HHHHEEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPP!!!!

[Fairywings]

Hi there my name is Tink and I am very lucky to have a large back and front garden. I live in a rural village in Somerset. The problem is that the back garden is a veritable jungle! I inherited it at 30 feet high from house to end and it is around 80 feet long. It isn't that bad now but still horribly overgrown.The front is better but still a little unruly.
I would so love to make it all a lovely garden, and I would like to be semi-self-sufficient. Let's face it I have the space. So far I have cleared it several times, but the horrific weed problem reoccurs constantly within days. I have even hired a mini digger and gone over it all removing some of the many stumps and exhaust pipes lol! I have tiered it into three areas, the top is less unruly than the bottom. I would also like to use the space in the front to utilise it for something useful, but it is open to view and near a road.
On the plus side I have a small elder tree in the back, and lots of blackberries which I have done all sorts of yummy things with this year.
I really don't know where to start, I live alone, and I have a heart problem, so find it quite difficult. I'm guessing it would be good to do one little area at a time, but have know idea what to put where. I look out of the window at the overgrowth every morning and hate it! Is there a quick easy way to clear it? Something so great is becoming a bane, and I actually want to sort it so badly!
I only work part-time so don't have a lot of income, but I have managed to get quite a lot of useful stuff from freecycle. I'd love a workshop too as I sculpt scrap. I'd also like to place some of my sculptures round the garden. I have also got a rather large mass of kart tyres, and wondered if they'd be any good for raised beds (as well as my sculps)? I am very creative and practical so get ideas but they're all too far ahead, when I have no garden to put them in!
Any advice, suggestions, help would be incredible!!!!!

[MuddyWitch]

Welcome to ISH

You are spot on when you say do a little patch thoroughly, then a bit more when you are ready. In the mean time, if you roughly level the rest you could just keep strimming it. It'll be mostly grass within no time.

Weeds: there are two sorts; annuals that go from seed to seed in a year and perenials that stick around for years.

Annuals are going to try to grow in the best manicured gardens any where. They spread their seeds in many ways, but can be twarted by regular hoeing or hand weeding. Go off on holiday and there will be a green fuzz waiting to welcome you home, but they are light-weights and will be gone in with a few minutes application of the hoe. The best defence is to never let them seed.

Perenials are a different matter. They are the thugs of the garden and need more attention to clear them for good. You need to remove all of their roots as well as the top growth as they store a huge reserve of energy. Something like bramble can have a huge root stock & takes a lot of effort to clear. Even dandelions can have a forked 18''/45cm long taproot

Areas covered in lightproof material such as black polythene will be free of annuals in a year, but the perenials will just respout after you remove the polythene. Some of the poisons sold to clear land will kill the annuals instantly, but you'll need to pour these toxins onto your land several times a year for several years to kill perenials, despite what the adverts claim. (Can you tell I'm organic? )

However, it isn't all bad news. Assuming you haven't used poisons, several weeds can be eaten, nettles, dandelions, fat hen are amongst my favourites. Nettles also make 'nettle tea' which isn't for you, it's for your crops. (Some are poisonous though, so be sure you know which are which before you start munching)

Weeds also tell you quite a bit about your soil. Certain weeds prefer different acidity for example. Some weeds tell you how long they've been there, so you know how long it is since the garden was last loved. Others tell you how much Sun an area receives, or how boggy the ground is.

This is the best time of year to clear your chosen patch, as the majority of weeds are dormant or very slow growing. Try to choose a patch that gets Sun for most of the day, that isn't to exposed to harsh winds and that you can get to easily. (You'll be much more likely to nip out whenever the mood takes you, if you haven't any obsticles to face. Battling through 30ft/90M brambles to do a spot of weeding is no fun! )

Most vegies won't want planting for a month or two at the earliest so you can do a bit at a time. Much better to thoroughly clear a square yard/metre than roughly do a huge area leaving most of the roots behind. Don't set yourself impossible targets. I've been gardening for over forty years & if tackling your jungle I would aim for about a square yard/metre a day. It may not look much at first, but after a while you'll be amazed how much you've achieved.

Most of all your garden should be a pleasure. Don't let any-one criticise you for how you choose to garden it. If you want to grow all potatoes, good for you. If you want a bit of every-thing, well, that's fine too! There are lots of us on here that will be only to happy to help & guide you, provide a 'virtual' shoulder if you have a set back & cheer at your first tiny carrot! (All my carrots are tiny!)

Best of luck, keep us up-to-date on your adventure.

MW

[KathyLauren]

To get a jungle under control, spread heavy cardboard on the ground. Something like the box a fridge comes in, opened up flat, would do well, as long as any printing on it is black only. Remove any sticky tape or staples so you are only dealing with cardboard. On top of the cardboard, spread straw, grass clippings, etc., several inches thick. Let the whole works sit for one rainy season, so the straw is starting to compost. The cardboard will eventually decompose into compost too, but before it does, it will suppress the weeds. You don't ever pull it up. You just plant as you would with any mulched bed.

We live in an area where the major gardening challenge is beating back the jungle. Untended ground reverts to jungle in weeks. This technique is by far the best way to suppress weeds for a new bed.

