Gosh to say I'm impressed is an understatement!!! You've still got lots to do I know but you certainly seem to be getting on top of it all really well. How's the finger btw? Hope it's not going to be like the one I injured recently - I ended up with a black nail that dropped off. Painful!!!! Your garden plan looks great but I'll lay bets you'll change it before you're finished. I drew my out four times when I first started this garden off and, do you know, the garden doesn't look like any of my plans now. Keep the piccies coming and I'll look forward to seeing your video clips. Oh meant to say - do you know the Ph of your soil? It helps if you do so that you know what kind of plants will grow best for you. Cheers.
Thank you. No suprisingly the finger is fine, a little bruised and painful but i think i could be back to work today easy. lol, yes i'm happy with my plan at the moment but i can see myself changing it too, i am doing a lot of it just off the cuff but it's fun anyway so i dont really mind too much. It has changed a few times allready. Ill keep the pics etc. coming. I don't know the PH, how can i find that out? Apparently it used to grow some lovely plants! Also i think it was on this forum i was told to get some Rye grass and i have a bag of seeds with "Germinator" on the front and it appears to have light and heavy grass, including rye grass and sand, so fingers crossed!
Hi again, It's really quite easy to find how what the Ph level of your soil is Murray. You simply go along to your local garden centre and buy a soil testing kit. They're not too expensive and will let you know whether your soil is acid, alkaline or neutral. When it comes to buying your plants you'll then know which plants would like your soil best.
Hello again, Just finished ripping up all the paving slabs i need to so next is just raking any bits out of the soil and then sowing the lawn seeds. Just after that i'll be creating the rockery at the back - so any ideas on that would be great as i have no idea how to create one of these. I'm also going to cement some extra bricks along the end of the garden to keep all that soil in.
Nice to see you are making progress. I just thought I would add that you can show the photos in your posts if you like. For example: Just paste the location of the image into your post, highlight the location text and press the button that says 'Img'. That will place around the image location and the image will appear in the post when you submit it
Hi Murray, Here are a few sites that might be of interest to you when building your rockery. www.ukgardening.co.uk/project_rockery.asp www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/design/projects ... kery.shtml www.susansgardenpatch.com/rock5.htm and www.angelfire.com/tv2/bloomingreat/issue39.html If you need any more info, as usual, just ask!!!
Wow, great help as usual and lots of it. I was thinking of using the rocks you can see above for the rockery, they don't look very natural but it's cheap and an easy way to get rid of a lot of those rocks. Also have another problem. I went back into my garden today mainly to give it a little rake, get it ready for the lawn seeds and admire my work, mostly the latter but unfortunatly found myself down there for 3hrs diggin up masses of weeds and lots more to do still. How much of a weed do you need to pull out to totally kill it? Can you ever COMPLETELY rid a patch of weeds without the use of nuclear weapons? If so how? I brought Weedol2 but saw it said on the side "inactivated as soon as it touches the soil" and saw one on TV adverstised as killing all the roots, i naturally thought all weedkillers did that?!? So basically i am hoping to lay this lawn soon but i dont want to have to worry about a constant supply of weeds oming up! Will they? How much needs pulling out? Should i but a stronger weedkiller (keep in mind i have a lot of cats that roam my garden). Basically any tips on weed-control would be great. I' also going to have a good look around the forum for any tips elsewhere. thanks again!
Read this somewhere... With the exception of dandelions, very few other weeds can stand regular mowing, thistles and docks certainly can't. If you wanted to kill the roots, you should have sprayed the weeds while they were actively growing, weedkiller goes through the leaves and into the roots - now that you have removed the leaves there is little else for you to do other than manually dig out the roots...failing that, just level it up and lay turf over the top, sure you may get the odd weed here and there but as I said before, regular mowing will keep them to a minimum, and let's face it; do you really want a 'bowling green' effect or are you happy with just a patch of neat grass? - my bet is on the latter and a few small weeds won't be too much of a burden. Anything to add? although still no answer to "How much of a weed do you need to pull out to totally kill it?" I have been told you need to pull the WHOLE root out to kill it but the size of some of the weeds i would probably have to dig the whole garden up to get out every little bit of the root!
Hi Murray, Here goes: WEEDS. If you have to dig weeds up by hand then the whole plant must be removed as many weeds will simply re-grow if the roots (or parts of the roots) are left in the ground. An alternative, if you don't want an organic garden like mine, is to get yourself a glyphosate based weedkiller. This is a systemic weedkiller and will not only kill off the part of the weed above ground but also the plants root system. Many other weedkillers will ONLY kill the top of the plant and leave the roots to grow again. It may take more than one application to completely destroy the weeds but it's worth it. After you have sown your grass seed and given the grass its first cut then you will need to get a product called 'Weed and Feed' which will nourish your grass at the same time as killing off any unwanted plants growing through it. Here is a great website to help you identify any unwanted plants (weeds) in your garden. http://theseedsite.co.uk/weeds.html I don't know that you'll want to consider doing this but it's great if you can leave a small patch of your garden to 'go wild' as many of our wild flowers and weeds actually attract lots of different insects into the garden and therefore the birds that feed on them. Just a thought. Here is another useful site this time about how you achieve the stripes you want on your lawn. www.scag.com/lawnstriping.html Cheers, Eileen.
