In need of real help please ! How to rescue my garden....?

[LostinHungary]

1st of all I hope this the right place for this posting , please exscuse me if it isnt

Where to start , hmmm

Ill try and stick to the point and keep it simple.

Garden in Hot fertile Hungary , has been neglected for at least 4 to 5 years now. I have come for about a month a year only to end up hacking down numerous 6ft tall weeds and grass.

Now please forgive my extreme lack of knowledge and naivety , but I have always ended up going down the root of burning these weeds , which isnt that easy as I usually make small piles around the garden , the garden being roughly 700 to 800 square meters , so fairly large. The pile tend to start composting underneath. and although quite hot here in the summer and quick to dry out, it still takes a while being moist , and I need a dryer source to keep the fire burning sometimes !

1.Any tips on dealing with vast amounts of chopped down weeds , and grass ?

I assume you cant compost weeds ? and it wood be a hell of a compost heap if I could.

2.Can I compost dried grass cuttings ?

3. I'm in two minds as of my next course of action , having cleared the bulk of the weeds , and elder flower. And now after a week or so the weeds are already starting to come back. Do I need to look at spraying the entire garden with weed killer ? ( I'm worried this will mean that I wont be able to do any planting for the rest of this year, and limit other options ? advice please )


Ill leave it at just this main basic questions for now , as I could go on and on , but better to save them for another time, and not overwhelm people. I will upload some pics when I get a chance.

But will be looking to get advice on , anyway I can use the ash from all the weeds shrubs and stuff Ive burnt. Ways to turn over the uneven earth, be it manual or machine. and some tips on laying grass seeds.

really looking forward to getting some good advice and wisdom, and learning a lot.

Thanks for taking the time to read !

[Dillbert]

700 sq m = about 7,500 sq ft - so yup, that's a big garden!

about the composting -

basically yes to all - you can compost grass clippings and weeds.

that said,,, if you compost noxious weeds, you'll want to be sure your compost pile gets hot.
theory hold that the heat from decomposition kills some/most/all of the weed seeds.

getting a "hot" pile means controlling the amounts of browns / greens + aeration + moisture control - and turning the pile to keep it 'cooking'

weed killers:
some are persistent - they are effective for longer periods
some are pretty much "contact only"
you'll need to look into your choices.

do you plan to use the entire area 'this season'?
perhaps use just a portion?

for an area that has been overgrown for a long time, one method is to till / plow the soil - repeatedly.

what happens is turning over the dirt smothers the active weeds, but it brings up dormant seeds.
the dormant seeds sprout; let them sprout, then till them under before they have a chance to become plants and make more weed seeds..... this method depends very much on whether you have the capability to have the soil tilled / plowed every 2-3 weeks - if you have your own power equipment & time, that works.

areas that you do cultivate - use a heavy mulch to keep the weeds down.

"reclaiming" the area is not going to be a one season deal - you'll need close attention and constant action for 3-4 years to eliminate the biggest portion of "I've got weeds!"

[LostinHungary]

Thanks for that useful information

Another naive question , is tilling the soil or plowing the same thing as one might use rotorvator for ? or will that not get the same results ?

I see many rotorvater's here in hungary , a little engined machines with two handle bars and two spiked trowels where you might expect wheels ( sorry for naive explanation of a machine your probably quite familiar with , lol )

The lager plot of the garden , which is to the rear , has become a little uneven and bumpy , because of some dead and some unwanted tree's that where removed in the past, would the above process be acceptable to try and make it more level ?

Unfortunately right now I havent got any machinary to hand, as for maybe being able to invest or hire , that can be looked into . I am however willing to try and do as much as possible by hand , and I'm not afraid of back braking work.

Regards !

[Dillbert]

tilling / tiller is same as rotovator - difference in language/translation - but it's the gadget with the rotating "digger" on wheels.

plowing is different - typically plows go a bit deeper - you need more power to "pull" them through the soil. the soil rolls up and over the plow.
you can see the difference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=xtoaNl3eZEI&NR=1
but I'm sure you've seen that locally.

a plow will leave a more uneven surface - there are "devices" - disks / harrows / rakes / drags - used to "smooth" the area after plowing.

tilling / rotovating will tend to leave the surface a bit more even.

uneveness due to tree roots can be a bit of a problem - neither tillers or plows are going to like "running into tree roots" - you may need to dig out the stumps / big roots before attempting to work those specific areas.

one method of dealing with weeds / weed seeds I neglected to mention is "solarizing" - basically you cover an area with clear plastic sheeting - it needs to be transparent - the sun heats up the soil under the plastic to temps that will kill many seeds.

obviously you can not raise crops in an area covered by clear plastic sheeting - so it comes into a long range plan of reclaiming the area from having gone wild - this bit we farm this year, that bit we're solarizing, that bit over there is mulched 10 cm deep . . .

attempting to make all 700 m2 "perfect at once" is a tall order.

[hendi_alex]

7500 square feet is nice sized but not huge IMO, under 1/5 of an acre. Still 1/5 of an acre is pretty large to tackle all at once. I'm thinking that early on you may want to compromise with the herbicides. Perhaps consider using a pre-emergent herbicide like treflan but only in your compost bin. That way you don't have to worry about re-introducing weeds from that source.

As far as the main garden is concerned, perhaps get the entire area tilled once or twice and then start solarizing the soil section by section. Maybe break the area down into subsections by creating walk way buffers between each section. The walkways could be constructed with weed guard or perhaps newspaper covered by heavy mulch. That strategy would divide the area into sub sections that may be much more manageable and less overwhelming.

An alternative to plowing could be the use of a mulch mower set to very low height after the initial cutting. A mulch mower with bagger would allow for easy collection of the material for composting. After cutting a section close, you could then solarize without bothering to till. Be prepared to leave the black plastic in place for a couple of months though.

The biggest thing, in my mind, is to break the task down into manageable bits and then begin to tackle each small task in priority order.