[homegrown]

One thing you can do is greate raised beds with heavy cardboard under neath if you do one metre square beds you can reach them from all sides an d bring in freash top soil and copost to fill them or recycle soil from else where. if you can score old carpet you can lay it wool side down and use it as the base for your paths in between then lay bricks over the top or sand or shells or shingle, whatever you want and then mulch around you plants with straw to help keep moisture in and and weeds down. and you could then create lawn areas that are easily maintainable and something similar out front as well for flower gardens

[Susie]

No advice but I'm right there with you, if you want encouragement give me a shout!

[spider8]

Hello and welcome Tink. I can understand your distress at having a jungle to tame but please don't let it become something to stress about and the advice given so far is spot on. The tame it metre by metre way is really the one to go for as it won't wear you out (be careful though) but will make a difference sooner than you'd think. Anyway, look upon your 'temporary' jungle as a nature reserve for now and see what creatures you have around you and encourage the slug/snail/nasty grub-eating ones as much as you can (not a good time of year now but you know what I mean). Good luck with it and keep us updated on progress and ask away with the questions .

[gregorach]

To get a jungle under control, spread heavy cardboard on the ground. Something like the box a fridge comes in, opened up flat, would do well, as long as any printing on it is black only.

No need to worry about the colour of the inks, nobody's used metal based inks for donkey's years. I'm pretty sure they're not even legal any more.

[Green Aura]

Hi Tink and welcome to Ish

I'm not going to add any advice because you've got loads already. As everyone's said do a little at a time and cover everything else.

I've not spotted any answers to your question about the front garden though so I'll offer a few suggestions for there. How about something like a mixed hedge - hawthorn, rose etc that will separate it from the road and also provide hips/haws and other things for eating and to feed the birds. It's low maintenance - only needs trimming back about once a year. Then you could maybe add some more fruit bushes, or a herb garden or even something really pretty as well as functional like a parterre/knot garden with a nice fruit tree or something in the middle.

[Thomzo]

Hi and good luck with the jungle. If the land is flat enough and you can afford it, buy a heavy duty petrol lawn mower. As with strimming, regular mowing will soon get rid of many weeds and give you the satisfaction of a neat garden while you concentrate on properly clearing and planting a small area at a time.

Have you any plans to keep chickens? They are great for clearing weeds. If you can make yourself a portable run for them then you can move them on when they've cleared an area.

Zoe

[Fairywings]

Oh my!! Thank you all so so much! For advice and general encouragement!
I'm thinking that my now very comfortable weeds are definately perenials then lol! Some of the stalks on them are 4" thick! Ahhhh!
It has given me such great hope of achieving something good in my garden, doing a metre square at a time seems like a great plan. I'd not thought of doing that small a patch, but could absolutley manage that each day. I like the idea of covering with cardboard or plastic too, this could be a winter job I'm guessing, so I'm ready for planting early next year.
Raised beds would be great for me, on the days I can't move lol! I was thinking about tying my small kart tyres together in big circles, what do you think? Mulching round them and segregating areas for different things, for example; Top patio, side compost and recycling area, middle workshop and chickens, bottom veg and fruit? Thank you for your suggestions for the front Green Aura, I love it! A little herby berry area! Fab! Well I say little it would hold about 5 cars to give you an idea of the size of the front. It would be nice to fence it in I think, so it can't be seen from the road. OOOoooo I'm so excited! I have to say though that my problem I fear is my personality, I want it done now, if you know what I mean. But I am going to do this right, and not be to impatient!
Thanks so so much again a very happy Tink :D

[Fairywings]

Oooo p.s Sorry forgot about the chuks, I thought I'd have a really big static area attached to the side of my workshop, so they're bed and laying area is inside the workshop, and then a nice big open run outside. Do you think this would be a good idea? :)

[bonniethomas06]

Goat, goat, goat, goat, goat!!!

[Thomzo]

Oooo p.s Sorry forgot about the chuks, I thought I'd have a really big static area attached to the side of my workshop, so they're bed and laying area is inside the workshop, and then a nice big open run outside. Do you think this would be a good idea? :)

Good idea if you can stand the smell inside your workshop. The set up will keep them safe from predators. But you can still have a moveable run for nice days. Pop a small nesting box in it (a plastic storage box is all you need). Then just train the chooks to follow you to the run each day - it really is possible.

Zoe

[Fairywings]

Ha ha ha I was thinking about a couple of goats, they get through it in no time, but then I would have to make a large area for them, and not sure I have room for them. And wouldn't want them to escape and eat my veggies lol! ;)
I don't think the smell would get too bad with what I have in mind, the workshop I'm thinking of making out of corrugated tin sheets, and would be quite big, with a completely seperate area on the side for me lovely feathered friends! There is only one way to find out I suppose lol! Thank you so much for all these amazing responses! :D

[Fairywings]

well, phase one is afoot. Where I work we get boxes galore in, and we have a back log on collection at the moment, so tomorrow I will be putting them in my van instead.
Question: Yesterday a Farmer told me that if I want to clear the really overgrown bit at the bottom of the garden, I should burn it off with parafin. He said do it in small squares, leave it a day, go over it with a strimmer, and then cover it. What do you think? It would make life a lot easier. If it stays dry I'm doing it this week! Yay!