How to revive a neglected suburban area. How to clean up a neglected garden

It is far from always that the owners get the plots in excellent condition with dug up beds and trimmed. Basically, the new owner simply receives a plot overgrown with weeds and weeds with fruit trees and shrubs that have run wild and began to bring not at all those big and juicy fruits, which brought earlier in a well-groomed condition. However, sometimes the site is inherited from grandparents, or they simply forget about it for a while, during which it manages to overgrow with weeds and thickets of grass as tall as a man. Of course, it is impossible to plant anything on such a site without first clearing it. The first task that faces the owner of the site is to clear the territory and prepare it for the next season.

In general, smart and diligent gardeners have long come up with many ways that allow you to quickly and efficiently develop virgin lands in order to use the land for their needs. After all, the land, which has rested for several years and is overgrown with weeds, is excellent for any planting, since it has accumulated all the necessary nutrients. It remains only to bring it into proper condition and proceed with its plan. But it sounds just like words. In fact, this is a huge work that requires a lot of time and effort. But the result is worth it.

In general, all methods of developing virgin lands can be divided into those that allow planting some plants in the first season after processing and those that do not allow this.

Radical changes

This method is considered quite simple in design and time-consuming in execution. In the process of freeing the site from thickets, it is required to remove upper layer earth, called sod, in which numerous roots intertwined. Cut layers are placed in the allotted place with the roots up and covered with a material that does not transmit light. Periodically, this pile must be treated with urea so that after a few years it turns into excellent compost.

As for the earth itself, a new layer of soil is poured over the cleared earth, which is ordered on several machines. The main thing is to know the origin of the soil and its quality. Otherwise, you risk losing money for nothing and getting a new layer of land rich in weeds and pathogens and even pests.

The simpler the better

Relatively easier than the first method, since here it is proposed to dig the site manually without removing the roots of the weeds. Another thing is that with this method you will not be able to sow a lot of things on the site for a long time. Cabbage and potatoes will come to the rescue. Cabbage is planted with seedlings, but as it grows, it will bring a powerful shadow from its leaves, as well as. This shade will cover the ground and begin to suppress the growth of weeds. In addition, periodically you will need to hill the beds, which will also help to destroy weeds.

For greater effect, mulching between rows can be done with grass clippings, manure or compost.

Useful waste paper

This very original way It will work if you follow the directions carefully. To translate it into reality, you will need rotted manure (you can chicken manure, compost or humus). This composition must be evenly distributed over the entire area of ​​​​the area being developed and covered with black and white newspaper 5-7 layers thick. If you think this is complicated, you can replace the newspaper with thick cardboard. Compost mixed with manure is poured on top of the paper layer.

The advantage of this method is that in newspapers you can make holes in which you can plant any crops grown through seedlings. This is perfect for those who do not want to wait a long time, content only with potatoes and cabbage. At the end of the season except excellent harvest cultivated crops, you will also receive a clean area, with soil enriched with vitamins and microelements.

black veil

Black film is a fairly well-known way to get rid of weeds. You can cover the entire area with it, so that under the hot summer sun a real hell will be created under it for all living plants. No weed can survive the absence sun rays and this steam room, so by the end of the season the film can be removed, and the earth dug up and feel like a winner. Alas, with this method, there is no talk of any landings in the current season.

Siderates come to the rescue (video - site planning)

Many pleasant words have been said about green manure plants, from which there are a lot of benefits. Including during the development of the site. Among all the cultures of this series, three can be distinguished that are better than others to cope with the task.

Winter rye is the first of these three helper crops that will rid the site of weeds. By itself, rye perfectly suppresses the growth of other plants, and winter rye is used for a reason. Rye seeds are planted in spring instead of autumn. Thus, the gardener is cheating a plant that will not be able to bloom during the season and does not form an ear.

You can enhance the effect if you cut the wheat several times a season without damaging the growth part of the plant. In the spring of the next season, the rye will go into the ground, and potatoes or other crops can be planted in its place, depending on how overgrown your site is.

