Is it mad to dig it all up, replant, reorganise and start again??

[taffetacat]

...........and is it the right time of year to be doing it?

We have a few well established beds with various shrubs, perennials and bulbs in, but also a fair share of weeds incl nettles, bramble and the ever present ivy.

We moved here 5 years ago and the garden had been marvellous, but then untended ( DH's grandparents house - they became too frail to look after it ), hence the ivy, brambles etc.

Since we moved in, its been difficult to get into the garden for significant periods of time ( small DCs ), I've grown loads from seed as could do this within the house, but have just shoved the stuff I have grown in "spaces" with little thought given to colour coordination, seasons, textures etc etc.We moved out last year for major refurb to the house and during this time, despite my attempts to visit, the weeds started to take over again. To my shame, lots of the backs of the beds have ivy lurking.

My feeling is that I need a clean slate rather than keep plugging gaps and not really getting on top of the ivy, brambles or weeds. If it wasn't snowing, I'd be out there now! I am thinking of doing it the two weeks following half term - end Feb/beg Mar.

Any thoughts/advice?

Yep, good time of year to move plants as they're still pretty dormant and won't suffer too much shock by being transplanted.

For those you want to keep, dig up a reasonable root ball, making sure you don't snap off any big roots and then keep the roots damp till they're back in the soil.

Also a good time of year (this month and maybe next) to plant a hedge / young bare root trees, which can be cheaper than potted ones later in the year.

I was out this morning planting trees with primary school kids and the ground wasn't frozen at all under the dusting of snow. Unless we get another proper prolonged cold snap you should be fine planting.

And if you're wanting to get rid of brambles (as much as you ever can) it'd be a good time to dig over and remove any roots that you can. Try not to compact the soil too much though if it's wet.

Have fun!

Thanks slipperthief. Just what I wanted to hear.

No, we are in the process of doing exactly the same thing.

Five - do update me on your progress and any subsequent tips please!

It is very time-consuming and physically tiring, though (assuming the beds are medium-sized). (have done this once and will do again come March)

You have to dig up each plant, go through the roots to make sure there are no perennial weeds in it, wrap it up / pot it / replant it temporarily, and then start with the actual clearance of the beds, which is a long business if you're removing deep-rooted perennial weeds over a large area. And then, when you're totally knackered, you start putting each plant back.

I think it's well worth doing, but you need to plan your time quite carefully to make sure that you don't take on too much in any one day. You may need to gather up lots of big plant pots for temporary repotting.

One potential problem is that you may lose this year's spring bulbs unless you're very careful about lifting them with a nice root ball, temporarily repotting, and putting back at the right level.

HTH!

Thanks GrendelsMum yes I spoke to a gardening friend this afternoon and she mentioned about the problem of what to do with the lifted plants before they are resited.

It clearly needs careful planning ( which is my weakness - will try very very hard! ), and I appreciate the digging is back breaking work. In reality, I'd only be doing it for a few hours each morning as I have to pick up DD from pre school at midday.

I am thinking I may leave the bulbs where they are for this year as I'm not confident I'd get that right. Then maybe resite them once they've flowered.

Many thanks for advice.

Fair point, nice sort of tiring though if you have can get stuck into it. And more fun than the gym

Can I just ask, do you need to get rid of all the ivy? Its not a weed!

Its a good background plant, so it sets off flowers and other foliage really well. It is also very good for wildlife and will attract birds and insects into your garden which is a real plus, esp with small DCs.

I do think its worth clearing the beds and getting rid of perennial weeds but would really think twice about the ivy - also it is very difficult to kill off and has chunky roots, so you might find it heavy going and disheartening.

Mm - I think that Pannacotta has a good point there, especially about the benefits of ivy. I had a chat to a nurseryman at an ivy nursery, and he recommends treating it like a hedge - do a yearly cut back to keep it to the right size.

I think that doing it in small chunks of a few hours every day is a good idea - one thing I've learnt from gardening with professional gardeners is that they (or the ones I've worked with, at least) clear up as they go along, don't take on more than they can do in the time available, know exactly when they're going to stop work for the day, and allow 30 mins or so of that for doing a proper clean-up and put away of tools. This was in a large garden open to the public, so a bit different, but I really learnt a lot from them.

Agree with Slipperthief about the gym!

Good point well made re the ivy. I knew about its benefits to wildlife but I guess I have negative connotations of it as when we moved in it was everywhere.

I had left it at the back of the beds because I didn't get round to it ( a bit like shoving things to the back of a cupboard or not pulling out the furniture to vacuum ), and I recognise it will be a mare to get rid of. As you say, maybe if I hack it back and trim regularly.

We still have entire swathes of "beds" if you can call them that, that are an ivy haven ie as yet untackled, esp under the shrubs.

Good advice GrendelsMum about organising your time well.

Many thanks.

We're in the same boat, taffetacat. The garden was reasonable when we moved in 6 years ago, but I got pregnant straight away and since then we just haven't had the time to do anything other than mowing the grass, the odd bit of pruning, and planting up some patio pots.

The kids are older now meaning we COULD get out to do work if we had the time, but I work 11-2 every day and all day Sunday so I just can't see me doing a massive rehaul at the moment, as much as it needs it. So it's a bit at a time for us.

