small flowers: borrow Mrs Benjamin because I have exactly the same problem. In fact I'm now banned from weeding  - thank goodness.[;-)]

[Russethouse]

Putting twigs across the beds, something like Pyracantha prunings are ideal, will help stop the cats digging, Re the weeds, I'm afraid its trial and error mainly. If you plant seeds try and sow them in a pattern or group, if you scatter  them they do look like weeds.

[Nicos]

Not an easy one Emma!

You could try and google common weeds for an idea , but they tend to

show you the adult weeds, and at this time of year they tend to be

seedlings. ( unless the area is very overgrown)

Your best bet is to ask someone to show you which are weeds and press

some of the leaves for future reference ( unless you have a good memory)

If you leave things be for a while, you'll soon start to recognise the

plants you want to keep. It doesn't matter if you get it a bit wrong

and keep a few weeds, but if in doubt - leave it or you'll end up with

a large bare patch!! ( which you could then turn into a veg plot!!!!)[Www]

[Cassis]

Impossible to say Emma - there are too many plants and too many weeds!

However, a weed is just a plant in the wrong place (some smartypants said) so why not see what comes up and just get rid of what you don't like?

[Dick Smith]

Isn't that a bit unfair, just getting rid of the ones you don't like?

[Russethouse]

  Emma, if you find something you don't like give it someone who can use it or swap it for something you do like that way everyone is happy.

[Nicos]

Good idea- just make sure it's not a weed first though!!!! ( you'll soon find out!)[Www]

[Suninfrance]

I'm a bit more brutal - If I don't know what it is, it comes out - gives me the opportunity to start from scratch.  Brought shrubs this year from the Super U plant sale, so anything that comes up in between will get the ol heave hoe.  Apart from my wild flower seeds which I haven't decided where to sow yet.  Everything else gets planted in pots until I can decide where I want them.

[Patf]

We once had a friend whose wife asked him to weed the flower beds while she was out at work. Like you Emma he wasn't sure which were weeds, so to be on the safe side he took everything out, dug the soil over neatly and popped back in the ones he liked. They ended up divorced and I think this had something to do with it. Which was a shame as he had really tried to help. Pat.

[Russethouse]

My mother used to be a bit of a plants woman and not once but twice, my father weeded up the emerging shoots of a rare clematis - the air was blue, especially the second year !

[Cassis]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]Isn't that a bit unfair, just getting rid of the ones you don't like?

[/quote]

Yes; but some people do it all the time, with no thought for the consequences for the environment.  And what you don't like may be appreciated by others, of course.

[Nelson]

Weeding.

Pull it up if it grows again it`s a weed.

[Cassis]

Ah, you're not wrong there, Nelson!  Of course, it's a bit late by then - a bit like ducking witches. [:D]

[Berlioz]

Weeds:  http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/weedlf.htm  and http://www.theseedsite.co.uk/weeds.html  have some good pictures of weed leaves and flowers.

Cats:  I use chicken wire cut into sections and put over/around newly seeded/planted areas (I have raised beds and my cats cannot resist such a large litter box!)  I also use metal wire hoops with anti-bird netting if I want to leave  in place a long time .  Once things are not too small then bits of prunings, bamboo in 1ft sections etc work well too.

I don't often post as I am still learning myself :-)

D

 

 

 

[Dick Smith]

[quote user="DonnaD"]

I am still learning myself

[/quote]

How very Zen [:D]

[Pangur]

I started this on my garden last year - lots of fun!  I hand-weeded regularly from Feb and started by pulling out what I knew to be weeds.  Actually nettles were the extent of my knowledge, but that kept me busy for a while.  As your garden grows, you'll begin to see what is a weed and what isn't.  If in doubt, I left it there and waited to see what worked.  Disastrous strategy with the ground elder but worked better with what turned out to be really pretty purple tall daisy things.  They were nearly for the chop all summer but finally bloomed in September....

I still haven't figured out the names of what half the weeds are, but if you spend enough times on your hands and knees, you'll soon be able to spot the root of an annoying one at a few meters.  There's one really annoying one in my garden that looks relatively harmless but spreads like wildfire (it has orange roots and tiny white flies seem to hatch out of it if anyone knows what it is!).  The handweeding is pretty labourious but I concentrate it on two main flowerbed areas.  It looks a hell of a lot better this year than it did last year, but it seems to be a constant war. 

I also google images of different weed names I see in gardening books and see if they are in mine.  Haven't found a "this is a weed" picture book yet (I'm sure there is a market......)

 

[Pauline]

Hi, I am new to the forum, a keen gardener so thought I would share my deterents for cats, hope they help. Cats dont like mothballs, grapefruit peel or half fill plastic bottles with water and place around flower bed, they dont like the reflection or noise they make if disturbed. I have used all these methods with success, hope one of them helps.

Pauline

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Nelson"]Weeding.
Pull it up if it grows again it`s a weed.
[/quote]Alternatively, give it a yank.  If it comes out straight away, it was a plant.  If it doesn't  it's a weed.

[Tresco]

[quote user="Pauline"]Cats dont like mothballs, grapefruit peel or half fill plastic bottles with water and place around flower bed, they dont like the reflection or noise they make if disturbed. [/quote]

You've solved a mystery for me Pauline, so thanks. [:)]

My elderly Polish neighbour in Manchester used the bottles with water in, but I couldn't understand her explanation as to what they were for.

[powerdesal]

[quote user="cooperlola"][quote user="Nelson"]Weeding.

Pull it up if it grows again it`s a weed.

[/quote]Alternatively, give it a yank.  If it comes out straight away, it was a plant.  If it doesn't  it's a weed.[/quote]

If its green, its a weed, pull it up.

If its brown, its a dead weed, pull it up.

I don't do a lot of gardening [:P]

[Tony F Dordogne]

If you're in France, nip along to your local maison de presse/leclerc or other large supermarket and see whether they have any of the small, pocket sized gardening books - there are several on identifying weeds and also on wild flowers, some of which may look good in the garden assuming that they're in the right place.

[Jeanneclaire]

Hi Emma,

If you go into the RHS website, you can find pictures of different weeds, the usual annual ones (too many to mention), and nasties like bindweed. I noticed when we had the cats, they did not like any citrus peel. If you place it on the flower bed, with citrus side up, you can collect the slugs in the morning, thereby, saving your new plants! I also found that if I planted a lot of Nepeta (Catmint), they would lie or roll on it and not mess nearby.

Jeanneclaire