Sunflower - much more easy job for a summer resident, but at the same time no less ruthless in relation to weeds. In early May, its seeds are planted in the ground after digging as thick as possible. When seedlings appear from the ground, other plants simply will not have a chance to survive under such pressure.

At the beginning of autumn, sunflowers can be mowed and chopped into pieces of twenty centimeters, and then thrown into the soil. During the fall, these parts will decompose and fertilize the land well, preparing it for planting new crops in the next season.

Bush beans are not only effective, but also tasty. Only it must be sown thicker than it is usually prescribed for it. A distance of 5-10 cm is maintained between plants, and 20-30 cm between rows. During the first month, you still have to weed between the plants, and then the beans will cover the entire bed with their leaves, and it is unlikely that anything will be able to grow in this shade. When the season comes to an end, the bean leaves will go into the compost, and the site should be walked with a hoe to remove the most tenacious weeds.

As you can see, the methods are very different in nature. You can choose any of them, depending on whether you are in a hurry to plant something on your site or are ready to wait for time and the sun to do their job. In any case, if you take up this business and bring it to the end, you can then enjoy the delights of working on your site, free from weeds.

Tell me how to proceed.

I have a dacha of 12 acres, when it was looked after, and there was everything, including fruits and berries and vegetables. But there were such circumstances that I had to leave, I didn’t sell the cottage, but I also stopped caring. As a result, 5 years have passed. You understand what happened there. And now I want to restore it. I don't know where to start. Maybe try to get rid of the weeds first? Is it possible to sow something in the winter, so that in the spring it would be easier to deal with weeds ???

Waiting for your reply – Olga

Olga, hello! I won't say that I experienced gardener, but by chance I ran into the same problems as you. In the fall of 2005, my husband and I bought a VERY neglected site, weeds were taller than me, a lot of willow, etc. At first I flooded everything with roundup. 3 weeks after the sanatorium, we arrived at the site, everything dried up and withered. Willow and old currant bushes were uprooted by a son and a friend. We set fire to the grass on the advice of neighbors. The site has acquired a more or less decent appearance. But next spring my husband broke his leg and I had to fight alone all summer with the grass: first they shoveled and turned the turf upside down by hand. But then all summer I stained the emerging and green grass again with a round-up. Only by the autumn I was able to plant raspberry and currant bushes.
This spring, we were lucky enough to sell this site and buy another in a drier place, but it was also very neglected.
After we removed mountains of garbage from it, part of the site was immediately plowed up, I planted some flowers in this place and weeded it manually or with a cultivator all summer. No ground cover plants have been planted in this area yet. They did not have time to plow on the remaining half of the site right away, because. the rains began, the grass (weedy) grew by leaps and bounds, all summer my husband mowed it down. Gradually small areas I began to dig with a flat pitchfork and carefully choose the roots of the weeds. The work, I tell you, is tiring, I worked on an average of 1-2 square meters of land per day, sometimes a little more. But I really wanted to put everything in order. In August, I began periodically watering the remaining grass with Roundup. When it dried up, my men plowed this place for me with a motor cultivator, and I covered it with a black spunboard. By the way, do not believe that after that grass does not grow under it at all, nothing like that! So that it does not grow, you need a spanboard or other opaque material, pressed tightly to the ground so that not a bit of light gets anywhere. Under my cherry, the ground was covered with pieces of old black roofing material, so the gout-infection found small slits and crawled out of them. But still, under the spanboard, the grass did not grow so much.
At this place, I decided to make a lawn and for the whole of September and half of October I also processed this area with a pitchfork, freeing it from the roots. After trampling the ground (this is necessary for the future lawn), I covered the area with a spunboard until next spring. Everything else I also clear of debris, weed and cover with a spanboard. In the autumn I planted many more flowers, and in the spring I will try to plant empty places with ground covers. In short, things are still not up to the mark. But, really, most of the work has to be done by hand. And I realized that they write correctly: you don’t need to dig up the ground with a shovel, when you shovel with a pitchfork and pick out the roots of weeds, then they don’t grow for a long time. If there is no opportunity to plant something at this place yet, hatched weeds can be passed manual cultivator, the main thing is that they do not grow.
This spring, I have planted only roses, clarkia, petunia and nasturtium so far in the spring, in the summer I brought a cuff from Altai, meadow geranium and a small fir tree, it all took root, bloomed, you know what beauty and pride that this is your handiwork! In September, I planted a lot of flowers and bushes of cherries, plums, raspberries, currants, honeysuckle.
I dream in the future to make a plot to be the envy of all the neighbors.
I would be glad if my little more experience will help someone.

