Eco friendly weed and bramble killer

[Herecomethehotstepper]

Does such a thing exist?

My garden is more weeds than grass. It was completely overgrown at the beginning of the year but I've managed to clear it. I've put down grass seed that has come up lovely but so many weeds! The bastard brambles are also constantly popping up all over the lawn. I got the majority of the roots up from my side, but next doors garden is overgrown so they sneak in from there.

They also reach in through the chain link fence. Is there some sort of barrier I can put up? Or grow something along the fence to ward them off. I have kids, dogs, rabbits and lots of lovely bees that visit my garden so I'd like something non toxic if possible.

Bastard brambles indeed, oh how I hate them. I wish I had the answer for you but I'm just book marking in case someone else has. I've got some inaccessible areas where they're rooted so I just chop them back dressed in leather gauntlets , thick fleece jacket & a waterproof. Any bits left behind just root again & even bits cut through will start sprouting again. Nothing seems to work on them apart from digging out & that isn't always successful either.

You could try covering the ground with cardboard or newspaper for a few years or do what the rest of us do and use glyphosate.

@Timesdone Same here 😔 My garden had been overgrown for about 4 years and when I started clearing it I found bramble branches as thick as my wrist! I had to saw them off and then dig them out. They grow so bloody fast as well. Thanks for the blackberries, but kindly fuck off out of my garden now.

I just googled glyphosate, no fucking way!

The eco method is to cover them - card, old carpet, and deprive them of light, burn them with a flame torch, or dig them out.
Or its harsh chemicals to kill them.
Sorry.

@RedCatBlueCat Damn. So are the advertised 'eco friendly' weed killers a load of rubbish?

For something as invasive as a bramble, yes!

My neighbour killed off ground alder by using boiling water, salt and vinegar. That was about 3m a go and no sign of it yet

In that case you just have to keep digging out the roots, I've never managed to eradicate mine but I do keep them fairly under control that way. Any roots I can't dig out (too deep or from under the fence) I just chop off over and over again.

Manual method of pulling out is my approach. When its been wet and the soil lets things out more easily I go around with a screwdriver and dig / pull out weeds.

Need to keep on top of it. And feel really bad when your child blows a dandelion head across your garden!

if you've just cleared and overgrown garden I'd be tempted to let the grass grow quite long again to starve smaller weeks of light. But you'd need to stay off the grass, which is rubbis in the summer!

I'm about to move into a property that's been empty for 5yrs and the brambles and ivy are equally huge! I've been watching videos on youtube about using salt to kill the roots. Not sure if it works for the tendrils coming from next door, but worth a try. This video is for ivy, but I'm going to use it on brambles too. Rather than the duct tape, if the root is thick, you can also drill a hole in the centre and top up the salt in there too. BTW- the salt is not a quick fix and could take months! I'm planning on trying it though.

Salt? Never heard of that before, I'm off to watch the video thanks

Salt won't do much for your soil. It may kill the plants you are targetting, but until there's been enough rain to wish most of it away, I would expect you to have difficult getting anything else established. Except maybe asparagus and samphire.

If you keep mowing the brambles they will eventually go away. We have been strimming brambly areas since last year and the brambles are going or have gone. For the less vigorous ones, pull them out by the roots in the winter when they aren't actively growing, by less vigorous I mean the ones with stems not as thick as your wrists, it's hard on the arms but they do pull up in Dec, Jan time.

@Herecomethehotstepper
@Timesdone

Cough cough

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-85kg-ammonium-sulphamate-sulfamate/184255787436

Only licensed in the EU as a compost accelarant, if you accidentally spill this on plant life, it will kill them and then break down harmlessly in the soil as a fertiliser. Even very tricky stubborn weeds like mares tail, brambles, bindweed, ground elder, etc.

explanation It's as good and ecological as you're going to get, except by fire.

@TheNoodlesIncident Thank you! 😮

@TheNoodlesIncident thanks for the info, very helpful.

You don't get more eco friendly than physical control. But against brambles it's gonna be a war of attrition. Cut down, dig up, and keep going round regularly. You may also need to replace the fence with a solid one.

Pigs!

@TheNoodlesIncident

Thank you. I need some of that for my compost heap..

I'm very clumsy though so will make sure I don't accidentally water all the arsing brambles and ivy and various weeds growing from neighbours jungle into mine. Must remember to wear my glasses so I don't confuse the brambles for my compost bin :D