Help..I inherited Weeds!

[Jo-Anne]

The home we bought was previously rented out for 5 years and the tennants did nothing to the gardens. I was able to revive the front garden and last year planted perennials and annuals. This year, I need to tackle a very large side area that is just over run with a mixture of perennial ground cover (goutweeed and ivY) and large, tall weeds. The entire length of south side of our back yard is in this state (about 15' wide from the fence and 50' deep). There is also a pine tree covering half of this area. Should I just rent a rototiller and plow everything up? How can I be guaranteed that weeds will not regrow? What is a good type of ground cover to replant? Thanks for your help. Jo

 

[Mamu]

Jo-Anne gardening takes lots of patients. There are some that want that instant beauty. Rototilling everything under and adding new plants will give will be a quick fix.

Some of the plants sound worth saving. I would save as much as I could, remove as many of the undesirables as you can, trying to get all the roots. Then turn the soil over adding peat moss and a slow release fertilizer and your garden is ready to go.

 

[bananiem]

We tilled everything under at the edge of our yard to put in wildflower seeds. Shortly after that I read that some weeds will actually munltiply when tilled!!! Apparently each cut of the root can produce another plant. Considering how well the weeds grew back I believe it.
I'd use Roundup next time!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Ivy is very hard to kill. I would dig it up by hand treating it like a weed and get it out of the 'garden- to- be' first before I rototilled.