The areas allocated for planting vegetables are becoming smaller and smaller. More and more owners are beginning to pay attention to the beauty of appearance and comfortable stay on fresh air. How to equip country cottage area with your own hands?

Classic options

Flower decoration - a classic of the genre

Flower decoration - not invented by us

Landscaping a summer cottage with your own hands is easiest to start with flowers. It is important when creating flower beds to pay attention to the used color scheme. Flowers can be planted both in the form of flower beds and in the form of a rabatka. At the discretion of the owner, perennial or annual plants, as well as ornamental plants, are selected. herbaceous plants and flowers varying in height. What are the flower beds and how to properly equip them, we told in separate thematic articles. Today our conversation is about ideas for garden styling.

Plants and flowers planted along the lawn and representing a flowering border will look appropriate. The center of a lush, bright lawn can be decorated with a flower bed with colorful plants. various heights. There are a lot of options for decorating flower beds! You can frame them with a wooden fence or picturesque stones, make a fence from plastic bottles, sow the edges with ornamental plants or decorate wooden saw cuts. To decorate the site with your own hands, even unnecessary household items and a wide variety of improvised devices are suitable.

Alpine hill: without snow, but with flowers

Alpine slide always attracts attention

Landscaping a summer cottage is possible by installing an alpine slide with your own hands. Alpine slides are now very relevant even among novice garden designers. It is important to remember that their creation will require a change in the relief of the earth, as well as the selection of the necessary stones. Having folded alpine slide on the flat surface and decorating it with cobblestones and flowers, you are unlikely to see your dream in the end. Such a slide will not add any aesthetics, but only, on the contrary, will add alienity to it.

When the entire site is already occupied, and it is difficult to find a free corner on it, pay attention to the space next to the house. This place will be a great option for creating a flowering front garden.

Mobile solutions - for decoration

When there is no time and opportunity for a full-fledged improvement of the garden, you can use tubs, flowerpots or planters. planted in them unpretentious species plants, you can easily distribute all the beauty throughout the territory, and if necessary, you will rearrange, thanks to the mobility of such a solution.

Flowerpots from painted buckets - a great option

Having shown imagination, you can ennoble even an ordinary wooden box. By painting it in an unusual manner or hanging it by ropes played like hands, you will bring some humor and fun to the design.

Flower pots are great for creating sculptures. Having picked up pots of different sizes, they are fastened with wire, refreshed with paints, flowers are added and woo-a-la - you have very cute and unique figures in front of you!

Ponds are visible from afar

What else do they like to decorate summer cottages, besides flowers? Of course, reservoirs. Ponds and ponds in combination with green plants will become a piece of paradise in your garden. On hot summer days, sitting here will be a real pleasure. Ponds can be decorated in different ways, here an immense horizon of possibilities opens up for your imagination. Along the shore of the pond, you can build a flooring from wooden planks, which, in order not to suffer with their impregnation and painting, can be replaced with composite ones. The advantage of this material is that it does not rot, does not change color and is very similar to wood. Correct name this cover has decking. It is also perfect for building a veranda or terrace, or for the side sections of the pool.

