Nettles and bind weed

[Yvonne]

Hi

Cananyone suggest the best/easiest way to clear a large area of overgrown garden please?

When I say overgrown, I mean about 4feet high with brambles, nettles, bindweed  and a million baby ash trees etc etc?

I have seen products like 'round up' etc but I'm not sure they are suitable for such a vast wilderness. I think that beneath all of this will be grass of some sort which I would, ideally like to keep but I have a feeling I'll have to kill it all off or dig it up? The aim is to clear the space in order to build a small donkey stable.

Thanks!

Abi

 

[Wozza]

Abi

We had about an acre of garden the same, but about 8 feet high brambles, trees and everything but grass. Our neighbour kindly came along with his tractor with an attachment on the back that had three huge blades and cut the lot - a bit like a tractor drawn strimmer. When it all started to sprout again, two doses of roundup killed it. Unfortunately, we then left it and it is now resprouted, so will be doing the roundup again in september.

If you have a friendly neighbour-farmer, he may have a similar device, alternatively, you can hire them along with a mini tractor, but not cheap. Worth it though, our garden was cut in about an hour!

Hope this helps.

Warren

[Jeanneclaire]

Hi,

Whatever you do, don't have it plouged up or rotovated, as the tiniest bit of bind weed, grows and grows again. If you have any farmers near you, they might let you have some of their full strength weed killer, which will get rid of every thing, other than that you will probably need to strim it all down, make sure the plants are bruised and spray full strength Round Up on it, unfortunately for the type of weeds you have, you will probably have to do it more than once.  Also later in October, provided we get some rain, you could do some controlled burning, to clear it. We had time on our side, so laid thick black polythene on our weeds, until we were ready, killed all our weeds, but looked dreadful. Good luck with your project, hope you get more positive replies.

jeanneclaire

[Yvonne]

Hi,

 

Thanks for everyones help - roundup it is then! I have heard that a product called 'Gallop' (sounds it!) is very good? Does anyone know if its available in France?

Thanks Abi

[Rob Roy]

Our farmer neighbour came in and flailed ours (as mentioned above) the first couple of times, then if you keep cutting and cutting the weeds and nettles will eventually loose out to the grass. We bought a ride on mower to do this - you couldn't see anything at all for nettles etc, but now we have a lawn (not bowling green standard!) and cleared orchard suitable for us and the dogs to enjoy. Not sure about the bindweed though - that's a real problem to get rid of - I still haven't completely conquered round the edges.

[Mozman]

I don't think there is a quick solution. But if you keep at it you gradually get to the tipping-point where the grass is able to keep the weeds at bay.

We had  a corner of our meadow that had run to brambles/nettles and assorted saplings. I suppose its how woodland gets a toehold. It was a piece of land about 20 metres one way and 10 the other. Which doesn't sound a lot.....but you quickly realize IS a lot.:lol

Its taken a year but its now up to the standard that it can be properly mown with the rest of the meadow.

My first and most important suggestion is that you wait until winter to begin tackling it. Its so much easier to get to the root of things when there isn't a lot of lush undergrowth in the way. And its easier to make progress when things are not growing back again after a week or so! We cut the big saplings back down to ground level and one by one we dug out the roots. You can't do a thing unless you get rid of these because it makes digging so difficult and just cutting them back means they will come back again. Same with the brambles.....once the old tops were cut back and burned...much easier when they are not rampantly sprouting new growth....we dug out the roots. Bramble roots are not that difficult to get out ....not too deep. We also removed the biggest nettle systems....they are easily spotted because they are yellow. Having got rid of the more woody stuff we waited for the other weeds to sprout in the spring.

Late Spring/early summer is the best time to use weedkiller for this job as plants like nettles are growing quickly. We sprayed and sprayed again. Keep it up.  You want to avoid any nettles getting seedheads if possible. Then we  dug out as many of the remaining roots as possible. . Its amazing how long they are and you can see how nettle patches spread by runners just under the surface of the soil. We started at the outside of the patch....about a couple of metres beyond where the nettles were actually visible.... Gradually we worked our way in, removing what roots we could as we went. Then we sprayed again.

Phew! Seeded it and now the grass will do most of the work for us....and regular mowing to stop perrenial weeds seeding down.

We've cleared a few areas like this now and can definitely say perseverance pays. Nothing will do the job in one easy sweep....it will take remorseless attacks to do it, each time weakening the Foe a bit more!!

[romazy]

I had the same problem at the begining of this year (having spent considerable time and effort trying to kill them over the past five years), but the problem has been solved simply by talking to a professional and following his advice. Use a professional selective weedkiller for brambles and nettles (no effect on grass) in this instance the trade name is "Timbrel", you do need to use with care as it will kill trees and shrubs, but to see the nettles curl up and die and never come back is worth the time truble and expence.

Best of luck Romazy