The house I bought 2 years ago was formerly owned by someone who loved to garden. A quarter acre lot neglected for years and all we could do for most of it was take a bush machine and chain saw and remove debris with a look at turning the back yard back into lawn again. The garden in front of the house we removed 4 or 5 huge diseased junipers and a couple of other plants, but left the 2 roses, 2 young rhododendrons, a big cone tree hedge, a lavendar, and a couple of other shrubs I don't know the names of. I planted a Japanese maple last year and the leaves came off when the snow hit and its still bare today, no leaves. My husband thinks its dead. Unfortunately I am no gardener, though the Icelandic poppy seeds I put in last year have sprouted plants this year. I want it to look neat and tidy but not spend a lot of time doing it. The garden is full of weeds and various perennials that I don't know the names of, except I think that blue thing is lupis and it spreads everywhere and is like a weed itself. A few weeks ago I took a small portion of the front garden and pulled out everything that didn't look like a tulip or one of the larger shrubs. I've tried to do half hour a few times a week but I can't get ahead. Weeds and/or plants keep springing up in the part I've got under control so I keep at them. I bought one of these weeder things that's on a stick so I put it in the garden, twist it, and hopefully pull up weeds, but its not working so well for me. I'm thinking my only option at this time might be renting a rototiller from Home Depot. I've taken a couple of photos this morning. This is not how I want my garden to look. I just want it to look tidy and uncluttered. I refused to allow my husband to put in bedding plants because we can't keep up with this garden. Does anyone have any suggestions with what I can do to get those weeds and unwanted perennials under control? Front garden 1 ( photo / image / picture from whistler's Garden ) front garden 2 ( photo / image / picture from whistler's Garden ) And here is how the garden looked 2 years ago when we bought the house. front garden June 2007 ( photo / image / picture from whistler's Garden )
I'm struggling with an overgrown north side at the moment. I dig, dig and dig to remove as many of the weeds with roots as possible. When I'm done digging, I'm going to put a thick layer of wet newspapers down and build a slightly raised bed. I'm going to cover the surrounding area of the bed with a ground cover cloth and either bark chips or sand to keep weeds away. I tried to get the border back in order, but it was too weed infested. The plants in the border will be lifted and sorted through with a fine tooth comb before going into a storage border while I make their new home ready for them. My next-door neighbour would probably spray the whole thing with round-up, weeds, plants and all.
Ooh, what a nice house and yard! And yeah, wow, that is a lot to tidy up and I can imagine how overwhelmed you feel (I often feel overwhelmed too). If you're like me, being unfamiliar with what things are and trying to figure it out as you go makes it worse!... First off -- do you have a friend who loves to garden who could come over and help you identify things and mark them (and maybe take them away to his/her garden if you don't want them)? My guess is someone like that would LOVE to help out with that part of it and might be reassuring about what needs to be done too (i.e. your cheerleader!). THEN, I'd make a little bit of a plan so that you'll know where you're going with it, you know? Maybe get some advice from the Garden Stewbies here or a local garden center so that you choose low maintenance things that don't grow out of control easily. THEN, I'd divide that giant space up into manageable hunks, like 4 or 6-8 feet or so and weed, dig, plant and mulch one section at a time according to your design before moving to the next section. I think if I were weeding on one end, and looking ALL THE WAY over to the other end, I'd feel discouraged. If you chunk it into more manageable areas, as each one begins to look better, you'll have those pretty areas to look at and that will be reassuring. Ahead of time it would be helpful to figure out how much time you want to spend maintaining it once you get it shaped up. Maybe for now, you might want to consolidate and make it smaller if you don't have the time to devote to it. You can always expand again later. Anyway, just some thoughts from someone whose beds get out of control too. I know the others will give you some good advice. We are also excellent garden cheerleaders here, btw. Good luck with it. You've come to the right place for help anyway! Daisybeans.
I dont have any advice, just a funny....put out a sign that says "Free weeds! Must pick them yourself" lol
Did you mean Lupin instead of Lupis? They are a perennial but is also considered an invasive species in some areas since it spreads so easily. Have you thought about weeding around what you want to keep, then laying down good landscape clothe and then spreading mulch on top? A lot of work upfront but then less weeds in the end.
