On Sun, 29 May 2005 18:48:11 +0000, VX
wrote:

In my recently-inherited garden it now appears that there is a big perennial
weed problem. This garden was cleared before I moved here but prior to that
had many weeds and was overgrown. I made the mistake of getting it dug and
now there is bindweed and several other nasties coming up all over the place.
I had planned to plant several shrub roses and perennials- but having planted
only the shrub roses I can see that I have to deal with the weed problem
before any more planting.

I have a number of perennials sitting here in pots now, so I thought I'd
plant these in bigger pots and tubs. I could even bury some large pots in the
ground and so it would look like they are actually growing there, then I
could move them if I needed to, and the weeds would not be cominig up among a
clump of perennials because there would be the pots in the way to isolate
them. I think I have a workable plan, and certainly a better prospect than
just planting the perennials in amongst the emerging weeds. And then I can
continue to do what I'm doing, namely using various ways to stop the weeds
from surviving and spreading by selectively burning, spraying and (when it
arrives) using polythene sheeting to block the light. Eventually (maybe after
two years of diligent weed-bashing) I will win and the weeds will be gone, or
mostly so, and i wil then have a plantable garden.

I have two questions-

1] Is this the most workable idea fopr this situation? I can't think of any
other way of doing this, but woud welcome any better ideas- and

2] What soil/compost should I use for growing my remaining outdoor border
plants in when putting them into pots/tubs etc? I could get some sterile
topsoil and use that but I wonder if in a pot it might be better to use
something like John Innes No 2. I suppose though that's my "houseplant
thinking" and these plants are traditional perennials like phlox,
chrysanthemums, delphiniums, and so on which might expect something more like
real garden soil. Any suggestions on planting mediums? TIA for any feedback.

PS I'm a bit physically challenged nowadays so I need the low-energy options
(where there actually are any options, that is... For example I tried
hoeing recently and retreated back indoors totally exhausted after a few
minutes- but burning and spraying I can do, just about, on an occasional
basis.

The prospect is a bit daunting, isn't it!
Your idea of sinking quite big pots is good, but even then, bindweed
could possibly get in through the drainage holes, though that is
improbable.
My experience with weed covered ground (allotment) has been to spread
black plastic and leave for some months. This will kill the annual
weeds. When I peeled back the plastic, all that was showing was
largely blanched dandelions and bindweed. These greened up after a
few days and then I sprayed with glyphosate.
Leave it long enough for the glyphosate to get down to the roots. They
say the best time to use glyphosate is in September, when the sap is
naturally going down, and it takes the chemical with it. I don't see
the need to burn and use a spray. If you want to be organic, then burn
is the alternative.
There will still be annual weeds in the soil but once the worst is
dealt with you can deal with a few more easily. Hoe for 5 minutes
every day rather than an hour once a week! (No, I know the maths isn't
right but you know what I mean!)

Pam in Bristol

In my recently-inherited garden it now appears that there is a big perennial
weed problem. This garden was cleared before I moved here but prior to that
had many weeds and was overgrown. I made the mistake of getting it dug and
now there is bindweed and several other nasties coming up all over the place.
I had planned to plant several shrub roses and perennials- but having planted
only the shrub roses I can see that I have to deal with the weed problem
before any more planting.

I have a number of perennials sitting here in pots now, so I thought I'd
plant these in bigger pots and tubs. I could even bury some large pots in the
ground and so it would look like they are actually growing there, then I
could move them if I needed to, and the weeds would not be cominig up among a
clump of perennials because there would be the pots in the way to isolate
them. I think I have a workable plan, and certainly a better prospect than
just planting the perennials in amongst the emerging weeds. And then I can
continue to do what I'm doing, namely using various ways to stop the weeds
from surviving and spreading by selectively burning, spraying and (when it
arrives) using polythene sheeting to block the light. Eventually (maybe after
two years of diligent weed-bashing) I will win and the weeds will be gone, or
mostly so, and i wil then have a plantable garden.

I have two questions-

1] Is this the most workable idea fopr this situation? I can't think of any
other way of doing this, but woud welcome any better ideas- and

2] What soil/compost should I use for growing my remaining outdoor border
plants in when putting them into pots/tubs etc? I could get some sterile
topsoil and use that but I wonder if in a pot it might be better to use
something like John Innes No 2. I suppose though that's my "houseplant
thinking" and these plants are traditional perennials like phlox,
chrysanthemums, delphiniums, and so on which might expect something more like
real garden soil. Any suggestions on planting mediums? TIA for any feedback.

