1/4 Acre What To Do

ricky69

Hi Everyone........Looking for some advice Plz fairly urgent !!!

We moved into our bungalow on a 1/2 acre site a few years ago and had great plans for our garden ......unfor due to the economic downturn we just about manged to get 1/4 acre to look some bit decent. Our problem now is we got about another 1/4 acre which is overgrown and full of weeds and on top of that last year we got a horse in and the hoof damage left behind really destroyed the place.

We're at our wits end to know what to do next to make it some bit respectable as you can imagine with spring comes the grass thistles and weeds Ive got the grass down a bit with a strimmer but theres only a certain amount you can do with a strimmer. A ride on mower was suggested to us which would cost a lot of money which we dont have right now not to mention the maintanance involved so thats a non starter.

A tractor also can only go so deep as well and many farmers are reluctant to cut because of stone damage its a very wet (well was before) we had to get truckloads of sand and stones to sort out our drainage problem which is fine now .

I read somewhere of someone planting wild flowers in such an area and as we both love nature and wildlife we're wondering would it be a cheaper and eco friendlier way of making use of this space.

We're both unfor not into vegetable gardening so a vegetable plot would not be an option but plants and shrubs and even trees we've managed to plant around the house and that worked out fine but planting wildflowers or something similar we wouldnt know where to start .....recently got a quote from a guy to sort this out for us somewhere in the region of 3K he said you can imagine what I told him :eek: ...

We'd like to know if possible :

1) Would we need to cut the grass right down first and then put on weed killer ?

2) Would it need to be dug up and rotivated before laying any seeds ?

3) What would be the best time for doing all this ?

As things are financially we're looking for the cheapest options and we'd really appreciate any feedback ......

Many thanx in advance

Regards

Barry

fiacha

Hi,

That would make a lovely wildflower meadow. Not sure about the correct approach to prep the ground, but the folks at Irish Seed Savers should be able to advise. They sell a Wild Flower seed mix that looks good.

I had a couple of small "wildlife" plots in my last place. Great for butterflies and insects. Used a Wildflower mix and loved the fact that you never knew what might pop up in the flowerbed

Irish Seed Savers

I have no connection with the company.

Good luck,
F.

ricky69

Hi There F .....:)

Yes it sounds like a great idea ok just gotta wait up and see if I get any advice on preparing the ground first want to approach the whole thing the right way if I can ......appreciate your input and thanx for the link I'll check them out when I get some further info....

Many Thanx

Barry

magicbastarder

wildflower meadows often need to be 'defertilised'; if your soil is too fertile, it will benefit weeds more than a lot of other wildflowers.
would you consider a copse of trees? say birch?

ricky69

Hi there

Yes Birch trees have been reccomended to me also ....not sure if my soil would suit though our land was very wet as previously stated and was literally a swamp so we had to get tons and tons of sand top soil and stones to sort out our drainage. As well as that its full of clay and rocks and very infertile Id say. The weeds and thistles seem to thrive though so maybe theres something in what your saying . Do you think that type of soil would suit the Birch Tree ? .....and would I still need to rotivate and put down weed killer before planting ? btw what does a copse consist of how many trees are we talking about ? Excuse the ignorance

Thanx Again

Barry

dfbemt

I would look at 2 options

1 - An orchard of apple, pear and plum trees. If money is tight imagine making all your own juice, jams and cakes for very little cost.

2 - Some trees that you could use for firewood after some years. Again, will save you money down the road but may not be a great option as it looks like the site is to the front of the house

magicbastarder

ricky69 wrote: »

Do you think that type of soil would suit the Birch Tree ?

birch is a pioneer tree, it would have been one of the first trees to arrive in the postglacial period when the soil would have been mainly just glacial clay or sand and gravel.

ricky69

Not too sure about an Orchard with this soil don't really know if Ill succeed in growing anything here at all .... but I suppose Ill never know till I try eh.

The site is to the side of the house actually just an eyesore at the moment so anythings better than wasteland as it looks like now .

Appreciate the suggestion though


Barry

ricky69

magicbastarder wrote: »

birch is a pioneer tree, it would have been one of the first trees to arrive in the postglacial period when the soil would have been mainly just glacial clay or sand and gravel.

Sounds right up my street ...have you grown them yourself ?
Any suggestions on planting or purchasing them ? or maybe Ill find that info online anyway...........thanx again

Barry

magicbastarder

cheapest way of doing it would be to buy them bare root in feb next year; you won't have to worry about staking them, but if you have rabbits or hares you may need tree guards (which aren't particularly attractive) for a year or two..

maringo

Would you think of keeping some pigs on your ground - they would certainly dig it up!!:D

ricky69

maringo wrote: »

Would you think of keeping some pigs on your ground - they would certainly dig it up!!:D

No thanx I got my fill of animals after the horse thanx :eek:

ricky69

magicbastarder wrote: »

cheapest way of doing it would be to buy them bare root in feb next year; you won't have to worry about staking them, but if you have rabbits or hares you may need tree guards (which aren't particularly attractive) for a year or two..

