Clearing grass/weeds and interim cover

[thinnerlikeachickendinner]

Hi all,

We are unearthing our new garden from 30 years of neglect which is so exciting as underneath overgrown privet and griselinia etc there are signs of a lovely old layout.

There’s a sort of back garden bit which has a wall round it and is now waist high weeds and shreds of old grass - we are cutting it back and eventually might put raised beds in it with herbaceous, poss herbs and veg patch. Right now I only want to clear it out to have a place to sit.

I know from experience that just putting cardboard and bark down on what’s there won’t be enough to get rid of the weeds (in ireland and the grass and buttercups are very tough with a real will to survive!)

My plan was: cut it all back and cover it with tarp for a month. Then weed out by hand. Then cover with cardboard and a very thick layer of fresh bark chippings.

I’d rather not use any chemicals.

Any advice to improve this? We are leaving an unmowed section to the front of the house - I just need to clear this bit and hopefully have somewhere to sit on a nice wooden table and chairs.

Perhaps you could pull out everything that will come out relatively easily first, cut the rest down to ground level and then cover it up? You might need to leave it covered for longer than a month though.

Be warned - once it is uncovered, thousands of seeds which have been lying dormant biding their time will all suddenly decide to germinate. So you will have to keep on top of them and pull them out when they are still small.

If you want to use it this year I'd be tempted to strim it and then mow it at least weekly, and when you're in the mood dig out the most annoying weeds, then cover in the autumn for over winter to prep next spring. Crappy lawns will rejuvenate with frequent mowing in my experience.

Yes I'd just keep cutting back and pulling out when you can over summer as you're in the growing season and then try your attach with cardboard etc over winter. Slightly off what you asked there's a book called veg in one bed which I've found fab as a go to guide for planting veg. You could even carve a spot out for onions, garlic and potatoes to grow over winter this year! (Pot your potatoes and any mint as they run wild!!)

I think I’d do a no dig variant when I finally planted it. I found digging out the most awful stuff like brambles and docks then covering with manure, grass clippings other mulch stuff and 3 layers of cardboard and another layer of manure worked well. Then planted through the cardboard.

Oh you lovely people I’d momentarily forgotten I started this thread. This is all so helpful.

@MustardRose yes, this is sort of what we’re doing right now, it is absolutely crazy. It’s surrounded by a brick wall (not a particularly nice one, they managed to use the most hideous red bricks, not nice lovely old ones, but hey ho). You literally couldn’t see this wall for overgrowth, so many sycamore saplings and ivy over everything. When we started cutting back we discovered three beautiful roses, a lilac tree, a couple of other nice trees and shrubs that were wildly overgrown. So we’ll continue with that and see what else emerges!

@ViperAtTheGatesOfDawn amazing name, yes it’s actually too thick and high for the poor strimmer, the first outing we really have to cut it all back with shears. The buttercups have taken over so severely that there’s not much grass left, but you’re right in that they will then regrow in a more lawn shape. I could sprinkle a bit of grass seed in between.

@Tickly that is a great recommendation and not off topic at all as one of my next threads was going to be about winter veg. I’ve got mint in pots at the moment and have grown potatoes in those bag things before.

@BarkingUpTheWrongRoseBush yes I would prefer no dig, luckily in this particular spot there is only one bramble (absolutely tons elsewhere though) so any advice you have on bramble removal would be great.