We DID do a fair bit last summer on one of the borders. And put a load of chippings down to suppress weeds. And weed-supressing membrane on large areas of another border at the back. It looks horrible = the black membrane all over the place, but the aim was to at least stop the weeds coming back from the patches we cleared because we'd cleared large areas in the past with the intention of re-planting and then had rain constantly for 2 weeks or run out of money to buy plants etc so had just left it, and then the weeds grew back as bad as ever of course!

So ours is a work in progress. Slow progress! But this summer we're aiming to do a bit at a time, putting weed membrane down as we go, and not rushing into the replanting. We have got BAD brambles, and atually I'd disagree about keeping the ivy. At least, if it' not easily accessible, get rid of it. We've got a tiny area in one part of the garden which is covering an old treestump and it looks nice too cos it covers a bit of wall and provides a nice backdrop, but I've kept on top of it so it's fine. The stuff right at the back of the garden is RAMPANT. Like triffids, honestly. You can't reach it easily and it's all creeping right along the graden fence into both next door's gardens, entwining through numerous prickly bushes and shrubs. It's a complete nightmare. So that's all going to have to come up. I don't want to leave any at all cos the back of the garden is hard to reach so I won't be able to keep on top of it.

We've also left things like lilacs which have sprouted up from next door and they're now tree-size in places we don't want them so are going to be a pain to remove.

Ideally I'd like to get some people in to remove nearly everything so we could just start from scratch but we just haven't got the money. It's a pain because we probably have the time to keep on top of a well-kept garden now, but we do not have the time it's going to take to turn such an overgrown garden into a well-kept one! So I feel we're getting nowhere really. Well, just very slowly so it's very frustrating.

God, what a load of waffle.

Would be nice to hear how you're getting on with your project though.

Curly - sounds like you have your work cut out too. I console myself with the thought that even with the most orderly garden, a gardener will always see many jobs that need doing. Ours are maybe just a little more obvious.............

With DC sick last week and half term this, no further forward except for ridiculous levels of seed sowing, which I just can't help myself doing. DH just tuts at me.

I have set aside the next 2 weeks, just me and the spade......

< smug alert >

One large bed done!

Took all your advice, kept ivy at back, did it in chunks, allowed tidy up time ( only just today, DD was a teeny bit late for a party oops ), have even moved the peonies. And an enormous philadelphus ( took me an hour of digging to get under the rootball.)

Am feeling extremely smug, and tired.

Well done you.
Do you have any plans for what you are going to put in the cleared bed?

Oh well done! You may well have prompted me to get out there and move my paeony as well...

(Note to previous owner: just because three plants are all pink does NOT mean that they are the same shade of pink and will look good together.)

Had a busy morning at the garden centre.

In my defence, we were given some national garden vouchers as a present when we moved back in. I bought a David Austin rose - St Swithun - a climber, thats going at the back of the bed train it up the fence hopefully. I also bought an Artemesia - Powis Castle. And some seeds......

The peonies have been relocated into the bed. They are very, very old ones but heart stoppingly beautiful. Big, blousy pale pink - possibly Sarah Bernhart?

Also in there/going in:

Geranium phaeum Alba, Hellebores, some ground cover type thing thats always been there, quite like it, blue flowers from Aug. Absolutely no idea what it is - its the one plant in the garden have never been able to identify - and neither has anyone else.

Also Lychnis, Geranium sanguinem, DA Rose Alnwick, Tulips ( mainly Angelique but also some Mariette ), Anchusa Azurea, Lupins and some Eremerus himalaicus wierd Ood type tubers that I planted a while ago, can't wait to see what happens there. Am growing some other annual stuff from seed that will also go in ( eg consolida regalis, didiscus) and some other perennial - linum perenne, polemonium etc.

I think its probably going to be a bit too pink and a bit too flowery, need some more foliage plants. Any suggestions? I am keener on mid or dark green or silvery green rather than yellowy green. Its very hot and sunny, very well drained and very chalky.

I did sow some nigella and some sweet rocket but imagine I have dug this up.

I am very excited, esp not having been here last Spring. Clearing the weeds and leaves down at the bottom of the garden, I unearthed loads of aquilegia shoots. I so love the Spring.

Sounds lovely.
If you have RHS membership they will identify plants for you.

Re foilage plants, how about more Artemisia, perhaps different types such as Valerine Finnis/Silver Queen?

Cistus, Hebes and Pittosporum are all good in suuny, well-drained soil:

www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/shrubs/mediterranean-plants/cistus-×-purpureus-alan-fradd/classid.7760/

www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/shrubs/mediterranean-plants/hebe-mrs-winder/itemno.PL020000066/

www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/shrubs/pittosporum-tenuifolium-tom-thumb/classid.4262/

Thanks Pannacotta. I think your idea of more Artemesia is a good one. I will wait another month til there's a bit more in the garden centres - the choice is a bit limited at the mo - or I could do Crocus I suppose - but does delivery cost make this more expensive?

Probably what I should do is take cuttings early summer from the one I've just bought and wait til next year. Hmn.

We have hebe, cistus and pittosporum in other parts of the garden. I am especially fond of the pittosporum.

I think I must do RHS membership.

Crocus is very pricey IMHO. T
How about here
www.shrubsdirect.com/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2eshrubsdirect%2ecom%2fshop%2fsear ch%2ehtml&WD=artemisia&PN=Artemesia%2ehtml%23a2436#a2436

DH doing the books. Looking grumpy.

Cuttings it is.....