Nettle-choked garden - advice and suggestions welcome
I have recently taken up tenancy in a semi-detatched victorian
labourer's cottage on the entrance track to a farm. The 'garden' consists of a 4x4m patch of "grass" between the house and a huge drainage ditch (there is a holly bush and some other large shrub near the top of the slope down to the ditch that acts as a boundary) and various small borders between the house and the track on the other two sides. The house is roughly square, with a porch built out of the longest side. Poking around in the weeds covering the "grass" I found semi-circular sunken areas of soil in the corners where the porch meets the main wall, which I've assumed are the remains of long-submerged flowerbeds. I spent two evenings a week ago digging out one of those beds, and it's fairly sizeable - a quarter circle of about 1.5m radius on each side of the porch. There are two main areas of gardenable space - the "grass" between the house and the ditch, and a long, thin flowerbed under the kitchen window, parallel to the farm track. There are no delimited boundaries anywhere - not even between our garden and the garden belonging to the tenants next door. I'm assuming the boundary lies at the edge of the area they've mowed and where my weeds begin. The other three sides are bounded by the farm track - which is concreted on one side, and gravelled on the second. The "grassed" area consists of nettles and dandelions, with thin straggled bits of grass at the edges. The area is shaded by the corner of the house in the morning, and gets full sun from about 3pm onwards, so the ground is normally wet underfoot until that point. The area under the kitchen window gets full sun all day. I spent a couple of hours last week trying to dig up some of the nettles at the edge of the "grassed" area to see if it was possible to remove them without sacrificing what little grass remains. However, I discovered that there is a web of inch thick nettle roots about 20cm below the soil surface, and that if I tried pulling them up, the result looks like the surface of the moon. Am I right in concluding it's better to redo the lawn from scratch? I consulted with our landlord, who is willing to run his rotorvator (what is this?) over our "grassed" area, which he says will let us seed the lawn again. However, I'm dubious as to whether this will get rid of the nettles or just distribute their roots more widely round the garden and let them take over even more space. I'm interested in gardening, but my skill and experience are close to zero. I mastered the arts of mowing the lawn and removing pests from the rosebush with a water pistol in our previous house, but not much else. We have a handheld fork and trowel and a pair of gloves, but nothing else in the way of equipment. I'm looking for suggestions/advice on how to deal with the "grassed" area, as we'd like to be able to walk on it in bare feet eventually and sit out there if the weather is nice. Also, any advice on plants would be welcome, since the weeds had completely choked everything in the flower beds once they're removed, I will have a blank slate to work with. I'd like something that's reasonably hardy, as I'm an expert at killing houseplants and would prefer something that has a chance of surviving my tender ministrations. We're intending to live in this house for two years, so something that would produce nice results in that timeframe would also be appreciated - we'll be leaving behind the results of my work for the next tenants, but it would be nice to be able to enjoy it ourselves as well! |
Nettle-choked garden - advice and suggestions welcome
I spent a couple of hours last week trying to dig up some of the
nettles at the edge of the "grassed" area to see if it was possible to remove them without sacrificing what little grass remains. However, I discovered that there is a web of inch thick nettle roots about 20cm below the soil surface, and that if I tried pulling them up, the result looks like the surface of the moon. Am I right in concluding it's better to redo the lawn from scratch? I seriously doubt it. I'd try and start with a clean slate if I were you. Stingers can be got rid of eventually if you keep cutting/pulling them, but the roots just sprout again. I think it's likely to take a couple of years to control nettles like that. Eventually they should die. But with such a well established patch I think it really would be easiest and more effective in the long run to get rid of them first. Either a weed killer (maybe?) or "simply" the hard way by pullign/digging the roots up as much as you can. At the same time you can get rid of the other weeds. I consulted with our landlord, who is willing to run his rotorvator (what is this?) over our "grassed" area, which he says will let us seed the lawn again. However, I'm dubious as to whether this will get rid of the nettles or just distribute their roots more widely round the garden and let them take over even more space. Once you've got the most of the roots out, a good going over with the rotavator would be a good thing. Tim |
Nettle-choked garden - advice and suggestions welcome
|
Nettle-choked garden - advice and suggestions welcome
In article , Genie
