Help! Large flower bed just full of weeds

[Janefx40]

I’m not a gardener and don’t know what to do. My garden is small and mostly taken up by a huge flower bed…it’s roughly 8 metres by 3. I have planted a few things over the years. A rose, herbs, some other flowering shrubs and other bits but there is still lots of spare earth that is obviously just full of weeds. Currently one whole area is turning into grass.

i weed it periodically but because i don’t have enough plants to cover the space, weeds return. Add to that the garden behind is running wild so I’m in a constant battle to stop brambles taking hold and I now have extensive bindweed.

I can’t afford to fill it with plants. I periodically go and spent £100+ on plants and it barely touches the surface in such a large bed.

So help!!! What do I do? I will take out the worst weeds but they will just come back.

At this point I’m not even looking for it to be beautiful…just not chaos.

Oh and DP doesn’t want me to mulch with wood chip etc as it is raised and still in a slope and he thinks (quite rightly) it will just end up on the lawn.

Also not a gardener and have a very similar issue at the moment. Wondering if a wildflower patch might be the answer?

Try and keep it under control over winter then next spring, buy some seeds and grow them in e.g yogurt pots, empty milk cartons cut in half etc, eh voila a whole year of bedding plants for a few quid of seeds.

I've even sifted through bird seed for the sun flower seeds which worked really well and gave me some slightly wacky unusual looking sunflowers.

If you're quick, grab a bag of daffodil bulbs from somewhere like home bargains and plant them now.

Buy something like phlox that will just spread quickly and cover as much space as it can get at. Look for “ground cover” plants and fast spreading plants. If you get seeds in the ground over the next few weeks (before the frosts) then by spring some of them will be popping up.

Basically you need to crowd out the brambles, and just keep pulling out as much bindweed as you can.

Op if you have any perennials in there you might well be able to split them now and get more plants that way.
I fill my beds with plants but still have a terrible ongoing problem with bindweed. I get a lot of brambles too but the bindweed is the bane of my life. I don’t want to use weed killers so it’s constant weeding and trying to dig out the roots in Spring. I will never get rid of it though. Even in very full beds it emerges everywhere.
Seeds, as a pp has said, are the best way to get lots more plants on a budget. You could pick three or four varieties of seed types that you can sow directly in the bed in late Spring. Or buy a few plants that easily establish and spread over time. I have Asters everywhere at the moment as they have self spread.
What sorts of flowers do you like ?

No!

Wildflowers are more work than planted beds and the weeds will take over more in soil with high nutrients such as beds with roses in.

The key thing OP is to identify what weeds they are.

Most beds can be kept weed free with regular light hoeing, as in buy a hoe and leave it somewhere that you can easily access it, and go out twice a week and just go over the top surface, running the hoe back and forth to slice the heads off of any weeds you see and ones you can't yet see.

If it is rife with bindweed or couch grass though that's a different matter but the same approach, go out regularly and fork out the roots of every bit of bindweed or couch grass that you see and remove these and put them in a green council bin.

For the non planted areas, you can for example sow seeds such as poppies, cosmos, marigolds, nemophilia, to fill the gaps, or buy a cottage garden flower pack and sow that, or buy a few creeping thyme and rosemary plants and plant those. I find creepying thyme indeed one called wooly thyme, will very quickly cover lots of ground that keeps the weeds down. And when you buy more plants, buy things that bulk up and split each autum to increase your plant numbers.

Or you could go nuclear, buy the best quality ground cover, cut out holes for the plants you already have, and cover the whole lot, put sides around it to hold it down and cover in woodchip. If you have the budget and really do not want to do much gardening at all.

Or take the whole thing out and put grass down. Or a patio.

I use strawberry plants as ground cover, it takes a year or so to get the runners but once they get going they cover the whole area. You have to direct the runners and the plants need to be kept watered during the summer. For shady areas I use violets, again they self seed.

As you've been advised above, seeds are your economical friend!

Mow it down, weed lay weed suppressant fabric over it, peg it down. Let the dark kill off what it can, then pay a gardener, in the Spring, not someone who just cuts grass, to give you a few hours of advice.

Could you layer cardboard over the weediest areas and top that with really deep straw mulch, to deprive the weeds of light? When straw mulch gets wet it tends to clump together so it wouldn’t blow over the lawn as much.

I have the exact same problem! My planned solution is to turf over three quarters of it and keep a smaller bed. We have a big garden so DH and I have moved plants I that have also spent a fortune on over the years to other parts of the garden or planters. We need to prep the soil and dig up as many of the remaining weeds as we can. Then chat gpt said we can keep mowing the weeds down with the grass until the turf establishes itself then start using a broad leaf weed killer that won’t affect the turf ( this will bring another problem as we have a dog and a cat). After years of unsuccessfully battling the weeds we have also given up on one corner and planted trees / re wilded and this is now our last ditched attempt at managing the massive bed before we give up and move.

OP have you ever asked a professional Gardner to look at your bed? I don’t ask I think this is a potential solution, I ask as I have had only two gardeners in 10 years out who even considered tackling our garden. One would only strim and run, which meant the weeds came back with a vengeance, and one who only lasted two visits before ghosting me. The rest who came to quote, I never heard from again. So I figured if pro gardeners can’t cope with our weeds, we’ve got no chance.

Wow thanks everyone!!! I have considered the ground cover @Shedmistressbut not even sure where to start plus surely cutting out holes for some quite large shrubs will just end up leaving exposed ground anyway?

@AralVorkosiganyes I think this might be a good plan but what type of phlox do you mean? A quick google has revealed lots of different types. Any other suggestions for things that spread and cover quickly?

@FluffywabbitsI tried wildflower seeds one year and it was a nightmare. Not sure if I got a dud pack but I just ended up with thousands of weeds!!!

