Need some advice on a big over grown garden

[4390evans]

I've got a massive overgrown garden I've been given permission to do/sort out.
Its the same size as mine which is about 10 by 60 meters. It is full of overgrown shrubs and trees but what there is more of is bindweed and stinging nettles oh and rubbish, 20 years of rubbish. I started this garden either last year or the year before and got about 10 meters in before we found a underground wasp hive which we had no way of getting in as there was so much rubbish we couldn't find a opening to put any wasp killer in. So we just stopped.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has any advice on how to tackle the vegetation. I don't want to put any pesticides or herbicides as Im thinking of just turning it into something for nature bee's, butterflies, hedgehogs etc

When we were doing it before we burnt a lot of stuff, I'm thinking of starting it late this year or early next.

Thanks guys

[roitelet]

Wait until the foliage has died down it will make clearing easier. Visit the garden before this and identify any plants that are worth pruning and keeping.

[Jay-ell]

Tackle the worst thing first - which would be the rubbish.

As Roitel said wait till every thing dies down and the wasps have gone dormant for winter (most will be dead by then leaving just the queen).

Clearing the bindweed without spraying is going to be hard work - you could try growing and planting Mexican marigolds (tagetes minuta) as these are supposed to kill off bindweed - if you do let us know if they work

[Martin H]

I would start now by checking out what's growing and what might be salvageable. There could be worthwhile shrubs, flowering herbaceous plants etc. Label those and draw a map so you can find them later.

Then clear all the non-vegetable rubbish.

Then if there is a flat area that used to be lawn, strim it to the ground and rake all the topgrowth into a heap in a corner somewhere. You can then start mowing the regrowth, grass, weeds and all, with the blades set high. It won't look all that decorative but at least you'll be able to get around the garden without doing yourself an injury.

See if you can find a small space somewhere that you can clear of vegetation to create a nursery bed.

Come the autumn, get stuck into the real work a bit at a time. Prune to rejuvenate shrubs once they've stopped growing, lift herbaceous plants and replant weed-free chunks in the nursery bed.

I'd be tempted to stick with whatever layout you've unearthed for 2016. In spring once the bulbs start coming up you can move the rescued plants out of the nursery bed to somewhere more permanent, then just stay on top of the weeds, remove any remaining nettles, maybe use weedkiller on bindweed etc if you need to.

A year from now you can get going with more wildlife friendly stuff, but there's no point until the weeds have been conquered and the space is under some control.

[4390evans]

There is no lawn at all I know there is a concrete dip in the middle which I am told there is a well or something like that in the middle. Its on a hill as you enter the garden then its flat the rest of the way. The bindweed is in heaps just tangling round everything. I know there is a dog rose in there which will be good to keep, and a tree that has white flowers which is highly scented but so far that's it. Id be surprised if there is any bulbs or nice herbaceous flowers in there. I'm looking forward to tackling it

[Roysy]

I would salvage what ever you can in the way of favourable plants, if you have your own garden perhaps place them there temporarily. Remove any large non vegetative stuff. Strim down as short as possible and then cover over the winter; I use old carpets, commonly found in old skips etc but ask permission. This will kill most weeds off and then it will be easier to remove any smaller non vegetative stuff. I would then lift the covers a small bit at a time and dig out the bind weed roots, leave for weeds to come up again over the spring and cover to kill them again. Using this method you can do it a little at a time. Another possibility is to use a burner but not until you have cleared all non vegetative stuff as may be a petrol container under all the overgrowth! Even with a burner I would keep covering it after seed germination to kill off as much as possible.