Gardening without weed killer - am I wasting my time?

[TyrionsNextWife]

I have a large garden that was overrun with ivy and brambles, I’ve spent months clearing them and I’m making good progress. The problem is, everywhere’s now being taken over by things like ground elder and dandelions. I’ve been clearing them by hand but I don’t really think I’m getting anywhere and there’s a lot of ground to cover!
I’m wary of using weed killer for a couple of reasons - firstly there’s loads of beautiful plants dotted around that I don’t want to damage, and more importantly my gardens full of bees and other wildlife that I don’t want to kill or scare away.
I don’t care about perfect flower beds and manicured lawns (it’s very much a country cottage type garden) but I do want to keep the weed so under control.
Any ‘natural’ suggestions or do I just have a choice between weeds or roundup?

I have just taken over a fairly big, once loved but neglected for a few years, garden.
Oh my God. Millions of weeds.
Ivy chocking trees.
Ground elder in the old veg patch.
Bindweed popping up all of a sudden, from where I thought I'd dug out all the ground elder.
Brambles entwined with overgrown shrubs.

Gravel paths everywhere. Grass all through them, buttercups, thistles and dandelines, wild geraniums, docks. Loads of others.

I mean, it's wonderful. The biodiversity, birds, different sort of bees, lady birds and lots of other beetles.

But fuck. There was a mouse the other day sitting under a dandelion like a children's book illustration. Woodlice, ants, and the slugs.

I don't want to use sprays or slug pellets or anything like that, but I've worked so feckin hard and there's barely a dent made.

@7Days well, for slugs, I'd definitely recommend a few well placed beer traps.

I put one out every few days last autumn when we moved in and my god, the size of them, like fingers! Gross but satisfying!

Still have slugs, but no where near as many and at least the giants never got chance to procreate and over winter.

Brambles and ivy have to be cut back.

I leave my dandelions for the bees. I've never used weed killer at home or the allotment. I accept there'll be "weeds" and I pull them out when I can be bothered.

Please continue not to use weed killer for the sake of the environment and thank you for resisting so far. My garden is about an acre and only tended by me at weekends and is open for ngs. We do have some weeds of course and cope by having some wilder areas which we are relaxed about!

7days Your new garden is still loved !! By the wild life! Sweet description of the mouse under a dandelion .

Ivy doesn't 'choke' trees by the way, an arborealist told me and he should know. Most of my trees have ivy decorating them and they're very alive!

Fascinating thread. I'm an old gimmer and try to be green, though I've used glyphosate in the past and I wouldn't use anything else.

For people struggling, I'd go for a multi-pronged approach.

Hack stuff down as much as you can. For very overgrown gardens a strimmer - literally - won't cut it Look into brushcutters to help cut stuff right down. Then use old carpet etc to cover some areas whilst you work through the rest. I've never used a weeding wand/flamethrower as ^^, but they're well-recommended, certainly for paved areas, so would probably be good for gravel paths too.

If you've spotted plants you'd like to keep, dig them up and pot them temporarily while you do the clearing, you can replant them later.

Now, focus. Map out an area of just a square yard (I measure in old money It doesn't have to be square in shape, iyswim, but just a small area. Focus on it - forget the rest of the garden. Clear that square yard as thoroughly as you can. That's ONE square yard. Move onto the next square yard. Ditto. That's TWO square yards. Repeat as necessary IIRC, it's a tip from the luffly Monty Don and I found it hugely helpful. Keep going as steadily and thoroughly as you can and you will get on top of the weeds eventually. In neglected gardens, there'll be a lot of weed seed and roots accumulated in the ground and ready to grow as you clear the vigorous stuff, so you might have to go over the ground a couple of times, but it really will pay dividends and the weeds will decrease as you progress.

Completely agree about Geoff Hamilton - look for his Practical Gardening Course - very comprehensive and readable.

For slugs and snails - much sympathy, their depredations can be heart-breaking, they really can. Look up nematodes - no chemical nasties, completely biological control and very effective.

Much good luck!

What is the best tool for cutting? I have bad knees and back so it would be a long-handled tool. Not too heavy, either. It's for ground elder. Anyone know? Thanks!

I have much ground elder.

I dig it out as I see it come up. I find it pops up everywhere this time of year but if you can keep on top of it now then it won’t come to much later in the year.

I leave the ground elder behind my pond as it has snakes living in it. It’s lovely when it flowers.

@Wauden, I use this Weed slice hoe makes short work of weeds, done regularly and very nice to use.

You can pour boiling water on weeds. Please don't use chemicals

@NanTheWiser thanks for that. Although my garden is heavy clay! I like the no dig approach.

Wauden have you tried mowing your ground elder every week , without fail? That works apparently.

There’s so much great advice on this thread!! I’ve been ploughing on with pulling the ground elder by hand, and I’m making definite progress - there’s still new shoots coming through, but they’re coming out easily and much thinner then before.

Another couple of weeks and I think I’ll be ready to start planting flower beds

Thanks for the update - pleased for you that you're getting there. Keep us posted and pics if poss - I love nosing round seeing other people's gardens.

3dogs2cats: I don’t agree with you at all about honeysuckle not being a weed. after a week of watching the bloody honeysuckle in my garden sprout ar a Rate of knots this week I’ve done some more research. It’s ridiculous you can almost see it growing.

I am pretty sure it’s lonicera japoonica which is classed as invasive in the US and New Zealand. There is a whole load of info about what a huge problem it is, strangling native plants, and it has certainly killed off some of mine.

I was shocked to see that garden centres sell it in the U.K. don’t plant it, people, you will regret it. It should have stayed in its native Asia.

I have native honeysuckle and it is very polite, and also very pretty. Wonderful for bumblebees and moths, fragrantly amazing. I have one in a dry spot and its having difficulty growing. Recommended, no invasive intentions revealed and probably better for wildlife than an imported strain.

Check out the Sheen 360 flame gun on You Tube

Snip the heads off the dandelions before they can produce seeds. Dig them out when you have time. Ground elder can be fixed with weed suppression fabric and regular digging.

Curly With this weather EVERYTHING is sprouting madly in my garden, it is spring after all.

I've got 6 different types of honeysuckle in the garden and they're all lovely, I love the scent so much, not particularly invasive, but that suits me anyhow!

I discovered last year how to make dandelion jelly. First time ever I actually look forward to dandelions.

Come on then bellini let's have the recipe I often use fresh new nettles in my soups. I do take dandelion as a supplement from my friendly herbalist I know they're good for us.

It's like a cheap version of local honey. Loads of recipes online. Not sure which one I used last year.

My precious all in the freezer waiting for me to make dandelion jelly.

Ok. So I've spent every spare moment in the garden the last few weeks.
Turns out ground elder is a well behaved old thing. You can follow a root underground and once it's rumbled it'll come up. And it's easy pick off the little pockets of resistance. Satisfying.
Bindweed is a bitch though. The roots just snap in your hands, you can almost hear the gleeful little cackle when they've thwarted you.

But the gravel paths, they're almost indistinguishable from the 'lawn'.
It's so massive there's not much I can do except do a while each day - focusing on a particular plant. E.g. get the children to pick me flowers. So weeds don't get to set seed as much. While i try and root out clumps of grass and dandelions and thistles and over stuff. Big deep parsnips who have broken through the old membrane from years ago

70days Oh gravel is great for everything to germinate on! The last inhabitants of our house threw a ton of it over our front garden and drive I've just allowed it to become what it wants to be, a lovely mixed herb and grass lawn, I mow when it gets too long , the wheel bits just look after themselves, apart from the central area which is mowed occasionally. Learn to love your weeds I say .