writes The "grassed" area consists of nettles and dandelions, with thin straggled bits of grass at the edges. The area is shaded by the corner of the house in the morning, and gets full sun from about 3pm onwards, so the ground is normally wet underfoot until that point. The area under the kitchen window gets full sun all day. I spent a couple of hours last week trying to dig up some of the nettles at the edge of the "grassed" area to see if it was possible to remove them without sacrificing what little grass remains. However, I discovered that there is a web of inch thick nettle roots about 20cm below the soil surface, and that if I tried pulling them up, the result looks like the surface of the moon. Am I right in concluding it's better to redo the lawn from scratch? Possibly. Alternatively, you might find that repeatedly closely mowing the lawn will get rid of the nettles in time - they'll put energy into making new leaves, which you'll then mow off, and eventually they'll run out of energy. I consulted with our landlord, who is willing to run his rotorvator (what is this?) over our "grassed" area, an engine driven thing with sharp blades which cuts everything up into bits and turns the soil over. which he says will let us seed the lawn again. However, I'm dubious as to whether this will get rid of the nettles or just distribute their roots more widely round the garden and let them take over even more space. You're right to be dubious. It won't distribute the nettles beyond the rotivated area, but it will leave bits of root to reappear as nettles in your grass. You won't be able to mow the reseeded area until the grass is big and tough enough, so the nettles will get a head start. I'm interested in gardening, but my skill and experience are close to zero. We all started that way! :-) Carry on as you are doing - observing and thinking - and you'll soon be surprised at how much you know. -- Kay Easton Edward's earthworm page: http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm |
Nettle-choked garden - advice and suggestions welcome
Genie wrote:
I have recently taken up tenancy in a semi-detatched victorian labourer's cottage on the entrance track to a farm. The 'garden' consists of a 4x4m patch of "grass" snip The "grassed" area consists of nettles and dandelions, with thin straggled bits of grass at the edges. snip 'discovered that there is a web of inch thick nettle roots about 20cm below the soil surface, and that if I tried pulling them up, the result looks like the surface of the moon. Am I right in concluding it's better to redo the lawn from scratch? Ask three people and you will get three different answers. ;-) I had the same problem on a patch very much bigger than yours. I set to with a garden fork and dug the nettle roots up. Its old fashioned. It works. I reckon I got 98% of the nettles and docks and hogweed out. Within the year most of the ground had dormant grass seeds sprouting. The bare patches were sown with locally mown hay seed. The benefit of this is that the grasses will be suitable for your soil type. Your timing is perfect. Hay should be being mown about now (depending on your location). Offer to glean your local farmers hay field - he will probably thank you for the offer. Toss the gleaned hay around on a plastic sheet, dispose of the hay. Sow the seed. Result? Grass - hardly a lawn yet, but a thick luxuriant grass sward. Digging the ground over has the benefit of breaking up hard packed soil and plant growth is more prolific in open textured soil. -- ned |
Nettle-choked garden - advice and suggestions welcome
Genie wrote in message ... The "grassed" area consists of nettles and dandelions, with thin straggled bits of grass at the edges. The area is shaded by the corner of the house in the morning, and gets full sun from about 3pm onwards, so the ground is normally wet underfoot until that point. The area under the kitchen window gets full sun all day. I spent a couple of hours last week trying to dig up some of the nettles at the edge of the "grassed" area to see if it was possible to remove them without sacrificing what little grass remains. However, I discovered that there is a web of inch thick nettle roots about 20cm below the soil surface, and that if I tried pulling them up, the result looks like the surface of the moon. Am I right in concluding it's better to redo the lawn from scratch? If you're looking for a high quality lawn, redo it from scratch. However, you'll probably get a reasonable result by just mowing it for a month or two. The nettles won't stand it for long. -- Anton |
Nettle-choked garden - advice and suggestions welcome
In article , Genie
writes The "grassed" area consists of nettles and dandelions, with thin straggled bits of grass at the edges. The area is shaded by the corner of the house in the morning, and gets full sun from about 3pm onwards, so the ground is normally wet underfoot until that point. The area under the kitchen window gets full sun all day. I spent a couple of hours last week trying to dig up some of the nettles at the edge of the "grassed" area to see if it was possible to remove them without sacrificing what little grass remains. However, I discovered that there is a web of inch thick nettle roots about 20cm below the soil surface, and that if I tried pulling them up, the result looks like the surface of the moon. Am I right in concluding it's better to redo the lawn from scratch? Possibly. Alternatively, you might find that repeatedly closely mowing the lawn will get rid of the nettles in time - they'll put energy into making new leaves, which you'll then mow off, and eventually they'll run out of energy. I consulted with our landlord, who is willing to run his rotorvator (what is this?) over our "grassed" area, an engine driven thing with sharp blades which cuts everything up into bits and turns the soil over. which he says will let us seed the lawn again. However, I'm dubious as to whether this will get rid of the nettles or just distribute their roots more widely round the garden and let them take over even more space. You're right to be dubious. It won't distribute the nettles beyond the rotivated area, but it will leave bits of root to reappear as nettles in your grass. You won't be able to mow the reseeded area until the grass is big and tough enough, so the nettles will get a head start. I'm interested in gardening, but my skill and experience are close to zero. We all started that way! :-) Carry on as you are doing - observing and thinking - and you'll soon be surprised at how much you know. -- Kay Easton Edward's earthworm page: http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm |
