What next

david75

So I have an elderly neighbour and last night I told him I'd do his garden for him if he liked and he gladly accepted.
It was a jungle of weeds and nettles 5 feet high in places so I went at it this morning. This is before


And this is now


So now I'm wondering, I only had a 1 litre spray bottle of roundup so I managed to spray the whole thing. I'm presuming ill need a lot more though? He's gonna get some for me as I speak.
My question is how much should I need?
And the bottle says leave of for a week before beginning to dig.
It's a lawn he wants. So I can do that no bother. Should I wait the week? I've got two more litres of round up. Will that be enough?
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks.

peadar76

Was it pre-mixed roundup? If not 1 litre should have been more than enough. 200ml to 10 litres if I remember correctly

david75

It's in a spray bottle, no mixing required. Garden is about 35 feet long and 12 wide. I think I need more somehow.

peadar76

yeah you will then alright. It costs a lot less bought the other way though

looksee

Good work there! Looks like a nice spot, or will be!

catastrophy

Hi op, maybe I've misread your post. Had you sprayed with roundup prior to clearing the weeds?

padi89

I thought it would have been pointless to go clearing the weeds and then spraying, isn't roundup absorbed through the leaves?

looksee

Well yes, but you have to leave it for a few days to work.

david75

Feck. I cleared it all then sprayed roundup. Then in reply to a subsequent post, diluted 200ml into a ten litre watering can and did it in sections(the whole litre diluted into ten litres did the whole yard in 5 sections funny enough)
I have one litre left. Any point in doing it again tomorrow?
Looks like I screwed up. Typical.

looksee

If you scythed or mowed the area there is probably a certain amount of foliage left to absorb the weedkiller. I'd be inclined to leave it for a couple of days - especially as it is now raining so it would be a waste of time to spray it - and see how it looks.

david75

Just to explain, I've never tackled a garden like this before and am a brand new gardener wannabe. I'll attach a pic of my lawn so you guys can see. (Bleedin patches in the grass. Can't seem to fix em!)

So I wasn't being gung ho. I only read about roundup after my mate recommended it when I posted a pic on fb when I was halfway through.

This is my garden. It was a pretty overgrown (apart from the grass which was almost nonexistent) jungle when I got it. I'm growing veg down the back in raised beds.

david75

catastrophy

Leave the garden for a week or more if possible. This will allow new shoots and seedlings to come up. Then spray with roundup. Roundup is especially effective if you get a dry spell. You can take a systematic approach and spray every few weeks before replanting with grass seed.

yellowlabrador

I think you've done a great job. I'd do as mentioned in the post above. I'd also cut back all the bushes hard.. It will look a bit bare but they will regrow quickly and it will give you more scope working with the rest. I love your pallet gardens. I had dreams of doing that this year but it was so cold and miserable.

looksee

david75 wrote: »

Just to explain, I've never tackled a garden like this before and am a brand new gardener wannabe. I'll attach a pic of my lawn so you guys can see. (Bleedin patches in the grass. Can't seem to fix em!)

So I wasn't being gung ho. I only read about roundup after my mate recommended it when I posted a pic on fb when I was halfway through.

This is my garden. It was a pretty overgrown (apart from the grass which was almost nonexistent) jungle when I got it. I'm growing veg down the back in raised beds.

Seems to me you are doing great work! Everyone starts out as a 'wannabe' its surprising how quickly you get the hang of it! The patches in the grass could be linked to the dog peeing on the lawn.

There are different kinds of weedkiller, some just kill foliage, some kill broadleaf foliage and leave grass, some go down into the roots and kill the weeds from the bottom up, so to speak. Do a bit of reading about it and figure out which is the type you need for each job. Good luck!

peadar76

david75 wrote: »

Feck. I cleared it all then sprayed roundup. Then in reply to a subsequent post, diluted 200ml into a ten litre watering can and did it in sections(the whole litre diluted into ten litres did the whole yard in 5 sections funny enough)
I have one litre left. Any point in doing it again tomorrow?
Looks like I screwed up. Typical.

just to clarify, it should be diluted 200ml into 10 litres if it's "raw" roundup.
If it came in a spray bottle then it should be used as is. Check the instructions.
Good work though and fair play for doing it for your neighbour

david75

Cool thanks folks. So I read a bit and it seems they two doses I've given it will be ineffective as there is almost no foliage left. There is lots of stems and stalks but they won't absorb the roundup as the leaves would have.

