"Louise89" wrote


This askes more questions ......
Why were the bushes cut down so drastically?
My friend was supposed to cut them back for me as they were getting
wild, he went too far and i ended up with branhes rather than bushes.

What is the problem with your 3 year old daughter relevant to
gardening?

The sharp thorny branches are about the same height as her, meaning I
cant let her in the garden to play properly because she could really
hurt herself.

Why are you killing the plants?
The state of them now, i dont want to leave them as they are for the
rest of the summer and wait for them to grow back. Also as a full time,
working, single parent and uni student, I dont have much free time to
maintain a garden so something smaller with less pruning would suit me
better.

What do you want in their place?

See above.


These ex-plants are best removed manually, killing them just does that and
you will end up with very tough spiny branches that will not take prisoners,
it also means poison in your garden! However after you have killed them you
can cut them off at ground level, I would leave three weeks for the poison
to work. The alternative is to dig them out and burn/dispose of.

I used to prune my Mothers rose bed before I was 10 so I understand how
roses hurt, I used to get torn to shreds and it put me off them for 40
years, but I think you are being a bit overprotective, kids are not stupid
and learn by trial and error (if they aren't killed).

Nasturtiums are pretty and good for ground cover and they are edible, so not
a poisonous plant, and they grow quite fast which is brilliant for kids.
That said, do train your little one not to put plants into their mouth in
the garden unless you say so.

These links may be of interest to you...

http://www.garden.org/howtos/index.php?q=show&id=1309

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/gard...ly-garden.html

http://uktv.co.uk/home/item/aid/616591
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK