massively overgrown garden, no time

JuliusCaesar

Not me, but a friend who has an enormous city garden - 90m long, as wide as house (semiD) and garage. Unfortunately due to work hours and commuting, he does not have any time to look after it and it has become very wild, grass thigh-high, blackberries gone wild, nettles etc. But some nice fruit trees and some rose bushes have survived. He attacked it with brush-cutter and got it down last year with major effort every weekend, but this year didn't have the time or motivation and so it's as bad as ever. No money to hire anyone tackle it or to look after it.

I was wondering if you think there might be any point in advertising it as available for anyone who wants to grow vegetables or whatever - a kind of large allotment, in return for keeping a 3 metre area of grass cut at the patio. Would anyone be interested in this kind of arrangement? I first thought maybe guerilla gardeners, but it's behind the house so not visible AND not public land (although you could call it derelict )

lazybones32

Jobsbridge/Slavebridge strikes again!

What experience will the intern 'gain'?

catallus

If you get a donkey he'll eat all the overgrown grass and stuff. Would that be possible?

magicbastarder

is there side access to the back garden?
there was a scheme along the lines of what you mention, championed by hugh fearnley whittingstall - to create a register of people with gardens they don't have time/interest in upkeeping (is that a word), but were willing to let others use for fruit & veg growing.

i'd find out if there's a horticultural club in the area; i do know people who would definitely love to garden, but who live in apartments.

one of the biggest issues would be trust - obviously security for your friend, and continued access for whomever takes on the garden. they may be suspicious of being brought in to do the heavy lifting, and then access revoked before they get to enjoy the (literal) fruits of their labours.

JuliusCaesar

magicbastarder wrote: »

is there side access to the back garden?

yes.

magicbastarder wrote: »

there was a scheme along the lines of what you mention, championed by hugh fearnley whittingstall - to create a register of people with gardens they don't have time/interest in upkeeping (is that a word), but were willing to let others use for fruit & veg growing.

That's brilliant! I've google it and found newspaper articles about it, so I'll pass this on.





PS - if he doesn't have time for a garden, I don't think the donkey would be the better of it!

magicbastarder wrote: »

one of the biggest issues would be trust - obviously security for your friend, and continued access for whomever takes on the garden. they may be suspicious of being brought in to do the heavy lifting, and then access revoked before they get to enjoy the (literal) fruits of their labours.

Good points, something to think about.

magicbastarder

i forgot to mention that that scheme i mentioned was only operating in the UK at the time i heard of it.

pwurple

If he can't maintain the growth, perhaps it's time to out down hard landscape? A patio?

I honestly don't see how it took 6 months of weekends to strim a garden that size. Get a decent strimmer and the job is done for months with an hour or two of work. Grass, nettles and fresh growth brambles are all soft enough.

Supercell

Where is it (roughly?)

JuliusCaesar

pwurple wrote: »

If he can't maintain the growth, perhaps it's time to out down hard landscape? A patio?

I honestly don't see how it took 6 months of weekends to strim a garden that size. Get a decent strimmer and the job is done for months with an hour or two of work. Grass, nettles and fresh growth brambles are all soft enough.

A 90metre patio?! That's a car park!

I guess when you are middle-aged and don't have as much energy as you did when you are 20, and the weekends are the time to catch up on chores/shop, and even have a social life, and when you also have other responsibilities like the wider family and grandchildren, all these things take time. Even just raking it all up and wheel-barrowing it to the rubbish heap at the end of the garden takes time and energy. Also a brush cutter was needed. And there were stones and wooden debris and some neighbours had used it for rubbish

And where did I say 6 months of weekends??

Supercell - it's in NI.

Sam Kade

2 pigs would have clean it off in no time throw them a bit of feeding morning and evening and sell to a butcher.

pwurple

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

A 90metre patio?! That's a car park!

I guess when you are middle-aged and don't have as much energy as you did when you are 20, and the weekends are the time to catch up on chores/shop, and even have a social life, and when you also have other responsibilities like the wider family and grandchildren, all these things take time. Even just raking it all up and wheel-barrowing it to the rubbish heap at the end of the garden takes time and energy. Also a brush cutter was needed. And there were stones and wooden debris and some neighbours had used it for rubbish

And where did I say 6 months of weekends??

Supercell - it's in NI.

This person has no interest, not no time. What's middle aged anyway these days? My parents are in their 60's, both still work, have children and grandchilden, friends etc and keep a garden larger than that, with no help.

Put down a couple of usable areas, like a patio or a deck with some seating, gravel the rest around the trees, and it's very low maintenance.

redser7

Buy a slab of beer and invite a crowd round for a tidy up BBQ. But you'll have to cover it up or cultivate it or end up at square one again.

ABajaninCork

What about putting down artificial grass? Looks great, keeps the weeds down and NO CUTTING!!

I like the tidy party too. Did something like that in London - Invited a load of mates round for chicken, beer and rum punch whilst they painted my living room. Great fun!

pablo128

Get a bottle of roundup and spray it on whatever you dont want. 2 weeks later it'll be dead. Jobs a good'un.

ABajaninCork

pablo128 wrote: »

Get a bottle of roundup and spray it on whatever you dont want. 2 weeks later it'll be dead. Jobs a good'un.

Not on a 90m garden!!