My Gardening Disaster

C Van Houten
by C Van Houten
Yes, this is a disaster. I know it is, but I don't know how to fix it. There are some outside problems too. When we moved here, my husband's arthritis wasn't as bad as it is now. I was a lot stronger too. The last few years of having to do pretty much everything have zapped my shoulders and arms. I do not have the strength (or the desire, or the cash) to haul around heavy bags of dirt and mulch to fix this up.
We have three rose bushes and a Crepe Myrtle that are doing wonderful and I have no desire to get rid of them. When we first moved here, I had visions of this being a humming bird/butterfly/bee oasis of sorts. I was going to plant hearty wildflowers and let them flourish. Something that would look beautiful and wild. A place where I would use no chemical insecticides that would hurt the creatures I wanted to attract. (Maybe use insect to insect control, we do have a lot of ladybugs and Praying Mantis around here) My Grandmother used to have gardens like that. Just big wildflower gardens that we kids could pick bouquets from, or go out insect hunting. She had her gardens that she worked hard and tended, but the "wilds" as she called them, were pretty much maintenance free. Weeds didn't even grow in there because the wildflowers were so thick. The biggest maintenance was making sure the wildflowers didn't escape the garden and try to take over the lawn. I would loooove to do this here, but this brings us to another problem...
Blackberry vines. I can't get rid of them. We have blackberries growing in a wooded section of the neighbor's yard and the birds eat them and then poop in my garden. I have them on my lawn too, but I mow them down at least once a week during the spring/summer, often 2 or three times a week. So, I keep them under control. Mowing in the garden isn't really going to work. I have been cutting them as they appear, but I cut at the beginning of the week and this is what's happened since Sunday. For every one I cut, six more appear.

I have no clue what I'm going to do, but this is an eyesore. I have considered just ripping down the ties and letting nature take its course, and at least I could mow the blackberry vines, but I'm afraid the rosebushes will look awkward, just growing in the middle of the yard. I don't want to transfer the rosebushes, because the ground outside of the garden is hard and nasty enough that I'd have to add dirt.

So, to break it into question form..

1: Can I turn this into a wildflower garden? Or are the blackberries just going to wipe it all out?

2: Can I take the boarders off, and turn it back to nature, or will the rose bushes make it all look weird like something is missing?

3: Can you buy clover seed? Because if I did take it apart and let nature take over, I would love to plant clover.

Thank you. This is really upsetting me. Our neighborhood is not the finest neighborhood as far as maintaining lawns goes... but the people across the street from me have the prettiest lawn you ever saw, and my house, thanks to that, has become a huge eyesore. I want to change that. I hate that I'm ruining the value of the neighborhood with my horrible garden :(
  8 answers
  • Janet Pizaro Janet Pizaro on Apr 20, 2017

    The area is very workable.Start by putting heavy black plastic down along with newpaper to smother out want you do not want.Wildflowers can be planted in containers.Trim the other bushes providing they are not flowering.Put landscape fabric in to prevent any more weeds taking over. Cover with mulch.Remove the existing edging a make a small retaining wall. Add a garden statue ,or a gazing ball.

  • C Van Houten C Van Houten on Apr 20, 2017

    I do have that weed barrier cloth down already... as you can see, the weeds just laughed at it and kept right on growing. :( If I put down black plastic, how long would I have to keep it down to get rid of everything?

    • Janet Pizaro Janet Pizaro on Apr 20, 2017

      You need to keep it there premaritally,however if you plant as I suggested and mulch you will not even see the plastic.

  • Debbie Debbie on Apr 21, 2017

    I would move the landscape timbers and make them into a rectangle/across the front of the house. Weed and lay newspaper or black fabric down , then mulch, I like black mulch it gives it a pop of color. I can't really tell which are the roses , but I would make the crepe myrle the center of attention, with smaller wild flowers around. Then transplant the larger bushes/roses elsewhere. It just looks like there is too much going on and no organization. I have some health issues also...just do a little everyday..no hurry and it will look beautiful.....

