The bottom 2/3 of my garden (sloping away from my house) has become overgrown. I would like it to be a small meadow, without the stingers and brambles.
Can I spray it then reseed? We are talking about 15mx20m.
You'll need to dig the bramble root out or it will come back. Bloke + mini digger + skip / fire
I wouldn't use chemicals. We've been doing similar to our little patch. Brambles and nettles get dug out. In some areas where they haven't fully taken over the meadow plants have just sprung up, in heavier areas we've put some seed down. It's very hard work but satisfying. Done about 0.1 of and acre and got one one tiny patch left to clear. It's easier if you get the timing right, in certain conditions the roots come up easily. A mattock is a useful tool for digging them up
Yeah, have done this to patches of my property. Manually digging out roots followed by vigorous and indiscriminate use of a strimmer and brush cutter through the late summer before everything moves in for the winter (insects mostly), then plenty of seeds (at suitable times) and leave it well alone.
Also, if you've got any wind blown or damaged trees, chop them into 75-100 cm logs and put a pile of them in the corner somewhere with some ventilation under/through the pile and wait. Give it 18 months and it'll be absolutely teeming with life as it starts to rot down.
Tend to do maintenance on each patch (have 4 of them now) once every 2 or 3 years. So each patch remains wild for 24-36 months (they all get seeded every year, but nothing more).
Get masses of bees, moths and other insects (Beetles, grasshoppers etc). Unfortunately, i also get masses of ticks in there, but it's a small price to pay.
No chance of getting a digger in with access issues.
Digging out the brambles is possible, but ground elder and a very invasive kind of geranium will need killing I think.
No chance of getting a digger in with access issues
Not even with a micro-digger?
No, narrow side passage, steps& level changes.
You should probably just eat the ground elder https://www.foodforest.garden/2013/05/26/growing-and-eating-ground-elder/
Borrow a pig for a few months. He'll have a proper rummage...
I’m seriously considering borrowing some sheep………
Sheep are too bloody fussy. Hire a big petrol brush cutter and take it all down to the ground. Grass seed in the gaps and then keep mowing it. The grass will take over if you keep mowing the rest.
From experience though, I would spray it heavily.
No, narrow side passage, steps& level changes.
You might be surprised, we got a digger down here 🙂
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But I used a combination of petrol brush cutter, strong weed killer in a backpack sprayer and hand digging.
Although my experience of creating a meadow hasn’t gone as smoothly as I was hoping. The grass took over after the first year so we’ve just flattened it again and scattered yellow rattle which is supposed to help keep the grass in check. I really hope it starts to establish as the first year it looked great, last year not so great.
Anything that you actually want to keep down there?
Dig out the brambles, turn it all upside down and bake under black plastic before reseeding. Ground elder can be quite persistent and continuous mowing won't be compatible with hay meadow.
Sounds like spraying could be a viable option and would also allow for establishment this year. Would probably need 2 applications.
A pig would need good fencing.
Sheep are fussy and not heavy enough to break up the ground.
Dexter?
Does weed killer take out nettle tubers?
@phil5556 do you cut at the end the summer and remove the cuttings? Just leaving the grass it rots and self fertilises.
@danstw most weedkiller do, some specifically target nettles. Can't remember any off the top of my head and would need to check what is currently on the approved list.
Where to start?
Brambles are easy to dig out with a spade. No problems there.
If you've got nettles then your soil is probably too nutritious for a classic meadow.
You will never beat ground elder. Even with spraying. OK you might with 2-3 years of regular application, but I bet some survives.
A regular mown lawn will solve 90% of all.your problems. The mowing favours the grass as it grows from the base whereas your weeds grow from the tips.
A proper meadow is a feature found on really impoverished soils like chalk uplands.
However a nice long grass meadow can be achieved anywhere but it's hard to get flower species established.
Planting bulbs like snowdrops, daffs and camassia can create a nice effect.
Ox-eye daisy seem to be able to hold there own in vigorous grass, as can field buttercup.
I do seem to have seriously good soil, so that might be an issue.
Grow courgettes or whichever squash takes your fancy. They will shade out the competition and use up nutrients.
For woody stuff you can use brushwood weedkillers like SBK which you paint on stems immediately after cutting. This worked well for us when an area that had been under trees got completely infested with snowberries after the the trees were cut down. I am pretty sure it would do brambles, if not at the first go then the second.
Get one of these - should be able to aim over the top of your house into the garden.
Forget sheep or a pig; get a couple of goats and when they're done...goat curry and goatskin gloves!
@phil5556 do you cut at the end the summer and remove the cuttings? Just leaving the grass it rots and self fertilises.
yes (although I’m struggling to remember exactly what we did….) we did cut and clear it at the end of summer, although more like winter, and then I think the step we should have done but missed was to clear it again in spring once the grass had started to grow but before the flowers had started.
I got a bit disheartened with it but I’m trying again this year.
A pig would need good fencing.
Electric about 450 to 600mm tall will do, make sure the power source can deliver a big enough shock over the distance of fence though. Be prepared for some squealing until they learn about the bitty fence. You'll need more than one as they are sociable creatures and can get mentally unwell on their own. 300kg of disturbed pork on the hoof is not to be trifled with!
Fencing in goats could be more fun though, you'll need something like a sheep fence as they are as clever as pigs but more agile!
The pig dung may make the ground too good for a meadow though.
We've had a small meadow and now half the lawn.
Scraping as much of the good fertile soil away is a must and sew the seeds with sand. Yellow rattle is your friend.
I'm not a fan of any weed killers, so that's a no from me. Is is possible to keep some nettles, as they are great for butterflies and moths to lay their eggs on? We also have some daffodils and snow drops growing in that spot.
It's a lot of hard work to keep it from turning into a grass meadow, but worth it.
If you want to break up the soil, then grow potatoes.
How about a small pond too?