Agree with covering the weedy patch with something like mentioned above over the Winter. Do it soon. You could hoe the area as best you can first.

Then I'd put down easy to grow and care for plants that don't require much maintenance. I can recommend Oseospermum. They need some sun during the day, but give a great display for a long time. Mine are still blooming like mad! All I have to do is deadhead and cut back once flowering is done which will be soon enough. If the area gets a lot of sun, lavendar and rosemary are good too I found.

You will get plenty of ideas from others. I am not a dedicated gardener. I like nice easy to care for plants that don't require a lot of work from me!

@YYURYYUCICYYUR4MEand @Gremlinsateitthank you. Yes maybe covering some is a good idea even if I can’t cover it all. Not heard of weed suppressant fabric. That could be good. How do you make sure stuff doesn’t creep under if you’re not covering the full bed?

Grass it over. 8x3m is far too big for someone who isn’t a committed gardener to keep on top of whatever you plant out there.

If that’s not possible I would absolutely avoid the “sprinkle some seeds” route - you need some good thuggish evergreen shrubs and perennials to provide maximum cover. The perennials will die back in winter and you can do a good weeding and mulching around them to help keep the weeds down the rest of the year (although weeds will leap into any vacant spot, waste not want not).

Things I;ve got in my garden that do this well in my dry sunny garden are hebe, sage, epimidium, perennial geraniums, persicaria (supposed to want it a bit damp but mine doesn’t seem to care). For me these all need to be cut back regularly, you could let them spread.

Bindweed will still come up but if you can keep nagging away at it (rip off the green, dig the runners up whenever you can) it will eventually bugger off. Couch grass needs constant weeding out though.

@MostlyGhostlythanks - I think it is turfing itself anyway!!!

I have asked next door who are amazing and semi prof gardeners but they just gave me a list of plants and I never got around to doing what they suggested. I’ve been quite time poor as have toddler, job etc but as he’s getting older I’m hoping to have some more time. I would actually love to find the money to pay a “proper” gardener to come and sort it but not sure that’s an option.

@leperolthanks for the plant suggestion. Will look it up. Easy care works!!!

You say the garden is small so would you rather have more usable area? If so consider how you could grass it.

If you are happy to leave as is I think you need shrubs so it'll just look after itself. For the economy option looks for 'bare root shrubs', They're cheap and what you receive is basically a stick with roots but they tend to do very well.

Edit that link was supposed to be bare roots but is actually small pots. Might be too early for bare roots, check in winter.

https://www.yougarden.com/item-p-510403/evergreen-shrub-collection?gclsrc=aw.ds&&source=YGGGPM1101&utm_source=YGGGPM1101&utm_medium=cpc&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21958036934&gbraid=0AAAAAotuGiqkshVMYIIwKLDWexzl-nokW&gclid=CjwKCAjw56zWBhB0EiwAdPOQOfuFYlZ4MO2behzqX5Z5scVuw2jrBw1ohoP3PKnvP5MwuMzla5wyTBoCoNcQAvD_BwE

I agree it's probably worth reducing its size - without a photo it's hard as can't see how things are spaced. If plants aren't huge they could also potentially be dug up and moved closer together- this is the perfect time to do that. Then grass seed in strips (cheaper than turf) to make a smaller more manageable area. Look at edging. I'd do as much weeding as I could now and then cover the bare soil with card or membrane til late spring. Sow seeds to save money- that's the fun bit! You could have sown lots of perennials a couple of weeks ago but probably getting a bit late now- wait til spring.

The weed fabric comes in strips and you cut a cross in it and feed it over the plant or if the plant is placed in the right place, tuck it round the base. It is the way many stately homes and gardens keep their beds seemingly perfect. You get a few weeds growing at the edge but it really is minimal.

Cranesbill aka Hardy Geranium. Very tolerant of soil conditions in shade or bright light. It’s a pretty plants & flowers for ages.

Try it for ground cover/weed suppressant.

Here’s an example link to give you insight into it. (I have no connection to the link!) There’ll also be lots of plants at the garden centre too.

www.championplants.co.uk/collections/hardy-geraniums?srsltid=AU7gw4UOGhnUtS0mUoKjHV3UhqboHp9BesPB1adaRvFWko0c8LzyRoM-

Ground cover
Clear the weeds thoroughly, digging out roots
Then a little every day as they pop up again for the rest of your life

Impact shrubs
Ceanothus
Daphne
Salvias - bleeding heart
Buddleia
Hydrangea
Nice bushy things

Then African Lillies, penstemon, perennial geraniums, crocosmia, etc

Is your soil alkaline or acid? Which way does your garden face? How are the slugs?

Buy lots of nigella seeds, weed once, scatter the seeds. They'll germinate in a few weeks then the foliage will last til spring next year, they'll flower and drop seeds, you can harvest thousands more, scatter them anywhere you need cover, youll only have to spend once. I use them anywhere I can't be bothered with right now. The foliage, flowers and seeds pods are all beautiful.

Here is a pic. Can’t really turn to lawn as it’s raised plus it’s the only flower bed.

Light a bit bright right now but you get the idea

If you have a toddler, just grass it over for now. Honestly, if you are not enjoying it and it is a burden just remove the plants, rake all the soil out over the whole garden getting it as level as you can and put grass seed down.

Or depending on how deep the mound is, put the soil you want removing on freecycle and you might get people who will come and take it away for you. I know I've had soil from people's gardens in the past for my raised beds.

A picture before would have helped better OP!

You do not have a flower bed you have 2 retaining walls!

What you could do with that is to...pay your neighbours to weed and maintain it.

I'd personally fill it with perennial herbs, back to the creeping thymes and rosemarys, weed with a hoe from the brick side and just keep on top of it until the creepers fill all the spaces in.