Clearing brambles from garden/path

Adiboo

We're currently dealing with a very overgrown garden. Brambles everywhere in the garden. Few questions;

What would be the best method of clearing them from the garden?

Some have cracked through path and tarmac, what can we do about these ones?

We also have a hedge type plant sprouting up in random places in the garden and through the path, can anyone identify this and give advice on how to deal with it?

This is the plant in question



Thanks in advance

lottpaul

Your mystery plant is a prostrate or horizontal form of cotoneaster - sometimes called rock cotoneaster I think.
Assuming the garden isn't too big you can either dig or cut out the brambles (and cotoneaster). Not too difficult a job - dig one root and pull - you'll find it has established several roots wherever it touches the ground. Wrap up arms and legs well and use thick gardening gloves. A heavy duty strimmer will do the job well too but will leaves roots etc behind but you can just spray those with a good weedkiller as they regrow. Brambles have thick and deep roots and will need to be cleared if you plan on cultivating the areas that they're in at present.

The cotoneaster might be a useful plant but will die if you move it now. One thing to watch out for is that it's really attractive to bees etc so be sure there are none around when you start digging it up!

lazybones32

Get your brushcutter or slash-hook and cut down the heavy stuff. Put in a pile and dispose of however you see fit.
Let the chopped plants for a few days and when they start putting out new leaves, spray with a herbicide.

shaunr68

I've been hacking my way through an acre of brambles bit by bit over the past few months. Brushcutter was brilliant for clearing to ground level and took no time at all. Bramble stems burn a treat even when green. Digging out the roots has turned out to be a long term job, initially hellishly hard work with a garden fork and after bending two I invested in a mattock, absolutely brilliant tool for hacking into the roots and dragging the root ball out.

Have fun!

_Brian

If you can get some Grazon90 spray it is the best thing to eliminate brambles and it doesn't kill grass.

Adiboo

Thanks for the replies!

What about the brambles and cotoneaster that have grown through the path and tarmac? The cotoneaster roots are massive and we've been having no luck trying to rip those out of the path!

lottpaul

It would be unusual for cotoneaster or brambles to come through concrete or tarmac unless there were cracks/weaknesses there to start with. You may need to pull out/cut back as far as you can without causing any further damage and then kill any regrowth. It might take a while but the roots will rot eventually - and the holes/gaps they leave would need to be repaired.

Adiboo

We have quite a few cotoneaster coming through the tar and path, we have them cut back to the big root what could be used to kill the regrowth for these?

lottpaul

Just get a little brushwood killer in any garden centre and apply as directed. They're not too difficult to kill but may take a little while to rot away.