How to kill a garden

[untruth]

We've inherited a few nice plants and a lot of mess. The garden will be totally reconfigured after work on the house, so everything has to be moved or go entirely.

The row of plants is earmarked for an extension, so have to be fully removed before they root any further. The ivy needs killing pronto. The only thing definitely being saved is the Jasmine, a transplant from the old garden.

Firstly, what will be the best way to kill/remove some of these without digging up all the inevitably huge roots, and secondly, are any of these plants worth being saved and moved to a "safe" spot?






Bonus points for a use for a dodgy plastic fence feature.

[DrDeAtH]

Try Roundup and mix it triple strength... And soak everything. That's how I killed my garden off a few years ago.

[randlemarcus]

Do you know any farmers, or people with a farm? Get them to go to the farm store, and get the proper strength stuff. Into a sprayer with a couple of squirts of fairy liquid (to get it to stick to the ivy), and job jobbed. If you are killing the lawn as well, some dark plastic down to try and kill the weeds that will be in there, during the works, then concentrate on it afterwards.

[untruth]

randlemarcus said:

Do you know any farmers, or people with a farm? Get them to go to the farm store, and get the proper strength stuff. Into a sprayer with a couple of squirts of fairy liquid (to get it to stick to the ivy), and job jobbed. If you are killing the lawn as well, some dark plastic down to try and kill the weeds that will be in there, during the works, then concentrate on it afterwards.

Nice tip. My mother's other half is a farmer conveniently.

[RichB]

untruth said:

There's a Fatsia Japonica in the middle of that. I'd save that as it's a nice architectural plant which is sufficiently hardy and responds to pruning. You could prune it to around a meter high and dig it in for use when the garden is redesigned.

As for the ivy I'd rip as much out but hand and then dig the roots. It doesn't root very deeply it just very invasive!

[58warren]

Tread very carefully if using commercial pesticides. You need to make sure it's not a chemical that can be easily translocated through soil water such as Picloram (Tordon 22K) as this may be great for sterilising your garden for up to 24 months (excluding grasses), but not so good if half your neighbours plants succumb to poisoning.

Better to use glyphosate (Round-Up variants) as this will only kill the plants it is sprayed directly onto.

Edited by 58warren on Sunday 20th April 23:07

[Shaolin]

We had an apple tree in the way of the foundations of our extension last year, we cut the tree down and then the builders removed the massive roots with their digger. Do you really need to be playing around with killing them at all other than cut down to just above ground level? Seems like making a job for yourself for no reason.

[Simpo Two]

I too would set about it with a pickaxe rather than spray chemicals. Quicker and more thorough - especially as we have bad spraying weather coming up (cold, rain). Plus you get some exercise

[untruth]

Shaolin said:

We had an apple tree in the way of the foundations of our extension last year, we cut the tree down and then the builders removed the massive roots with their digger. Do you really need to be playing around with killing them at all other than cut down to just above ground level? Seems like making a job for yourself for no reason.

To put it simply, only some of these are "in the way". A lot that aren't in the way need to go (or get moved) either way as they won't look good once it's reconfigured - and, I want to get the garden root free and nicely conditioned for next year.

[Spudler]

Brilliant stuff
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B004MMOEH2/ref=red...

[944fan]

I have managed to kill and destroy basically everything in my garden without trying. Want me to pop round? Do decent rates

[untruth]

RichB said:

here's a Fatsia Japonica in the middle of that.

Thanks Rich, I had no idea and I've been a little aggressive with it so I'll leave it and try and get the ivy out. The ivy is the priority as it's making the fence into even more of a mess. Believe it or not that ivy was another 1.5 metres higher before I chopped it down last month.

[Willy Nilly]

DrDeAtH said:

Try Roundup and mix it triple strength... And soak everything. That's how I killed my garden off a few years ago.

You should always read what it says on the label and that is why you're not allowed to use the proper stuff domestically.

IIRC if you over dose with chemical the plant sort of goes into shock and doesn't take it all in. The highest rate we generally use of Round-Up is 4 litres of chemical per hectare in 200 litres total volume. That's through the sprayer pulled behind the tractor. I have put on 600ml of Clinic Ace (same stuff) in 10 litres total volume with the knapsack which made the ivy cough. That is a very high dose rate though. The key is getting the chemical solution to penetrate the target canopy, ie, they whole weed needs to get a dose.

[Foppo]

I wouldn't bother with chemicals some hard craft surprising how fast you can get writ.Or cut out most of the plants.Ivy is not hard to remove once the secateurs are out.

[FlossyThePig]

Foppo said:

Ivy is not hard to remove once the secateurs are out.

As some of the stems of the ivy I have removed were over 3" diameter I resorted to a pruning saw. Still easy to remove though. You should see what it did to the lime mortar.

[barney123]

Spudler said:

Brilliant stuff
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B004MMOEH2/ref=red...

Yes I bought 5kg of this - I think it is not supposed to be sold as weedkiller though - this has been discussed before on here ..... Kills er sorry , composts mares tail also !

[Kinkell]

Foppo said:

I wouldn't bother with chemicals some hard craft surprising how fast you can get writ.Or cut out most of the plants.Ivy is not hard to remove once the secateurs are out.

Agreed. This is the way to do it. Forget the nasty chemicals and Man Up with the help of a mattock which has an axe blade on one end and a gouging blade on the other. It is a great tool to have in the shed.