Nettle-choked garden - advice and suggestions welcome
Genie wrote:
I have recently taken up tenancy in a semi-detatched victorian labourer's cottage on the entrance track to a farm. The 'garden' consists of a 4x4m patch of "grass" snip The "grassed" area consists of nettles and dandelions, with thin straggled bits of grass at the edges. snip 'discovered that there is a web of inch thick nettle roots about 20cm below the soil surface, and that if I tried pulling them up, the result looks like the surface of the moon. Am I right in concluding it's better to redo the lawn from scratch? Ask three people and you will get three different answers. ;-) I had the same problem on a patch very much bigger than yours. I set to with a garden fork and dug the nettle roots up. Its old fashioned. It works. I reckon I got 98% of the nettles and docks and hogweed out. Within the year most of the ground had dormant grass seeds sprouting. The bare patches were sown with locally mown hay seed. The benefit of this is that the grasses will be suitable for your soil type. Your timing is perfect. Hay should be being mown about now (depending on your location). Offer to glean your local farmers hay field - he will probably thank you for the offer. Toss the gleaned hay around on a plastic sheet, dispose of the hay. Sow the seed. Result? Grass - hardly a lawn yet, but a thick luxuriant grass sward. Digging the ground over has the benefit of breaking up hard packed soil and plant growth is more prolific in open textured soil. -- ned |
Nettle-choked garden - advice and suggestions welcome
Genie wrote in message ... The "grassed" area consists of nettles and dandelions, with thin straggled bits of grass at the edges. The area is shaded by the corner of the house in the morning, and gets full sun from about 3pm onwards, so the ground is normally wet underfoot until that point. The area under the kitchen window gets full sun all day. I spent a couple of hours last week trying to dig up some of the nettles at the edge of the "grassed" area to see if it was possible to remove them without sacrificing what little grass remains. However, I discovered that there is a web of inch thick nettle roots about 20cm below the soil surface, and that if I tried pulling them up, the result looks like the surface of the moon. Am I right in concluding it's better to redo the lawn from scratch? If you're looking for a high quality lawn, redo it from scratch. However, you'll probably get a reasonable result by just mowing it for a month or two. The nettles won't stand it for long. -- Anton |
Nettle-choked garden - advice and suggestions welcome
Nettles are a sign of fertile soil :-) I'd agree with Ned, forking out that area of nettles is not a huge job and it's by far the quickest cheapest method. Then you can plant up your beds late this summer. Jumble sales are good sources of second hand tools and tough garden plants. Or put a card in a local shop. As you fork the nettles out, put all the rocks, bits of rubbish ect to one side. Save the rocks as they are useful if you want to build paths etc later. Janet. |
Nettle-choked garden - advice and suggestions welcome
"anton" wrote in message ... Genie wrote in message ... The "grassed" area consists of nettles and dandelions, with thin straggled bits of grass at the edges. The area is shaded by the corner of the house in the morning, and gets full sun from about 3pm onwards, so the ground is normally wet underfoot until that point. The area under the kitchen window gets full sun all day. I spent a couple of hours last week trying to dig up some of the nettles at the edge of the "grassed" area to see if it was possible to remove them without sacrificing what little grass remains. However, I discovered that there is a web of inch thick nettle roots about 20cm below the soil surface, and that if I tried pulling them up, the result looks like the surface of the moon. Am I right in concluding it's better to redo the lawn from scratch? Whichever way you decide to go, with so many nettles, it may be worth knowing how to make nettle manure, its wonderful stuff, cuts down measurably on the cost of fertilizers and really does work! One word of warning though, it is stated on the group often about how badly it smells, no description of the smell really does it justice, it's horrid, but so worth it. You'll find a link for it (from the urg archive) here http://groups.google.com/groups?selm...cs.demon.co . uk&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain Another thing you might think about it containers, don't leave *all* your work for the next tennants, containers are lovely, you can plant most things in them including vegetables and you can take them with you when you go. Good luck with it all. -- Shan (Ireland) http://ukdiscus.com/main.htm |
Nettle-choked garden - advice and suggestions welcome
|
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 07:00 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
GardenBanter