I'm thinking I might just get digging.
Turn the whole lot, break it up and let it breathe, (it's very dark almost black soil. Thick in some places, sort of crumbly in others)
I'm a bit stumped

catastrophy

Sounds like the soil is good, best of luck and keep us updated.

david75

I definitely will. No doubt ill need more advice in this one:)

david75

So a sort of Mate is a landscape gardener and he sent me this in response to the same query I posted here:
'Round up is a trans located non selective herbicide which takes 10 days roughly to work the problem is you have removed the products path into the path ie. the foliage but any green left depending on what type of weed it is and presuming you mixed the roundup correctly , will die on the other hand you could use a residual herbicide but this can only be used in cold weather and is very very expensive . Now I'm in Spain so fvck off !!! ~'
So I guess cos I actually diluted a bottle that wasn't to be diluted, I can just get digging? What do you folks think?

looksee

I think you are going to have to dig anyway if you want to get any sort of decent lawn out of it. If you dig and remove the weed roots as you go it would be better than using a mechanical/rotovator type machine which will just chop up the roots. What are you going to do with it in the end? If you are putting down a lawn you should leave it till the autumn, in the meantime a new crop of weeds will grow which you can spray while they are young and growing so they don't crowd out the grass when you sow it.

catastrophy

looksee wrote: »

I think you are going to have to dig anyway if you want to get any sort of decent lawn out of it. If you dig and remove the weed roots as you go it would be better than using a mechanical/rotovator type machine which will just chop up the roots. What are you going to do with it in the end? If you are putting down a lawn you should leave it till the autumn, in the meantime a new crop of weeds will grow which you can spray while they are young and growing so they don't crowd out the grass when you sow it.

Agreed. Give it a couple of weeks op and spray again once the shoots emerge. Just like your underage hurling manager taught you that the ball always travels faster than you can run, weeds will always grow faster than grass seed, lol.

david75

Cool, thanks. I'm gonna go in and turn it all and leave it then for a few weeks. I'll take up any weed stems I see as I go(there are thousands!) but I'm here all the time and ill be keeping a close eye on it for any weedlings.

Why is it slugs don't eat weeds? They're mad after my veg the swines:)

david75

Decided to start digging the worst of it. No amount of roundup would have cleared this root network. Got about a quarter of it done(again, the worst part, down the back) using a big fork and hand sifting out all the weed root balls and binning them. It'll still be a very weed prone lawn for a while but I'll get there. That small 'tree' on the right, I think is a weed. Casts a huge shadow but I can't cut it down cos it belongs to my psycho neighbour(the one who's always threatening me) and plus ot partly blocks his and our line of sight into each others gardens. so I might tie it up til the lawn is established.

Nothing but thousands of big thick well established root systems under all this. Hard going. Bent a finger on my fork completely backwards.

Won't be long tip it's done though.
Here tis

Phegasus

Fair play that is looking like pretty good work David!

david75

Thanks just wish it was a bit warmer today! Not goin out in that! Haha

david75

95% there. Just the edges to do. This has all been hand sifted for rootballs and stones. All(or most) are gone.
That tree on the right(I think it's a huge weed) is either gonna have to get tied up severely or cut down. Any advice welcome.
Soil is lovely. Loose and crumbly.
Tough going but nearly there and ready to sow.

looksee

I think the bush is a buddleia or butterfly bush. Yes they can definitely be a weed - though I just last year planted one deliberately! You are legally entitled to cut back any branches that hang over your garden, and I think technically you should give him back the branches, though I think this may be more inclined to annoy him than appease him :-) Either way you will not do any harm cutting it back, and its actually a good idea as they grow very straggly if allowed to do their own thing.

david75

Brillo thanks. Yeah the wood is very brittle. Doesn't seem to have a core if that makes sense?
Think I've pulled a muscle in my back. Up at the crack this morning with some pain. It'll be worth it

paddy147

david75 wrote: »

Decided to start digging the worst of it. No amount of roundup would have cleared this root network. Got about a quarter of it done(again, the worst part, down the back) using a big fork and hand sifting out all the weed root balls and binning them. It'll still be a very weed prone lawn for a while but I'll get there. That small 'tree' on the right, I think is a weed. Casts a huge shadow but I can't cut it down cos it belongs to my psycho neighbour(the one who's always threatening me) and plus ot partly blocks his and our line of sight into each others gardens. so I might tie it up til the lawn is established.

Nothing but thousands of big thick well established root systems under all this. Hard going. Bent a finger on my fork completely backwards.

Won't be long tip it's done though.
Here tis

Is that an old galvanized attic water tank I see there?

If so,then why not use it to make a lovely water featrure and place it down the back of the garden near that lovely stone wall.

You could have it filled up with water and a nice water lilley or some rushes/grasses growing up out of it.
You could also plant some ferns around the outside/edges of it too.





If you dont want a water feature and dont want the tank,then stick it on Done Deal and look for 50-60 euro for it.

They are rare enough to find intact these days and someone will allways be on the lookout for that.:)

david75

Really? I'll say it to the neighbour. It's his. Definitely see that it's welded on the sides. No sign of rust and its been out there for 4 years at least.
Thanks Paddy!

paddy147

david75 wrote: »

Really? I'll say it to the neighbour. It's his. Definitely see that it's welded on the sides. No sign of rust and its been out there for 4 years at least.
Thanks Paddy!

Those old galvanized attic tanks are sought after,as most of them get chopped up in the attic by the plumber,so thay can be got out of the attic easily.

So an intact one like that is worth a few bob.

They make for lovely water features and mini wildlife ponds too.:)

david75

Deadly. I'll say it to him.

