Hi

I wonder if anyone knows what I can use on my garden to stop unwanted weeds/bushes growing?

I have been advised to use potassium chloride as that will kill everything off but I am not sure where you can buy this from?

I have looked in B&Q but they only have weedol and something called deep root, just wondered if anyone knew of any good stuff?

Depends on where in the garden you are talking here, and if you ever want to plant any wanted plants in the same place at another time.

By stopping, do you mean killing once they have reared their ugly tendrils? If so look for a weed killer (assuming you can't be arsed to dig them out) which is inactivated on contact with the soil.

If you want to prevent them growing (or at least as densely) then mulching is the answer - bark, cocoa shells (thoough these blow around a lot) and the like. even a layer of gravel that you can still plant through. Then of course there is membrane.

What you should use really depends on exactly what it is you want to do.

Have you looked at the labels of Weedol and Deep Root to see whether they contain potassium chloride? There may be a control on the stuff for 'environmental reasons' though.

I believe a 'systemic' weedkiller is what you need. It kills the plant - weed - but is deactivated once on the soil.

Whilest we are talking about gardening, and not meaning to over take the thread, but i just thought, how do peple keep their plants alive when they go on holiday?!

Get a neighbour in .......... or if outdoors, not a problem unless there's a drought. (Or you live in kent!!!)

[QUOTE=bigbum]


I have been advised to use potassium chloride as that will kill everything off but I am not sure where you can buy this from?

QUOTE]


It's Sodium Chlorate that you want - it kills everything. Potassium Chloride is used for making fertilizer so I think somebody was pulling your leg

Oh yeh, and im sorry bigbum, cant help you, i live in a flat! I feel terribly rude calling you big bum you know...please dont take offence!

Dont think the neighbours thing is an option really. Thanks though x

Whilest we are talking about gardening, and not meaning to over take the thread, but i just thought, how do peple keep their plants alive when they go on holiday?!

Ask neighbours to water them if they are outside or get someone out of your family to pop round whilst your away.

My piece of advice for gardening is, Get someone else to do it :hihi: :hihi:

Unfortunatley my family live 2hours away! Ooops! and they are inside, dont really want a neighbour coming in, though people might have bought used special plant stuff whilst on their hols? Thanks x

Thanks for that. I have actually chopped everything down this weekend and am planning to pave sopme of the garden and put gravel down on other bits. I wanted to put something down so that nothing grows now I have weeded and cut it all down. Someone mentioned sodium chlorate would kill everything, Im not in any riush tom plant anything but will do evertually. I have started to put membrane down but my neighbour thinks Im crazy, why not just buy some killer stuff and have done?????????????????????????????

do you know where i can get this from or what its in?

Sodium chlorate will stay around for six months or more, and if you use it near your neighbours boundary will probably leach through and kill their plants as well.

Don's top tip (Green friendly too)

Use the boiling water that you use to boil potatoes. It scalds the top growth & the starch from the spuds clogs up the root cells & stops them absorbing :thumbsup:

Weedol is a systemic weedkiller that will kill the roots as well; I use it on my garden.
Best thing is to use that (or another systemic one) to kill the weeds and THEN put the membrane down.

Definitely put something down first even before the membrane. I've cut down the grass, but never dug it up or turn them over. Then put down membrane, thinking the lack of sunlight will kill or suppress any weeds/grass from growing. This didn't work.

I dunno whether I should put something more permanent down, but I don't want to kill it forever if I ever decide to sel the house. So the next owner can grow something. Maybe I should've gone down the sand route.

My weeds are the bane of my life at the moment. Chuckling and sniggling in the wind amongst my nicely laid down gravel by my own bare hands. :( *sigh* (Oh, just to warn u also, I think it was from the SF that someone mentioned that gravel attracts cat to poo on it. Yes, my garden is a pet toilet for my neighbours' pets ! >.< ) Be warned...

Sprinkle pepper dust around the area when it's dry to deter cats and dogs in a non-harmful way. If it's not strong enough, mix in some cheap chilli powder before sprinkling.

Cats pooing in gravel? I have loads of it down and all the cats in the neighbourhood, including my own, tiptoe around the edge of the gravel because it hurts their paws.

Be careful with weedkiller as it might well get through and kill your neighbour's plants, and you'll have hell to pay if you do that. You won't be able to plant anything for ages in your own garden either, and it will be unsafe for children and wildlife too.

do you know where i can get this from or what its in?
Any garden centre will have a huge range of weed killer. Just make sure it is systemic and therefore will kill the roots. It will say so quite clearly on it. For this to work though you do need to have a certain amount of greenery to absorb it, so if you've chopped it right to the ground then you might want to let it sprout a bit first.

And you can always use one of those gas-powered mini flame thrower thingies to burn off the top layer once it has started to go brown and curl up and then you can put down your membrane and gravel etc.

Be careful with weedkiller as it might well get through and kill your neighbour's plants, and you'll have hell to pay if you do that. You won't be able to plant anything for ages in your own garden either, and it will be unsafe for children and wildlife too.
Depends on the weedkiller, these new systemic ones de-activate on contact with soil so won't kill other plants unless you accidentally spray them as well. Most of them are child and pet friendly after a certain time stated on the container.

You guys got me thinking now. I was tempted to dig up my old gravel, and kill the lower layer with 'deep root' in my back garden. I tried some in my front garden, it worked. It is surrounded by concrete, so it doesn't overlap my neighbours greenery in any way. So I guess I should avoid using deep roots in the back garden ?

Can u burn your own back garden, or is this actually illegal ? I think I'm getting desperate. lol.

Another Q to the pepper method to deter cats. Do I need to keep reapplying, or will applying it for a period of time stop them from coming into the area forever ? Do cats have a good memory ?

At the moment, I'm trying to re-design the whole garden. With lack of budget, and lack of manpower. I just find that the weeding alone is too much work, never mind trying to get a particular area sorted, and move onto the next. I'm aiming for a low maintenance garden.

For the pepper, you'll need to keep re-applying for a while as rain will wash it away, the local cats/foxes seem to learn and keep away for a while, but then come back after a few weeks.
I started putting the chilli in when I discovered the foxes were biting through bin bags despite normal pepper dust.

if you're aiming for low maintenance on an unplanted area, but want some plants, may i suggest the following:
1) Blitz the weeds in a particular patch/border over a day/week end Dig them up properly, roots and all. Then level the area's topsoil ( a rake will do).
2) put down a good geo membrane over the entire area.
3) plants can be put in through the membrane by cutting an X in it and folding back the resultant flaps.
4) the remaining bare membrane can be completely covered with bark chippings, gravel etc.

If the area is already planted and the membrane is not feasible, then I find bark chippings are a good weed suppressant in addition to putting in plenty of ground cover plants.

Right at the back of my garden I have those bramble bushes that slowly take over the garden, you can barely get to it because they are so prickly.
They seem to come from the neighbours garden then re-root in mine & they grow so quickly.
I'm not into loads of plants due to working etc but would just like a nice lawn. I would actually gain over 20' of garden if I could get rid of these brambles.
Would the sodium chlorate work on these?
If not advice greatly accepted that doesn't take too much time.

AFAIK, sodium chlorate works on anything.