Nice one sounds good ........I'll def keep that in mind

Cheerz

bikebits

spray it with roundup, and leave it for 6 weeks, then burn it if you dare, get a farmer in and rotovate it, leave all the weeds back up spray and burn again, then find a contractor that with a stone buryer and a seeder, usually guys involved in golf courses, he should lay it out for about 500 quid, all in all costs about 700 quid but you'll be without a lawn first year and a perfect weed free lawn 2nd year,

ricky69

Yes bikebits we've already laid down roundup bout 3 weeks ago and was wondering about burning it dont think I'd get away with that in these parts ......we intend to rotivate it as you say and maybe get someone to take away the sods and weeds but another lawn no thanks we got enough lawns to maintain.:)........we were thinking of planting a few trees and maybe a few water features rockerys etc. Do you think we'd need to do put roundup down twice to totally eliminate the weeds even if no lawn is going down or do you think once would suffice ?

thanx for the input


regards


Barry

bikebits

to be honest "i don't know" is the answer to your question, but i was in the same position as you are this time last year.
Got it wrong the first time so had to re do it all over again and took no short cuts 2nd time round.
Was doing my research on the web and the spray twice was the recommendation, something to do with maybe chick weed or perennial grass, can't remember, but i was surprised how many weeds came up the 2nd time after spraying the first so hence i suppose the recommendation of the 2nd spray.
I guess the grass would be competing with these weeds if it were growing if i had sown it after. I'm no expert on gardening just followed what was recommended, so i figured if i can kill as many of those ba**rds as possible I don't have be doing selective weed killing the down the line, for the sake of 6 weeks longer. i did have a good selection of weeds before i started though...
As regards time line, we planted grass in september, thats as late as you want to go, and November for planting trees, basically when the leaves are falling off teh trees, but watch for frost damage, lots of trees were damaged last winter especially hedging, horse manure is a must i am told

bugsntinas

we were/are kinda in the same situation.we have a cottage on 1/2 acre.left the grass too long so got a horse in.it ate it down a good'un but left terrible holes everywhere.left it grow again and i'm battling against 3-4 foot high grass.my solution is a scythe it will chop thru the grass no trouble.i'm going to get the rest chopped down(it's dumped at the top of the field/garden)and towards the end of summer/autumn i'm going to hire a roller to flatten it.that way there's no expense in getting the old sod etc taken away.you cold always dig out a large pond and let nature take care of the surrounding area.

colly71

bikebits wrote: »

to be honest "i don't know" is the answer to your question, but i was in the same position as you are this time last year.
Got it wrong the first time so had to re do it all over again and took no short cuts 2nd time round.
Was doing my research on the web and the spray twice was the recommendation, something to do with maybe chick weed or perennial grass, can't remember, but i was surprised how many weeds came up the 2nd time after spraying the first so hence i suppose the recommendation of the 2nd spray.
I guess the grass would be competing with these weeds if it were growing if i had sown it after. I'm no expert on gardening just followed what was recommended, so i figured if i can kill as many of those ba**rds as possible I don't have be doing selective weed killing the down the line, for the sake of 6 weeks longer. i did have a good selection of weeds before i started though...
As regards time line, we planted grass in september, thats as late as you want to go, and November for planting trees, basically when the leaves are falling off teh trees, but watch for frost damage, lots of trees were damaged last winter especially hedging, horse manure is a must i am told

I sprayed my front lawn last year and had the top sod removed.. its worse than ever now.... my side lawn is twice the size and is a mess, would love a healthy lawn at a low cost...!

ricky69

Hi Guys.......many thanx for all the suggestions and replies.

After a few years due to financial strains and the like we've now finally decided to cover in the area with stones and add a few features as we go along .
The guy doing the job insists we use Taram which is pretty expensive but he says it'll keep the weeds at bay(which includes nettles and thistles I might add) wherby the cheaper stuff won't. Obviously we'll be skimming the surface and putting down weedkiller (Roundup) beforehand .

Our local Co-Op is of the opinion the cheaper alternative Ground Cover/Weed Barrier does much the same job so at nearly 100 euros a roll cheaper and that Taram has largely been discontinued due to lack of demand . I'd like to know if anyone could give me advice on this as I don't want to be back to square one for the sake of a few hundred quid. Also the Co-Op guy maintains the cheaper stuff is easier to work with and to cut through if and when we intend to add some features or plants in the future....he also maintains it would have no bearing on weeds reappearing in the future
So who's right in all his we ain't gotta clue .

Any help greatly appreciated.

Regards

Barry

sheff the ref

Did a 30metre by 20metre area myself with 14mm stone this year. Took 27 ton (20 ton artic load and a smaller truck containing 7 ton. I will probably need another 7 ton load to thicken the stone. I spread it by hand with a shovel using a wheelbarrow.

I used the lighter weed barrier, and the weeds are fine because I used a double layer. The big problem with weeds is that they will actually grow on top of the stone. Any crumb of soil is enough to generate weed growth on top, but there arent that many and you pull them by hand once a week or so

Oldtree

wind blow seed will germinate on stone too, there is no escape from the weeding except concrete...

Degsy

Pigs will root it up,dig it up,eat everything that grows and fertilise it with thier droppings..nothing better for clearing thickets like this.

Ddad

Hi Brian,

Buy the best weed barrier you can afford. Don't believe the guy in the local co-op; he's there to sell what he has and thats what he's doing. The tougher the weed barrier is to cut and work with the more likely it'll be to last. A previous poster was spot on, you will still get weeds on the stone, as a certain ammount of 'soil' will build up under the stone after a few years of leaves and blown in dust and weeds will grab a hold in this.

It'll still require a lot less maintenance than that lawn though. I've an acre to maintain so I know how much work it can be.