Calling all garden experts- ever seen a weed problem this huge?!

[dammit]

Hi all

Recently we purchased a house which is on a 1/2 acre, or approx. 2037m2 block of land. In the past, part of the house has been fenced into a separate yard, with the back section acting as a paddock for a horse,chooks etc. Now what we want to do is open it up, completely annihilate the weeds, then once its 'safe' for grass and all the weeds are gone and hopefully not coming back - were thinking of placing turf down, but because the area is so big will probably put grass seed down because turfing would cost approx $7000!, fix/replace the boundary fencing, remove that ugly mound of dirt and establish some trees,garden beds etc.

Now with this weed problem I am baffled about the best way to get it sorted. I have asked a couple of friends who are good gardeners etc all offering differing methods such as poisoning, getting excavators in, solarizing the soil?, rotary hoe-ing, etc. We hired a slasher/tractor to slash all the weeds which got them down to about 20cm and tidied it up alot, but because it is a big tractor it can't get into little places etc. Anyway then we got some really good rain, which then made the weeds grow faster than ever, so now the problem is even worse. Ideally while we are working on this problem we want to keep the weeds down to deter snakes (we have a couple of dogs), etc. The slashing idea seems to only be a temporary solution not a permanent one...

I have sprayed a large section with Roundup 360g/L glyphosphate, which seems to be working ok, and then mowed the section with our push mower - but the ground is quite bumpy / there is some bricks and stuff which don't agree with the mower very much. I am assuming the soil is full of weed seeds because it looks like the weeds have been up there for many years and have been seeding like crazy and multiplying! I think the type of weeds is mixed, I know one of the main ones is Patterson's Curse. I'm not sure what the ones with yellow flowers are or the other ones.

Has anyone got any suggestions on the best way to get this weed problem sorted, and a timeframe of what a 'weed program'/the suggestion is likely to take before weeds are permanently gone- so the rest of the work on the garden can be started ? Is 2000m2/half an acre too big an area to have a 'nice garden' (without having to hire a fulltime gardener , or spend the entire weekends tending to it), or if I am selective with what i do and put in low maintenance things, it should generally look after itself with a bit of maintenance (things like pebble gardens/areas, paved areas, gazebo, etc?)

I have attached 2 pics, one of the overall weeds which I have placed a pink line so you can see where the back boundary of the block is, and another close up of the weeds. Also if anyone has any suggestions on the best way to get rid of that mound of dirt it would be appreciated. I advertised it on the net as free fill incase someone wanted to come and collect it for free, but given we live in a small country town I haven't found anyone interested in it yet. Theres an earthmoving company down the road who I will probably get a quote from to remove it, any idea how much this would roughly cost? I think the main cost would be dumping it because the local tip doesn't accept fill anymore so it needs to be taken to a neighbouring town 20km away...plus then I think they charge a bit at that tip.

Any suggestions, advice or ideas are very welcome!! Many thanks in advance

[echnidna]

Had a similar problem.

Once you get it all down mow it regularly with a rideon mower.
Roundup the crappy weeds or pull them out.
Pickup rocks and bricks regularly and they'll soon be gone
The little hill could become a landscape feature.

[Ivan in Oz]

To me the Purple Flower is Patersons Curse; Correct?

The Yellow one is either Wild Parsnip or Wild Turnip.

How good are the Fences?

Get in Goat(s) on agistment only;
or Chooks.

[Ivan in Oz]

> ever seen a weed problem this huge?!

In answer to your Question,

Yes, often, only larger.
They used a D9 Cat...........

[dammit]

echnidna - what sort of landscape feature do you think can be made from the pile of dirt? Like a grassed hill? The soil is pretty bad quality, its mainly rock hard clay so I'm not sure if anything would grow on it?

Hi Ivan - yep the purple one is patersons curse, u might be right about the yellow one i googled a few pictures of wild turnip/parsnip - it looked a bit denser on the net than here but it looks pretty similar. there used to be chooks in the yard but they didn't do anything to the weeds except scratch around the dirt, the fences are pretty bad, about to fall over, it could probably securely contain a goat I think..but won't the goats just eat the weeds then they will grow back? or when they eat do they pull weeds out at the roots? something to think about anyways thanks for ur helps. I think a D9 Cat would help (lol), but I was thinking a better option might be an atomic bomb !!! that should surely kill the weeds!

[DJ’s Timber]

For goats, you would need very secure or electric fencing or have them tethered to a stake. Goats are very good climbers and a fence that is about to fall over would not deter a goat.

Another thing to be aware of withs goats too, is that they like company and will try their hardest to escape to look for company if they're by themselves

[namtrak]

Looks like a great space. You could really do some expansive stuff with that.

First things first - get rid of the weeds. Roundup for a few weeks.

Condition the soil with gypsum, and maybe get horse manure from the local race track and your soil will improve very quickly.

To draw up some plans you need to create an overall picture of the place, gradient of the land, the natural water fall, shade and sun maps, placement of utilities etc.