Even a small pond will bring charm to the water

Stone slabs will also perfectly cope with the role of the banks. The time spent will be justified, because as a result you will get a stunning and reliable reservoir. For better fixation of the stones, the soil should be prepared. Part of the soil is removed, crushed stone is poured, carefully compacted and covered with a layer of sand from above. Stone slabs are already laid out on top of the sand layer. For greater reliability, sand and cement should be poured into the gaps between the plates in the form of a mixture. You need to remove the excess and wait for the rain, which, having moistened the blind area, will allow the cement to fasten the plates to each other.

The owners, whose house is located not far from a quiet river, can pick up suitable boulders on the shore and decorate the pond with them. However, it is quite possible to buy such stones in the garden center.

It would be appropriate to transfer garden paths made of paving stones to the shore of the pond. Then all the decoration of the garden will be decorated in uniform style. The technique is similar to the one we mentioned above.

Lawn - beautiful Mouzon

The arrangement of a summer cottage with your own hands will be half completed if you create a well-groomed lawn on its small territory. Support green beauty not easy. Consider the following lawn care tips:

• seeds for planting must be of high quality and appropriate to the local climate;
• the edges of the lawn should be neat (you can use a curb tape);
• regular mowing of grown grass is necessary;
• do not forget about weeding, watering, fertilizing and repairing lawn defects.

How to make a site unique and inimitable with the help of a lawn? Drop it off in the form unusual shape. This landscaping technique will add zest to your garden.

The lawn as the basis of the wealth of green spaces

Arches and pergolas so that the flowers are not naked

Thinking about how to ennoble a summer cottage, one cannot help but recall pergolas, arches, trellises. You can decorate the path to the house by installing a pergola or a decorative arch. Durable, but at the same time, elegant design, entwined with a variety of bindweed, will be the ideal guide to the recreation area. By installing the arches at a short distance from each other, you will eventually, after a while, get shady corner, where it will be so nice to sit and read on hot summer days.

Arch at the entrance cheers up

The choice of plants for landscaping decorative arches very wide: it can be ivy, and grapes, and honeysuckle, and a climbing rose, which have very beautiful buds when flowering. Choosing as a plant parthenocissus You can't go wrong either. Leaf color will change from time to time: in early spring You will be pleased with delicate green fresh leaves, in summer the foliage will become saturated green color, and in autumn sometimes you will enjoy the view of bright red leaves.

We decorate the toilet, as if it were not there

The first building in the country usually becomes not even a change house, but a toilet. A must have, I must say. How can a toilet become a decoration, you ask, because our conversation today is about the transformation of the site? We will tell you how to turn a very prosaic thing into a source of pride for the owner.

Of course, putting the toilet in a conspicuous place is not the most best idea, but it can be beautifully decorated. For example, make it from logs in the form of a birdhouse. Such a cute hut in itself arouses sympathy, and if you do gardening and plant flowers or low shrubs around, and even arrange a stone path, then the building will sparkle in a new way. See the photo below for an example.

Regal Toilet for a Regal Owner

When we equip the site, it is important to pay attention to style, where the priority is appearance Houses. That is, choosing the design of the toilet, it is necessary to coordinate it with existing buildings.

If you want to make a toilet out of stone, show your imagination and depict it in the form of a knight's castle. My house is my castle, but don't overdo it, otherwise neighbors and passers-by will consider it a rarity and want to visit.

original variants

Dacha is a small country for creativity and boundless design. To improve his own site, the owner can use the most different means and materials. We will tell you how to transform and improve a boring garden patio and help it become cute, cozy and unforgettable. Sometimes you don’t even need to buy anything, just look around and you will find a lot of useful, but, alas, unnecessary things. We offer ideas for the design of summer cottages, gardens and vegetable gardens, which are easy to implement with your own hands.

Flower bed, but you can't sleep

An old unnecessary bed will be an excellent base for a flower bed. Fill the base with soil and sow with perennials. Such design solution sure to fit perfectly into garden landscape. