How do i get rid of stinging nettles and weeds permanently?

Question

I am a very novice gardener, at the end of my garden a have a patch of land overrun by nettles. At the beginning of summer we cut them back but now they are growing back again. How do i get rid of them permenantly and replace with a nice patch of grass?

Answer 1

Perenial weeds are difficult but not impossible to get rid of. We've just got rid of about 1 acre of nettles. It sounds like you have less space than this so there is hope, and a variety of options:

1 - chemicals - You can use a DIY product for killing perenials or something more "agressive" like Grazon. These require you to keep animals and children away from a aweek or so. They can be very dangerous. Another downside is that you have to hit them at the right time - when the nettles are about knee high - just before they flower/seed.

Something like Grazon seeps down into the root and kills it, although a really deanse area ( i.e.e one you cannot walk through ! ) may need a second application the next year

2 - Burner. You can get a propane burner to kill them. These are geat as the nettles can be tackled as soon as they appear. The burning of the top row of leaves kills the cell structure and stops that root growing any more - without the leaves it dies. An advantage is that you don't need to keep animals away afterwards. The downside is that the burner costs about £60 plus the bottle - cheap to run once you've got one though. Don't go for these £25 burners that go on a disposable gas bottle - they don't last long enough. If you want one, search for "weedwand" on the web, www.gonegardening.co.uk do a couple.

3 - The third option, and often the best, is to pull the weeds up by hand. It doesn't take as long as you think. Wear long sleeves and buy welders gauntlets ( they are very cheap (£3) elbow lenght gloves ). Burn the foliage once its lifted. try to pull as much root up with them as you can. just proceed one stalk at a time, they come up fairly easily,. Let them grow to about knee high first so you can easily grab them. You may have to repeat this next year but the roots will be very shallow. The real benefits of this method are cost, environmentally friendly, and you never know what you'll find looking at your garden so closely !

4 - Another option is to regularly cut them down, strim them every time they get to ankle height and eventually they give up, this will take a couple fo years and overall is more effort than lifting them

Good look

Answer 2

Try wearing some tough gloves alow the nettle to grow a bit so there just a little bit surdey then pull them out of the ground.
Getting their roots of the ground is the best way, you will find not as many grow next time and if you keep persevering less and less stinging nettles will come up, especialy if you plant somthing else in there place or grow grass over the patch.
Could try covering that patch of ground with some wood to cut the light from reaching the weeds that way the ground will be totally clean in a year or two.
Weed killer just puts unessesary chemicals into the ground, which is'nt good if your growing fruite or veg or for the animals/insects and beetles that live in your garden.

Answer 3

They grow by sending out a network of underground roots. I had this problem when I first moved into my house. Being averse to chemicals I donned rubber glves and using a garden fork dug them out. Once you have done this if you lay turf over the site any remaining nettles that grow through can be dealt with by regular mowing. as they are not rosette forming plants they will soon give up the ghost and stop trying to grow through your lawn.
However consider keeping a small patch as they make a good substitute for spinach. They also provide food for the caterpillars of some beautiful butterflies

Answer 4

I would cut the plants back to ground level then if you're up to it fork over the entire area to expose the plant root rake it all up and dispose of them also (this job is a lot easier with a rotavator) then level the soil out adding a layer of topsiol/sand mix and sprinkle on an even/generous amount of grass seed, or turf obviously depending which method you intend to use (keep in mind that we are getting toward the end of the peak grass growing season so you might be better off with turf) and remember also that once the turf is laid to spread topsoil over the top of it and rake in with a springbok rake also removing any thatch that may be present) you will get weeds sprouting up again from time to time, but the grass will give them less space to grow and less nutrients will be available for them, just treat weeds with a topical weedkiller but use sparingly.

Answer 5

Never mind all that weed killing or cutting, just get ready to do a load of work with a hoe and gloves and really dig them out, get rid of all the roots that the answer, dig deep, and next year the effort wont be nearly as much.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

If you don't want to spray them off with Round-Up or some other spray that attacks the roots, it is useful to know that nettles do not tolerate mowing - all you have to do is keep mowing them down every week or so and they will soon disappear. Easy peasy.

Answer 8

I got rid of my weeds and nettles with diesel. but nothing will grow there again.But there are good treatments in all good garden centers.

Answer 9

eat them noi am not being funny use rubber gloves use the tips only great in aquiche parcook drain place in case pour on egg milk chese. soup is an other on their own like spinach. great for wildlife but if u must collect cardboard boxes use shovel to smash them down cover with boxes hold down with bowls of water this will weaken them in time rather than use chemicals.popa

Answer 10

You need to keep putting weed killer on the area over the course of the year... they should go but its an ongoing battle with weeds. even the best lawns have to keep weeds at bay.

Try looking up gardeners world on www.bbc.co.uk