Author Topic: Any gardeners in here? (Read 13481 times)

M3ta7h3ad · **on:** May 03, 2020, 09:47:55 AM

Any gardeners in here?

on: May 03, 2020, 09:47:55 AM

So I bought a property (its actually my old family home) and inherited the front garden (not too bad) and back garden (hideously neglected to the point of needing to just be nuked from orbit).

Only problem with Covid-19, normally I'd get a bloke around who knew what he was doing and just get him to cut things back and make things how I want them but... Gotta do it myself.

I have no idea wtf bushes I have or if or how much I can cut them back to make them more reasonable and less of a PITA when mowing the also completely weed filled lawn.

Here are some pics of what i'm dealing with? Anyone have any ideas what plants i'm dealing with and if I just go lopping stuff off, will I end up with a garden full of dead stuff?

You can see it's slowly encroaching on what light I do have coming in from the front window.

View from the front

View from by the front door. I think I'd like it no further forward than the wall, but you can see it's grown like crazy.

as you can see the "bricks" marking out the edge of what was a small flower bed border, I think i'd like it cut all the way back to before the bricks.

Any ideas - reckon its okay to just do? It looks like the one bush is about to flower, so i'm concerned if i cut it back i'll kill it.

Clock'd 0Ne · **Reply #1 on:** May 04, 2020, 07:07:21 AM

Re: Any gardeners in here?

Reply #1 on: May 04, 2020, 07:07:21 AM

Photos aren't showing for some reason!

One of my best mates is a gardener, he comes round to do mine every other month and he knows plants and bushes quite well, for those he doesn't he uses an app you can get for your phone that will help identify them too (or try Google image search). Big old bushes and trees you can generally cut right back without much fear, its the roots doing all the work. Be mindful of weeds, I would try to eliminate them first before anything else. A safe and natural weed killer is a white vinegar and salt mix, they start to go brown and die within a day or two and you can simply pull them then. You can get 4L multi packs of white vinegar on amazon for cheap.

Congrats on getting your old family home back too, that must be a nice feeling

Serious · **Reply #2 on:** May 10, 2020, 19:10:05 PM

Re: Any gardeners in here?

Reply #2 on: May 10, 2020, 19:10:05 PM

Really you want to cut back bushes in the winter with perhaps a mild trim at most during summer. You don't want to cut them back too far though, look at a few gardening videos for help. Normally while dormant means they have pulled down as much nutrient as possible into the roots.

If the back one is really bad you might want to nuke it completely but for the moment watch to see which bushes flower and those you like.

zpyder · **Reply #3 on:** July 27, 2021, 09:33:09 AM

Re: Any gardeners in here?

Reply #3 on: July 27, 2021, 09:33:09 AM

Can't see the pictures, but here are some tips from someone who loves botany and plants etc, and went from a tiny shoebox garden to a massive "section" in NZ.

Weedmat is not 100% effective. If it is, it won't be forever.
It's awesome having a big lawn until you have to mow the bloody thing
iNaturalist is an app that you can photography unknowns and get people to ID.
Be prepared for collateral damage if you use weedkillers, even if you're careful.
The seedbank (seeds in the soil) can be viable for years. Perserverence is key. Keep pulling the weeds up as they grow and at some point the seeds will be used up
Sometimes a scorched earth policy is the easiest. If the lawn is super weedy, and everythings dead...pull it all up, and reseed the lawn etc.
"Wildflower" seed packs sound wonderful, and they are if you don't mind having a bed of weeds. We scattered a few around our flower beds and that was such a big mistake. We didn't know what were decent plants and what were weeds. Ended up pulling them all out and starting fresh.
Weedmat covered in stones or woodchips. It looks nice but bare in mind if you ever want to make over that area you're going to have to deal with that material. Stones are a PITA. Woodchip at least you might be able to dig/mulch into the soil...

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Author Topic: Any gardeners in here? (Read 13481 times)