"Gardening" advice please

[marcros]

The classic 'kill everything' weedkiller is sodium chlorate. The effect will last a while, too.

is that still available, or only old stock lurking in old sheds now?

 

[bugbear]

The classic 'kill everything' weedkiller is sodium chlorate. The effect will last a while, too.

is that still available, or only old stock lurking in old sheds now?

I think the effectiveness of "sugar and weedkiller" as an explosive rather put paid
to its general availability.

BugBear

 

[rafezetter]

You should still be able to find it even though it's nearly summer, if you can then what you need to apply is road salt, just sprinkle a good layer all over, keep it dry and if anything germinates next year and survives just do it again. Your other remedies will incur a lot of expense and a couple of them will not work.

Andy

This is something I often wondered about doing this myself - in our front area there's just one HUMUNGOUS Pampas grass (that now reaches the roofline of a 2 story house!) but the rest of the area is gravel and the barrier that must have been put down gave up years ago. I'd be mildly concerned concerned about killing the Pampas but otherwise I'd completely salt the earth at the front as the almost year round weeds are a constant battle, and frankly I'm sick of using weedkiller or the wand I bought every week.

Do pampas grass rtoots spread out or go vertical? what sort of margin should I give it?

 

[graduate_owner]

Yes Bugbear, they advertise as brand new Sheen X300 flameguns.

K

 

[andersonec]

[/quote]


This is something I often wondered about doing this myself - in our front area there's just one HUMUNGOUS Pampas grass (that now reaches the roofline of a 2 story house!) but the rest of the area is gravel and the barrier that must have been put down gave up years ago. I'd be mildly concerned concerned about killing the Pampas but otherwise I'd completely salt the earth at the front as the almost year round weeds are a constant battle, and frankly I'm sick of using weedkiller or the wand I bought every week.

Do pampas grass rtoots spread out or go vertical? what sort of margin should I give it?[/quote]

There are two different types of root systems, taproots and fibrous roots (and that is why you can get selective weedkillers) Taproots are commonly seen on trees and they spread, fibrous root systems are found on grasses, just a tuft of roots underground close to the plant so should be easily dug out, you could move and split your Pampas in the winter when it's dormant.
If salt is applied near the Pampas it could be washed to the root system by rain so give it quite a wide berth and if there's a slope then you can go closer on the downhill side.
Burning will only kill the foliage and the plant will regrow.

Andy

 

[dynax]

our front garden has gravel, it was done about 8 years ago, used a membrane, and for the last 6 years or so we have had a weed problem, i have a steamer that i'm going to try, it will be getting turfed sometime next year, using gravel was a very expensive and problematic mistake, never again,

 

[andersonec]

our front garden has gravel, it was done about 8 years ago, used a membrane, and for the last 6 years or so we have had a weed problem, i have a steamer that i'm going to try, it will be getting turfed sometime next year, using gravel was a very expensive and problematic mistake, never again,

The problem is that dust and fine earth will settle between your gravel and that is all some weeds need to survive, some will grow in almost nothing. The membrane is there to mostly prevent the mixing of the underlying soil into your gravel.

Andy

 

[iNewbie]

our front garden has gravel, it was done about 8 years ago, used a membrane, and for the last 6 years or so we have had a weed problem, i have a steamer that i'm going to try, it will be getting turfed sometime next year, using gravel was a very expensive and problematic mistake, never again,

Last weekend I cleaned out the stones/gravel from a small plastic pond which was filled in (about 11 years ago) and planted with whatever that plant is in it. Its got the weed cloth in there too - I actually re-clothed it at the time. You can see the picked out debris at the front of the stones and the bucket itself had more than a third of sludge in there, after washing the stones. So you can see the build-up of what you can't see, when you look at your gravel.

I'm not sure the weed mesh is a fix. Weeds will grow where ever they have the right conditions. Its all maintenance - I've the Welsh Slate area to go... *sigh*

 

[DennisCA]

Every year I apply salt, buy 25kg sacks of it and start spreading with a small spade where weeds are growing. Vinegar is also used between garden tiles.

We have a pretty large graveled area on your yard, it would not be feasible to tile it all, or asphalt it or some such. Wouldn't look very nice either. We did plant more grass though, used to be all gravel here in front of the house:

However this area in front of the house I want to tile over.