It's spring and because of the exceptionally mild and wet winter here in the UK my garden has burst into life much earlier than I expected. That bursting, unfortunately, includes plenty of weeds and moss but that's a small price to pay for the beautiful laburnhams, scented lilac, yellow roses already in flower and lily of the valley - I won't ever see that in the same light after that Breaking Bad episode (the last in Series 4, if you are interested).
But the weeds are undoubtedly my main concern at the moment – I inherited a neglected old brick paved terrace after moving house a year ago and it took many hours of pressure washing and weeding to bring it half-way back to its former glory and managed to keep it that way for most of the summer but it was a constant fight against the weeds. Now, in a very warm March literally every gap between every brick is sprouting weeds and I'm starting to see why the previous, elderly owners just could not keep on top of all the work it takes.
I have tried various weed-killers but they are all expensive and I don't like the idea of all those chemicals finding their way into the water courses. I also have a great "gadget" – a weed wand that runs off canisters of butane gas. It is supposed to be environmentally friendly as it does not use chemicals and you simply burn the weeds on the surface and the heat kills the roots below. It is very effective in small areas and you don't have to worry about rain afterwards, as you do with chemical weed killer, but really my terrace is too large to kill the weeds this way. After 2 hours I had only managed to do a small fraction of the area.
So what are my options if I am not to have a nightmare controlling weeds every year just with the terrace let alone the rest of the garden. A friend suggested lifting the bricks and replacing them with natural stone patio slabs – that would suit the house very well but would certainly not be a cheap option. Another way to go might be to lift the existing bricks and lay a weed suppressant membrane underneath then re-lay them with new mortar; that should keep the weeds at bay for a good long while, but how long I'm not sure.
What I need is a good gardener who can help with the main garden and give me help and advice about maintaining the hard landscaped areas. It is a truly beautiful garden at its best but it had been neglected for so long that I think it will be a long haul to get it back to the point where the enjoyment of the garden outweighs the hard work to get it looking good.
Now I just need to get back to tackling those weeds; weed-wand or chemicals? Has anybody any other good ideas for what to do about the weeds sprouting between every brick; preferably one that will not cost the earth? And one that is more environmentally friendly than chemicals or butane gas? I've heard bleach works, which is certainly cheaper than weed-killer but hardly good for the environment…