Once you have that basic stuff in place you can start to look at your options. IMHO 1/2 acre is a heck of lot to be mowing and maintaining, I would be thinking native gardens and such - plant it out using tubestock and mulching and you would reducing your mowing and watering. Work out how much land you want aside for trampolines, cricket pitches, clotheslines etc and go from there.

[journeyman Mick]

If it was my block I'd get a bobcat in to scratch it all up and level it out. That way you can at least mow it to keep the weeds down. If you have reasonably level ground and can mow on a regular basis it won't take too long for grass to come up and choke the weeds out. My block is a shade under 1/2 an acre and about a third of it was like yours. I got it reasonably level (except for a gulley section which I only finished filling 6 months ago) and after some persistant mowing got something which approximated a lawn. Of course if I don't keep up with the mowing the guinea grass, which quickly and easily grows to 2M+, soon starts to poke through.

Mick

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

What's the soil like? Is that hill representative?

If it is and the top soil is thin, I'd slash what's there and then rotary hoe it in, perhaps with a bit of lime, to help create better conditions. Not much point in killing off the weeds if they're all that can grow there with current soil conditions... at least they're preventing other problems.

Given the size of the block, even if the soil is good I'd plant out small areas as soon as possible, preferably using hardy plants from the local region with a lot of ground cover, working on the principle that it's hard for weeds to grow where something is already established.

Keep mowing down the bulk of the block, but as you establish more and more areas which are naturally "weed-controlled" then the easier the job becomes in the long run.

You'll always have problems with the Patterson's Curse, as my money says that it's not only your block covered in it. But at least you can bring the problem back to manageable proportions...

(The above ain't my advice... I've 'ad 'er royal 'ighness whispering in my ear. She of the green thumbs. When it comes to weeds, my personal preference is to spray it all with diesel. )

[Dirty Doogie]

I think I would keep the pile of soil/dirt to make a few terraced areas or berms so your rainfall doesnt rush away.

A regime of constant mowing will kill the weeds eventually but seeds will remain in the soil for some time - germinating just when you have seeded a section with lawn LOL

I'd consider a bobcat to rake and shape and level the block. It is a nice large space and you could really do some nice garden.

Perhaps consider taming it section by section in manageable portions - say 15 metres x 15metres. A technique I used on a similiar size block but with different weeds was

1) Completely zero a section
2) when growth is dead - fire the section to destroy seeds
3) Now you can see the ground clear rubbish like bricks etc
4) Rotary hoe / plough the area - wait for next crop of weeds , Zero then plough rotary hoe again but this time cover with seedless straw/hay.
5) in a few weeks when everything is settled you can sow grass seed straight onto hay. If weeds still come up after you put hay down zero them before sowing.

Another technique that works on those sort of weeds is to pioson a smaller area - say 8 mter x 8 mtre - put a tall fence up around it and get chooks. throw lots of straw with seeds around and the chooks will work the soil up for you in no time - eating weed seedlings, seeds etc. Chooks do an excellent job of getting the soil ready and they fertilize it too as well as scaring snakes away.

[dammit]

Skew - yep the soil is very similar to that pile of dirt, it is all mainly rock hard clay type soil. There isn't really any top soil apart from hard clay...even spreading that pile of dirt around would probably be a big challenge, its as hard as cement

the native gardens idea is a good one that I'll probably incorporate into the plan, & also the idea of doing it in small sections, I've started to do that and it seems to be helping from a motivational point of view rather than tackling such a huge space working bit by bit seems the way to go.

Thanks for all the posts so far =) some very good and creative ideas !!

[johnc]

The amazing thing about poisons like Zero is that although they knock off the green weeds what they leave behind is a bare habitat perfect for the remnant seeds dormant in the soil. I'd not bother too much about knocking off the weeds, take the advice of getting in a bobcat or blade and have the block scrapped and levelled/sculptured. Regardless of planting lawn or not mow regularly and hit with either roundup before sowing down or a broadleaf killer after sowing, its all about active weed control. With water the way it is the native garden, mulch etc sounds attractive, but most importantly get the place to a clean slate and then move to the next step.

[Eli]

My $.02-

The only thing that'll clean the weeds (and seeds) out is a chook tractor, maybe in your case two of them, that'll leave it fertilized and pest free to plant whatever you want. Plus you get eggs out of the deal. Killing weeds off with poisons creates other problems. When only weeds are growing it's because they are the best at accessing what minerals are available. The bobcat idea was good, give you a fresh start and flatten that pile of dirt.

[Planned LScape]

Only way to solve the problem is phsyical removal. Leaving them there to regrow and set more seed will only result in more weeds, and potentially agitated neighbours who can in some areas get council to get you to remove them.

I would get a bobcat to scrape off the top layer (make sure he gets the roots), before thinking about what you want to do with the area. Come up with a plan on what you want to do there and do that as soon as it has been scraped. Add over the top some good quality screened soil and get it planted out or grassed immediately to smother new weed growth. You will still get weeds- and plenty of them, but nowhere near as bad.

Perhaps in the meantime if $$ are tight to get them removed, and spread some of that recycle mulch that councils use to deter new weed seed growth until you can get the works done.

[Bobby Brown]

I've heard that planting potatoes - lots of them will destroy weeds and improve the soil? Any comments?