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pmillr2000

Help with an OLD yard

pmillr2000
15 years ago

I have recently moved into a house with a yard that appears to have been VERY lovely at one time in it's life. It has been neglected for many years. There are fruit trees (apples, plums, figs), pecan trees, Holly bushes and crepe myrtles that even I can recognize. However, there is some kind of brush growing at the base of EVERY tree in the yard. Monkey grass lining the drive has other "stuff" growing up through it, as does MOST of the shrubbery around the house. There is ivy growing EVERYWHERE! I found a small rose bush, but it's got so much other stuff growing around it that it can bare peek out of it! I don't know ANYTHING about gardening, but would like to bring this yard back to some kind of shape. This will be a MASSIVE undertaking and I don't expect to get it all done quickly, but I don't know where to even START! I know there are certain times of year to do certain things, but I haven't a clue what! If anybody can help me out, or point me in the right direction to find info, I would TRULY appreciate it!

Comments (5)

  • Donna
    15 years ago

    You're right. You do have a big job ahead. But it certainly can be done. First, go to the library or bookstore and get a good basic gardening book and read it carefully. "The Southern LIving Garden Book" is one good one. The general gardening information is in the back. The A-Z reference will be great help in identifying what you have.

    Tracy DiSabato's "The Well Tended Perennial Garden" is another excellent one. Just be aware that she gardens in the Midwest, and alot of the plants she discusses will not do well in the deep south.

    Anything you cannot identify yourself or with someone's help, I would let stand for one year. During that year you will find out what you really have: bulbs, perennials, flowering shrubs, and trees. Don't be overly eager to pull out. You might destroy some treasures. Do take some notes throughout the year so that you know what you have, where it is, what color its blooms are, and whether it is flourishing or not.

    If you know someone who is a very knowledgeable gardener (Look at their yard. That will tell you.), invite them over to help you figure out a strategy.

    I think your first step needs to be weeding and mulching. Depending on how tall the weeds are you can pull or you can spray Roundup. If you choose to spray, be sure that you cover any nearby shrubbery or flowers with sheets before you spray. If the drift lands on the foliage of these plants, they will die just like the weeds will. Be sure to read the directions carefully and follow them. Anything the Roundup doesn't kill (poison ivy, for instance), you can spray with Brush Killer. A pump up sprayer at WalMart costs less than $10. It's a great investment. As a matter of fact, I have two. One for Roundup and Brush Killer (I mix them in the same bottle), and one for Image, which kills nutgrass and other weedy sedges.

    Once you have an area clear of weeds, put down several inches of organic mulch. Chopped leaves and pine straw work well and they are about to be plentifully available. The mulch will help stop the weeds from returning. The few that manage to come up through the mulch will need to be pulled immediately so that they don't flower and make seeds for more weeds. All weeds are simple to pull when they're small. As you walk out to the mailbox, pull weeds as you go. Then take a different route back to the house and do the same.

    I have never had to deal with English Ivy, but I know it's a bear. Maybe someone else can advise you on that.

    The monkey grass that has been invaded may be difficult to deal with too. Honestly, if it were me, I would dig it all out, fill the holes with topsoil and let the grass grow into its place. Lawn grass, neatly edged, will look just as good as monkey grass and will require alot less maintenance.

    I'm sure others will have tips for you. Just know that our weather is about to cool off. It's a great time to get started! Work on one area at a time. You'll be amazed at how fast you progress.

  • louisianagal
    15 years ago

    hi pmillr,
    I know it sounds like a daunting task, and it is, but it is also an adventure! The good news is that you might have a wonderful garden revealed with *just* a bit of hard work, and you might not need a bunch of money spent on plants. I agree with donnabaskets that mulch will be very important. What I would do is trim back whatever is really unruly, but first read the Southern Living book, and read about pruning. If it is a camellia for example, it will bloom in fall or winter or early spring, and you don't want to prune the buds off. Same goes for spring flowering shrubs. However, even if I had a camellia and it was really out of control, I would prune it anyway, because you would just be removing the wayward branches. I would cut the ivy wherever I could find the base, and the tops will die, and can be removed easily. It is easier to work in the wintertime, when it is cool or cold, and the grass and weeds go dormant, so you can do most of it then. I might also dig out the monkey grass, if it is very hard to get what's growing in amongst it. You might have some surprises with spring bulbs coming up like daffodils, so make a map of where everything is and when it blooms. Many plants can be pruned after flowering, like azaleas which usually bloom in march near gulf coast and april in northern parts of MS/AL. So some of this you'll have to wait on. It is really wonderful to keep a journal or scrap book for these kinds of projects or take digital picutres or before/after and the seasons. I hope you will meet some wonderful neighbors and gardener folks, as I'm sure you will. They would just *love* to come over and help you assess and revise your landscape. What an adventure!
    laurie

  • gatormomx2
    15 years ago

    Contact your local County Agricultural Extension Office . They can help you ID plants and advise different gardening methods that work in your area . All their help is free so take advantage ! You can find them in the phone book or on the internet . You can even bring samples into their office for a first hand ID .

  • pmillr2000
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Excellent advice! I think I'll make a run to Books-a-Million this weekend!

  • tsmith2579
    15 years ago

    For any kind of bushes or weeds which need to be killed but are growing in with plants you want to keep, here are three tips. (1) When you can't spray with weed killer, buy a pair of old time Playtex-type dish washing gloves. The heavy, think rubber ones which come up above your wrist. Now buy a pair of $1 cotton garden gloves. Put the rubber gloves on first and the cotton gloves on the OUTSIDE. Pour Round-up on the cotton gloves until they are very damp but not soaking and dripping. Now gently give the bad plants a Round-up massage. Coat the plant with Round-up. It will die and cut it out only after it is dead. (2) Where a weed is accessible, if the trunk of an unwanted plant is big enough, cut it back, drill a hole in the cut end and fill the hole with Round-Up. (3) Finally, if the weed or small sapling is long enough but still in the middle of plants and bushes you want to keep, arch the trunk over to the outside. Fill a plastic coke bottle with water and Round-up. Put the end of the limb inside the coke bottle and tie it so it stays inside in the liquid. You may need to tie a brick to the limb to keep it from standing back up and slinging weed killer on your keeper plants. Again, when the plants are dead, you can just prune them out from the middle of the good plants. This will clean up a lot of bad plants quickly.

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