The best way to weed garden?

thelibertyboy · 15-06-2021 10:33am #1

Hi fols i just trimmed and mowed my seriously weedy garden my question is i got a large spray bottle of round up what the best way to weed the garden so they will never come back? should i rotovate first then weed or just spray the whole garden? without rotovating?

thanks

macraignil · 15-06-2021 12:24pm

There is no way to weed your garden so they never come back. Even if you got agent orange or napalm to incinerate all living things in your garden there would still be wind dispersed seed from dandelion, willow herbs and goat willow and others that would arrive fairly soon to occupy bare soil.

If you spray roundup on bare ground it does not have any effect on weeds. It is a systemic weed killer so the chemical usually needs to be taken in by plant leaves so it can spread through the plant to kill it. If you rotovate ground you will expose seeds deeper in the soil to light and stimulate them to start growing. I don't agree with using toxic chemicals in my garden so find the best way to remove weeds is picking them between finger and thumb when they are small and are easy to pull up and just use a trowel or fork to dig them up if they have got bigger.

Happy gardening!

Fitzet68 · 25-06-2021 9:05am

It can be a lot of work to clear a weedy garden but if you use roundup you are going to kill everything weeds or not. Also given roundup's fearsome reputation you probably thing one application will do it but you will need to reapply again and again to subdue perennial weeds. And you'll be left with a brown burned garden that you are going to have to clear anyway.

You may think I'm crazy but I would manually dig it all out. I wouldn't rotivate it either. If you have scutch or bindweed in there you will chop the roots into a million pieces and you have multiplied your problem a thousand fold.

Just do a section at a time. You could cover the parts you are not working on in layers or old cardboard which will help weaken the weeds underneath over time.

Skrynesaver · 25-06-2021 9:47am

Fitzet's suggestion of collecting cardboard and using it to kill off weeds is a good one, you can cover it with grass cuttings and as it mulches down it will improve the soil as it kills off the weeds.

25-06-2021 10:53am

Evergreen 4 in 1 and scarify it will remove all the weeds.

victor8600 · 25-06-2021 11:12am

If you want to start with a weed free lawn, just strip the top soil completely, put the clean soil, and put the lawn grass on top. If you want to keep your lawn mostly weed free, put the artificial lawn on top.

If you think I am joking, I am not. Personally, I went the hard route with some unnecessary steps -- dug out the soil to the depth of 30-50cm, took all the construction rubbish and larger stones out, made drainage channels with removed stones, removed all weed roots by hand, made the previously clayish soil lighter with sand and compost and then seeded with grass. I just love mucking about. It took hours and hours of work and around a year to complete. Weeds do come out still, but with regular mowing they do not overwhelm the grass.

Hocus Focus · 25-06-2021 11:58am

Do a Google search using the keywords "no dig gardening". This will give you info on how to suppress weeds using cardboard, as mentioned above. Generally this involves the use of large sheets of cardboard covered with garden compost, but if you don't have any of that just use a light layer of topsoil. You could also use large sheets of plastic Damp-Proof Membrane, but the former method is more sustainable.
When you have achieved a situation where you have a weed -free plot, then you can seed your designated lawn area and plan out beds and borders in which you can control the weeds either by periodic manual weeding or with the use of mulches, weed control fabric etc. If using fabric cover it with stones or gravel. If using an organic mulch, such as bark, which is inclined to blow away if used with fabric, just put it directly on the soil and replenish periodically, as it will break down over time. There will still be some weeds appearing through these media, but early manual removal will control them.

tDw6u1bj · 25-06-2021 5:58pm

Are you talking about a lawn or bedding?

If it's a lawn then just mowing it will prevent most weeds (especially the big annoying ones like brambles) from growing.
After that you'll be left with stuff like buttercups and dandelions that you can either just accept or spray for with a selective weed-killer.