Wow, i really like the striping especially the criss-crossing. I think i'll have to give that a go! "If you have to dig weeds up by hand then the whole plant must be removed" - Are you serious? The weeds are massive, i would have to probably dig up about 2/3sq meters for some of the big weeds in my garden and also a long way down, i have a feeling that is near impossible. How do you do yours? Do you really dig it ALL up? Do you not have any weeds as big as mine? Why do you have an organic garden? I also assume that i need the leaves to be there for the weedkiller to work. From the info i have gathered this is what i am going to do now, please tell me if i am wrong.... Im going to dig up as much as possible of those weeds so it either takes them longer to grow back, they grow back smaller or completely die. Then i am going to sow the lawn and when ever the weeds pop-up i will apply a weedkiller, instead of digging up my lawn. I will also apply the weed and feed. Please add to this or comment if you have any further ideas. Also. Is there a difference between soil and top soil? Where can i buy some fine sand from? Sorry about all the questions, i hope i'm not being too much of a pest and thankyou very much for all your help!
Oh Murray how could you possibly be a pest!! We've all been there, done that and bought the T.shirt I can assure you. You go right ahead and do it your way by all means. Just remember though if you do buy 'Weed and Feed' then you shouldn't have to buy another weedkiller for your lawn too - saves you a bit of money that way. Yes ideally there should be leaves on the weeds for the killer to work efficiently. Fine sand can be bought from any good garden centre or DIY store and it's not very expensive. Most B&Q superstores do deals like 'buy two get one free' from time to time so shop around if you have the time. The difference between soil and top soil is the quality - topsoil is a higher and richer grade of soil which tends to be finer. Yes I had weeds as big as yours Murray but that was so long ago now that I hardly remember all the back breaking work involved in digging them all up - yeah right!!! I ached for weeks as I have 1/3rd of an acre of garden space!!! Thankfully I had a very obedient husband to help me out and a 10 year old son!! Little tip: Don't go overboard with the 'Weed and Feed' on your lawn - stick to the directions on the box. If you apply more than it states you can burn your grass. NOW - why do I have an organic garden? Quite simple really I don't want to pollute my soil with any chemicals, nor do I want to harm any wildlife that exists or visits my land. In time the balance of nature takes over - aphids, slugs, snails and other garden pests get eaten by the next creature in the food chain, which gets eaten by the next and so on. Bees pollinate the flowers and birds help to distribute seeds. I don't add any pollutants to the atmosphere and any children or pets can safely be allowed into the garden. I can pick and eat the fruit off my trees and bushes without worrying if there are any health risks. It's far easier to be organic that some folks would have you believe. After all we were all organic gardens once upon a time before chemicals were invented!! OK I'm off to bed now but I'll check in again tomorrow to see if there's anything else I can help you with. Bye for now.
So you don't use any weedkiller or frtiliser or weed and feed. Or are there some organic ones? I think i'd be interested in an organic garden as i have 2 apple trees, am hoping to grow veg and get lots of cats coming through my garden. So basically all i can do is dig these weeds up, no weedkiller. Will they gradually slow down or stop coming back? Great help again thankyou
"Will they gradually slow down or stop coming back?" 'Fraid not as the wind and birds etc keep bringing in more seed although the origional weeds, if dug up, won't return. Just don't let any weeds in your garden flower and set seed because then the job of eradicating them becomes almost impossible.. You can get special weed supressing fabric which you put on the soil and plant into. You can then cover it with decorative gravel or chippings. I've never used it myself (chemicals in its make-up) but I know others swear by it. I don't think thistles would be stopped by this fabric though. I only use bark chippings on my soil to the depth of about 2-3 inches. It acts as a weed supresser and also gives nourishment to the soil and helps to keep it moist. Here's a couple of websites that may help you. www.turfandstuff.co.uk Look on the right hand side of the page and you'll find the section about the WSF. and www.allplas.co.uk Just scroll down the page until you find what you want.
bark sounds like a good idea. I just have images or loads of patches of weeds popping up and having to dig up half my lawn to get them out. What do you do if you notice a weed? Do you just give it a tug and pull it out or will you dig right down on any weed. So are there no naturaly sprays to keepthose weeds at bay?