PS I'm a bit physically challenged nowadays so I need the low-energy options
(where there actually are any options, that is... For example I tried
hoeing recently and retreated back indoors totally exhausted after a few
minutes- but burning and spraying I can do, just about, on an occasional
basis.

--
VX (remove alcohol for email)

On Sun, 29 May 2005 18:30:43 +0100, Pam Moore wrote
(in message ):

The prospect is a bit daunting, isn't it!

What bothers me is that if i burn off all visible weeds in the morning (my
low-effort version of hoeing) then there is new stuff showing up the same
evening! So if I leave it a few days, there's a lot more...

Your idea of sinking quite big pots is good, but even then, bindweed
could possibly get in through the drainage holes, though that is
improbable.

Even if that did happen, I could just sacrifice that particular pot and
replace it with something else, and that is still better than trying to
disentagle bindweed from a clump of something growing in the ground. So it
does seem like a workable idea.

My experience with weed covered ground (allotment) has been to spread
black plastic and leave for some months. This will kill the annual
weeds. When I peeled back the plastic, all that was showing was
largely blanched dandelions and bindweed. These greened up after a
few days and then I sprayed with glyphosate.
Leave it long enough for the glyphosate to get down to the roots. They
say the best time to use glyphosate is in September, when the sap is
naturally going down, and it takes the chemical with it.

Ok, that's useful to know. I'll cover it up till September and then be
prepared for whatever is underneath! And maybe just cover it all up again
after that.

I don't see
the need to burn and use a spray. If you want to be organic, then burn
is the alternative.
There will still be annual weeds in the soil but once the worst is
dealt with you can deal with a few more easily. Hoe for 5 minutes
every day rather than an hour once a week! (No, I know the maths isn't
right but you know what I mean!)

Pam in Bristol

I thought the maths was ok. Hoeing for 35 minutes in total IS better than
hoeing for a hour!


--
VX (remove alcohol for email)

VX wrote:
On Sun, 29 May 2005 18:30:43 +0100, Pam Moore wrote
[...] Leave it long enough for the glyphosate to get down to the
roots.
They say the best time to use glyphosate is in September, when the
sap is naturally going down, and it takes the chemical with it.

Ok, that's useful to know. I'll cover it up till September and then
be
prepared for whatever is underneath! And maybe just cover it all up
again after that.
[...]
I've been thinking about this, and I'm not at all sure it's right.
I'm not a big herbicides fan, but a gardener's gotta do what a
gardener's gotta do. Surely the way it works is by entering the
plant's system _while it's in active growth_ : this would make autumn
a bad time, not a good one.

I don't think sap actually _does_ "go down" in quite the literal
sense hinted at. We may share an awful lot of DNA with plants, but
sap isn't really like blood.

There's a bit of advice from the RHS at:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile...ding_fruit.asp
and no doubt in other places too. What caught my attention was their
warning against using glyphosate in summer around some fruit trees: I
don't understand why. (It's obvious why one mustn't use it around
cane fruits; but apples and pears??)

When they say use it on couch in late winter, I'm sure this is to
protect the trees, not because that's the best time for killing
couch. I'd want to hit couch in spring and summer.

--
Mike.

On Tue, 31 May 2005 12:56:14 +0100, Mike Lyle wrote
(in message ):

There's a bit of advice from the RHS at:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile...ding_fruit.asp
and no doubt in other places too. What caught my attention was their
warning against using glyphosate in summer around some fruit trees: I
don't understand why. (It's obvious why one mustn't use it around
cane fruits; but apples and pears??)

Thanks for the url. I did a search on the RHS site on 'weeds" -there seems to
be a fair amount of information and there is a section on bindweed here

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0801/bindweed.asp

in which it says:

Glyphosate is a non-selective total weedkiller... ...It is usually more
effective when the weed has reached the flowering stage but can be effective
well into the autumn. Early spring applications are generally less
successful. Spraying in the early evening is more effective than spraying
during the day. Where the weed has started to twine into plants it is
possible to carefully untwine the stems and lay them on bare ground before
spraying the foliage.

--
VX (remove alcohol for email)