Really it depends on what you want the end result to be.

zagro1 · 27-06-2021 1:54pm

I tell you what I do to prepare soil for bushes without any chemicals. Lots of work but it's worth. Few sunny days needed

cut and remove manualy large weeds with roots (nettle, thistle)
rotovate the whole area, roots up and let all the weeds dry for 2-3 days and then remove everything
apply compost/manure
cover the whole area with 100g fabric
planting starts in October
Fabric won't let any weeds to grow and it is much better option than any chemicals even round up
If you use too much chemicals, I quarantee, every time you taste your fruits or vegetables you'll recall from memory all the 'skull and crossbones' ingridients listed at the back sticker

jmreire · 12-10-2021 4:39pm

Slightly different problem, but also linked to weed control. I spent a month abroad, and in that time the lawn has has grown beyond managable to the extend that even if we got 2 weeks of 25c, and no rain, I don't think that the Honda 2417 will be able for it ( had to stop after about 15 mtrs on the first attempt, but while the top of the grass was dry, underneath was still very wet )

So what I think I would need ( but I'm no expert ) is the equivalent of the mowing bar on a tractor cutting silage, only a much smaller version, a hand pushed one, like a normal lawnmower, but with the same scissor blades that the silage cutter has. Another idea might be to strim the whole area ( and might have to resort to this if all else fails, but its nearly 3/4 of an acre ) Any ideas, suggestions anyone on how to tame my lawn again? If I knew any local farmer with sheep, I'd offer the grass to him, but unfortunately I don't, and even if I did, I'm not sure how it would work out.

looksee · 12-10-2021 7:14pm

Firstly, a farmer would not want the grass, you know its ok but he needs to be sure and afaik they will not accept it.

We had a similar problem with a similar area and it was strimmed then mowed. Tedious but in the end the easiest solution.

jmreire · 12-10-2021 8:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118010601#Comment_118010601

Looks like you will be right......another job for the instalment plan,,,,😓 And as it happens, there's a elderly neighbor who lets the vacant 1 acre site he has to a local Lady who keeps 2 retired horses ( TBH, one acre does not last 2 big horses very long...) and sometimes she is looking for grass, so it would seem the ideal solution. She gets the grass, and the grass gets the manure, but I think that big heavy animals like horses would make the ground very uneven, especially for a ride on mower to use afterwards...Unless I can find a small walk behind mower like I mentioned earlier, that has a mowing bar, just like the tractor driven ones used for cutting silage.

Jim_Hodge · 12-10-2021 10:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118010961#Comment_118010961

Horses shouldn't be put out on rich grass anyway.

jmreire · 13-10-2021 12:05am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118011606#Comment_118011606

Probably, you are right, but my neighbour allows his friend to "park" her two horses ( one of them is a retired race horse ) on his acre of ground, which is similar to mine. And I know literally nothing about farming or livestock, including Horses ( which I like)......hell, I don't even know how to civilize the lawn which has gone completely out if control during my months absence,,,,,😲

Discodog · 17-10-2021 5:12pm

This might be what you need.

https://www.hss.ie/g/62146/power-scythe.html

jmreire · 17-10-2021 5:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118032820#Comment_118032820

Yes. you are right, that's exactly what I need. Thanks for your help.🙂

Discodog · 17-10-2021 7:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118032876#Comment_118032876

Might be best to cut it high first just to check there is nothing to damage the blade.

jmreire · 17-10-2021 10:49pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118033324#Comment_118033324

To the best of my knowledge, the worst I should encounter would be knotted clump's of grass..but in any case, cutting high first would be the way to go. These machines are a smaller( much smaller ) version of the ones used for silage cutting, and would be pretty rugged at that. I'm not expecting stones or branches, as before this, it was a pretty well maintained lawn, big and all as it is. The Honda 1724 was more than a match for it, and aside from tree branches after a storm, I've never had problems with knotted grass clumps with it before now, So hopefully the power scythe will not meet any problems. Thanks

The best way to weed garden?

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