6ft tree in the hedge? Ash?

[Oddsocksforeveryone]

I just pulled on what I thought was another one of our nuisance fast growing plants that takes over the hedge every year (and are buggers to dog out ) but this one seems to be a tree. It is about 6ft tall.
What should I do? Is there anything I can even do?

Dig not dog!

Yes it's Ash. Cut it out as much as you can and deprive the root of light.

Thank you

Argh ash! Try and dig down and cut it off underground if you can't pull it out.

We had loads of the bastards as our predecessors clearly let things like that slide for several years. I think our efforts have paid off though, and most have now gone.

I cut it down with a saw yesterday and will get my other half to see if he can dig it up. I only noticed this one because the leaves have come out while the hedge is still brown.
I remember being in a flat and thinking ooh wouldn't a garden be nice. ..

Cats and foxes and weeds and random plants and ants and spiders and now flaming trees, I don't think I am a gardener. Much to my mother's disappointment.

Try painting it with SBK, which is a slightly tougher weedkiller- it's stopped a willow stump, that goes from our house under the pavement, and could not be defeated with axe or saw, from regrowing. And if something can actually kill a willow, it's good stuff!

Oh Oddsocks you're just discouraged and overwhelmed .I felt like that for years and years . Now I have more time and since my neighbour started me off by half a day of digging which enlarged a weedy little bed I can hardly keep myself out of the garden .

Just do what you can ,chipped bark can instantly create a tidier look and will break down and help the soil .

Lots of good advice on here if you say a bit more about what your garden is like .

@arbrighton I will look for that because the devil plants that grow in my hedge and seem to grow a foot a week are nigh on impossible to get out. The roots on last one were almost the size of my 5 yr old curled up.
We had bark @sunny but the cats crap in it even more than they do on the grass, and the size of some of it, there must be a panther loose round here haha.
Looking at all the dandelions and tufts of tall grass in the back yard I thought about getting a rabbit, but the foxes would probably have it lol.

My garden is pretty dreadful, a third of the ground is hard dry cracked earth like a nivea advert, a third looks alright until it rains and becomes a bog, and the rest is random oasises (oases?) of dandelions and tall grass
I've no idea how to fix it so the kids toys are on mats.

Don't be overwhelmed or discouraged.

Gardening takes time even if you know exactly what to do and you learn as you go and sometimes things just don't work. And sometimes it's a bigger picture thing. I could go crazy spotting weeds that I can't currently bend down to pull/ dig or bare patches in the lawn but there are really good bits in my garden, and if I go back to five years ago when we bought the place, it's unrecogniseable.

But as I've said to DH- it's a lifetime project, a garden is never 'finished'

oddsocks don't give up, stay on this thread for ideas and help.
All gardens have difficulties, even those that look perfect. And no garden is perfect. A little at a time is my maxim. Every time I'm outside I remove some ground elder and dandelions, eventually I'll win the battle.
If I have no time I pick the dandelion heads, so they don't seed!
Gardening is a journey of discovery, skill and knowledge, a true gardener never gets to the end!

Yes, at the moment, as i'm nearly 30 weeks pregnant, I just try to do something in the garden each day- I pulled a few weeds out of the veg patch today, put in a few new plants to fill gaps yesterday, will try to do the lawn feed this weekend if it's dry.

Once we get a bit further into summer, if I get it watered and any dead heading done, that'll be as good as it gets!

Thank you :) I shall do the 'one thing a day'
I'm currently 12 weeks pregnant with dc4, ds1 is 7, ds2 is 5 so they can help. Dd1 is 9 months so she can supervise lol.

I actually got dh to build me a big planter in the front garden (is not filled yet) and yesterday he picked up paving slabs so I think maybe when that's done I will have a little area to be proud of and that might get me in the mood lol.
I've been here over 5 years but because my attempts keep failing I think I just gave up.

Do you all have "gardening essentials' like gloves/trowel etc?

Congratulations oddsocks, I hope everything goes well.
Wilkos is a great place to get essentials. Much of my equipment is from there and still going strong after many years.
I always use gloves, the thicker leather type for pruning etc and the thinner ones for light weeding, planting etc.
Having said Wilkos is good, it does not pay to buy their cheapest range, go for the ones that seem well made. Good sturdy pruners, hand fork and trowel are worth the little extra, but I don't buy top of the range as I often 'lose' them!

Sorry, Congratulations to you as well arbrighton 😊

Gloves etc are essential yes, although I haven't yet found anything that isn't defeated by the bleddy hawthorn spines on the hedge clippings....

Agree, don't buy cheap tools, they break, spend a bit more on a decent trowel and secateurs at the very least. I'm gutted- I had my grandpa's secateurs, which were still really good, even being probably older than me, but as slightly rusted/brown colour, had gone into a bag of garden waste and the tip I think :( So, buy BRIGHT gloves and tools!

Just do a bit at a time- perhaps some cheap and cheerful bedding plants for your planter this year- the two oldest should be helpful for that, they're about the age of the groups we have for school gardening club

And I have a lovely long failure list.....

I gardened!
Behold my planter and my other half's patio!
@Arbrighton,I don't know how you do it. I've still got sickness so I threw up in the garden at one point, the kids were not impressed.
My mum was so exited she was telling people I was planting and brought some flowers from her garden.
I'm 32!

I may have gone a bit mad with the pansies.

Oh that's lovely! And they will be protected from slugs !

Though how you did while throwing up ,I don't know !

How pretty, don't forget to remove the spent flowers to encourage more flowers.

I opened the curtains today and the yellow flowers in the centre were flat. Maybe they wilted over night? I am wondering if a cat slept on them though because we do have cats that come and sleep in our garden.

Slightly discouraged but the pansies are all fine so that's good. I could put a net on but that kind of defeats the point of the thing as it would ruin the look.

I have more pansies I can plant if the yellow flowers are gonners

The 'yellow flowers' look like primulas, they might have been affected by the cold night air, or have not been watered enough. It's quite cold and dry for this time of year. They should recover as they're quite tough.

Ladies, I have bought my first trowel, fork and gloves.
From the Ringtons man haha. They seem sturdy, nice wooden handles.
Primulas yes I think that's what my mum said when she brought them.

Have discovered the hose won't reach round the front so I need to invest in a watering can as using a bottle took forever.

Prims don't mind frost but they do dry out pretty quickly. It was quite warm and dry over the weekend, DH and I watered both days and my peony was sagging until it was done. The prims should perk right up though. Kids can water- our gardening club kids really enjoy it. We have small watering cans (houseplant type) for them

As for how I do it- sheer bloody minded ness TBH. Get all tools for a bit handy in bucket, flop down onto kneeler (sit, can't kneel, but essential to avoid sitting on hawthorn) and do a chunk. Pick out hedge trimmings, pull off rampant ivy, weed, trim lawn edge, sow some seed and plant some perennials.

Heft self and kneeler along 3 feet. Repeat. Cry as I am so slow and frustrated

Went to garden centre today to get a specific new trowel for my mum. And remembered to get the new long handled lawn edge shears I need. They weren't cheap but our previous cheap set were useless. And got my obelisks for my new tubs that DH put the drainage holes etc in yesterday then filled with compost for me. Won't move the sweetpeas out of the cold frame just yet though.

Am dreading frost. I have dahlias in pots hopefully started, geraniums back out (but still in pots) and had been planting assuming spring was well sprung. WE're also a bit worried about all the blossom on the apple trees