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Old beds need reviving

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  • 11-07-2011 3:37pm
    #1
    Donie75
    Registered Users Posts: 1,109 ✭✭✭


    Hi,
    I renovated an old 1950's house last year and I am now looking to freshen up the garden. The front garden has a small lawn with 18 inch wide flower beds on 3 sides. 2 sides are bounded by the front and side wall and the other is bounded by a driveway. The beds have a good concrete curbstone dividing them from the lawn. These beds were totally overgrown with large trees and shrubs and I got a gardener to remove a lot of the heavy and dead stuff. I am left with mostly bare beds that are now being overrun with weeds.
    I now want to clear these beds of weeds and cover them with Mypex and gravel or bark. I would like to make the beds low maintenance with some nice small shrubs and grasses.
    Should I use a weed killer to kill off the weeds or will the absence of light prevent weeds from growing?
    I have a lot of old roots and stumps in the beds. Do these need to be killed off?
    Will old daffodil bulbs damage the mypex next spring if they try to grow?
    Are there any other things I need to consider or any good websites or books that cover this type of gardening.

    Thanks


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    #2
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,448 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    If the roots are just random bits of root they mostly will not matter, take out what you come across but otherwise they should be ok. The gardener should really have taken out the stumps, they are going to be a nuisance, and might sprout, depending on what they are. Best thing would be to get them out.

    Weeds, yes give them a treatment of a systemic weedkiller then in about 3 weeks dig the beds and get rid of the remaining dead plants etc. The membrane will keep down weeds pretty well, but there is no harm in helping, they can still grow out of the edges.

    I would suggest: get rid of as much material as possible including stumps and dig it over. dig in some manure (you can buy it bagged, you do not need a huge amount) then cover with membrane, put in your shrubs and add the chippings or whatever you are going to put on top.


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    #3
    Donie75
    Registered Users Posts: 1,109 ✭✭✭Donie75


    Thanks Looksee,
    A few of the stumps are way too big to remove. 2 were from 15 ft high yew trees. Should I get some treatment for these stumps?
    I want to keep some of the old shrubs and plands that are very well established. Is a systemic weedkiller a risk to them? Can I spray close to them?
    Is round up the best thing to use?


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