  • Cwh6899259 Cwh6899259 on Apr 21, 2017

    I would have thought to keep the black berries out of your garden, it would be better to dig them out when they first appear and they are not established. Being me, I would be digging them out of my lawn too.

    • C Van Houten C Van Houten on Apr 21, 2017

      They got established when my husband was able to mow the lawn. He would clip them down with the clippers and I didn't know he was doing the garden, too. Also, these things grow like crazy. Seriously, someone suggested I keep clipping them down, if they never had a chance to sprout without being cut down, eventually the lack of leaves and light would kill them. I clipped all I could find on Sunday. Thursday, there were a dozen more that hadn't been there on Sunday. These things grow like... well, weeds.


  • Liz Liz on Apr 21, 2017

    You could use Round Up on the blackberry bushes. While that will kill the existing blackberry bushes, sounds like the birds will only poop out more seeds, so just leave them. A SIMPLE, EASY ANSWER may be to sow wild flower seeds thickly over the ground/grass in the area. We had a grassy/weedy area that we wanted to cover with wild flowers, but didn't feel like going to a lot of trouble (arthritis, too). Here's what we did: We used a gardening tool with a long handle, & a curved over sharp, fork like end. (Sorry, I don't know the name of it.) We just lightly scratched around the ground with it randomly, sprinkled lots of wild flower seeds every week for several weeks. We bought an inexpensive "hose end sprayer" for plant food (Miracle Grow for flowers) that mixed with the water as it comes out of the hose. Set the water spray to a fine mist so it won't wash your seeds away. We watered according to manufacturer's directions. We tried to use perennial seeds, that would come back every year. Each year, we added more seeds until the entire area was covered with wild flowers. This is a very easy, low maintenance way to have a wild flower bed. I would leave the roses where they are. With your shoulders & arms hurting, putting down black plastic, landscape cloth, moving landscape timbers, etc. would be very difficult & tiring. (I know.) Take it easy, have fun & don't stress about it. You'll end up with a low maintenance wild flower bed that you can enjoy. Good luck & let us know how it goes.

    • C Van Houten C Van Houten on Apr 21, 2017

      Thank you. I think your idea is the one I'm going to go with. I bought some ground cover plants too and some wildflower seeds. Right now I am bit by bit trying to clear out the weed cover. Any Blackberry things that pop up, I'm following the roots as best I can and yanking them out. I pulled up about fifty feet of blackberry vine roots today. I just have to get rid of all the leaves.


      But yeah, I'm going to plant a lot of wildflower seeds. I'm hoping I can have something a bit wild looking and fun, where I can attract humming birds, butterflies and bees.


      Thank you again,.


  • Linda Linda on Apr 22, 2017

    I'd buy a package of wildflowers and scatter it. Many are perennials and will reseed themselves. I'd put either bricks or wood & weed barrier in circles/squares around roses & crepe myrtle (I love them) and mulch them heavily. This way you can have wildflowers and the others. The blackberries root underground which is why they're so hard to get rid of....get some neighborhood kid to help dig them up, mowing them isn't going to help. I'd die for blackberries as they're my favorite berry. I plant wildflowers wherever I move to...sort of helping nature to be herself. Good luck.


  • Cwh6899259 Cwh6899259 on Apr 22, 2017

    Get yee a shovel!


  • Inetia Inetia on Apr 23, 2017

    I'd dig all the berries first and kill the weeds with Spectracide non-selective herbicide. (more bee friendly than Roundup) You will always have to dig or pull them as they appear. I would get someone to help me put a rock walkway through the area making it wide enough in the center to hold chairs, a bench or a swing. This will give you a place to sit and enjoy the flowers, the birds and the bees. It only has to be done once and will save on maintenance and water needs in the future. If you attend a church ask the pastor if there might be youth willing to help you do this, charitably if possible. Then I would cover the planting area with composted steer manure and top that with a finer top soil before scattering seeds. Add shepherd's hooks for bird feeders, a bird bath and a water station for bees and you will have your little nature sanctuary. You could even add an arbor over the walkway and plant Clematis or sweet peas to grow on it.