While I have you paddy, do you know what these are! I planted em but never labelled em. Sap like me. Pretty certain it's a veg


And these. Thought they were sunflowers. They might be peppers. I don't know

padi89

You can hard prune that Buddleia to the ground and it will grow back very fast. It's a bit late now but you can do it every year in spring.

looksee

I think the first one is a weed, or possibly some sort of aster/daisy type flower. If the leaves feel quite soft and clingy its probably a weed, if they are a bit rough and more rigid they could be daisies. I can't think of any veg they might be. The second one is probably peppers.

david75

Cook thanks folks!!

Paddy, he's happy to sell that water tank! If you or anyone you know wants it, shoot me a mail!

looksee

I'd love to have it, but sadly I really don't have any space for it!

david75

Not to worry. I'll find a home or a use for it. It really is solid. Just needs a bit of a clean up inside.

david75

Well it's as ready as I can make it. Did me best to get all the stones and pebbles out but I'm being beaten by numbers. The majority are gone from the surface though. It's not as level as I'd like it and the psycho neighbour has a problem with me citing the tree back. Don't know what to do about that.
Gonna throw some fertiliser on it and should I leave it a few days?
Have the grass seed ready to go.
Here tis

redser7

Hats off, that's some amount of work. I wouldn't put any fertiliser on it, it could burn up any new grass that germinates. As most I would sprinkle a bit of fine store bought compost around, just lightly. You wouldn't be feeding new grass for at least six weeks I'd say. Key thing is to sow thickly to allow for failures and to keep it moist. If it rains, great. If not, give it a light hose each evening, make sure it is a fine enough spray so you don't wash the seed around. If it dries out the seed won't germinate. Expect to get lots of weeds, that's unavoidable, but after a couple of months with regular cutting and maybe a feed and weed they should be controlled.
It will be important to give it an autumn feed in say October. That will stand them in good stead over winter And you'll have a great lawn next year. Lidl do special autumn lawn feed around September.

david75

Brillo thanks for that.
Felt a bad awkward yesterday. The elderly neighbour who's lawn it is knocked and shoved an envelope in me hand. Couldn't get him to take it back. 300€ in it. Felt bad cos I wasn't doing of for money at all.
Gonna spend it on loads of good shrubs and flowers for around the sides. And maybe a lawnmower or a strimmer. I do mine with just a clippers and that's hard goin. Me arse am I doing two for the next few years!

wildlifeboy

interesting PAddy, I have one sitting in my attic. didnt know i would gert money for it or could use it as a water feature.

magicbastarder

that second plant above looks like sunflowers to me.

redser7

david75 wrote: »

Brillo thanks for that.
Felt a bad awkward yesterday. The elderly neighbour who's lawn it is knocked and shoved an envelope in me hand. Couldn't get him to take it back. 300€ in it. Felt bad cos I wasn't doing of for money at all.
Gonna spend it on loads of good shrubs and flowers for around the sides. And maybe a lawnmower or a strimmer. I do mine with just a clippers and that's hard goin. Me arse am I doing two for the next few years!

Put yourself In his shoes. You've made him very happy. Take it and enjoy it. God some day you'll be an old fart too and some young buck will do you a good turn. It's all good karma. You might offend him or make him feel like a charity case if you go and spend it all back on him. Maybe buy him a nice apple tree?

david75

Lovely idea!! Thanks for that!
Yeah I'm Irish and were not famous for being gracious. Bit I will be as much as possible. The flowers etc wont cost that much. Just be a nice touch for him and his wife. I think anyways.

wildlifeboy

my garden was like this with a low boundary. absolute head wrecking looking at my neighbours during the summer. i now have a 6 foot wall on one side and panel fencing on tother. i would cut that tree back on your side. the neighbour can moan all he likes but thats your right.

Mo60

david75 wrote: »

Lovely idea!! Thanks for that!
Yeah I'm Irish and were not famous for being gracious. Bit I will be as much as possible. The flowers etc wont cost that much. Just be a nice touch for him and his wife. I think anyways.

I have just read this thread from start to finish - you have just made me realise that there are still some good people about. Nice to see someone doing something for someone else and not expecting anything in return.

Also, you should be congratulated on doing such a good job even though you do not have much experience. Well done.

catastrophy

Great work David. Re the lawn, get a loan of a sprinkler and sow thickly. You won't regret it.

Sulla Felix

Firstly, fair play to you for doing this for an elderly neighbour! Serious, serious kudos due.

Secondly:

david75 wrote: »

the psycho neighbour has a problem with me citing the tree back. Don't know what to do about that.

Whose garden is the tree in? Your neighbours or the neighbours neighbour if you know what I mean?

looksee

Talk to your neighbour - the owner of the garden, he is the one who would be affected/responsible, but he is legally within his rights to cut back (or have you cut back) anything that is overhanging his garden.

magicbastarder

wildlifeboy wrote: »

i would cut that tree back on your side. the neighbour can moan all he likes but thats your right.

i would be wary about doing this; first of all, it's not david's fight, and it's not up to him to not just create animosity with a neighbour for himself, but for another neighbour too. plus, given the fact that the gardens are a shared visual space, there's no harm in taking the wishes of others into account.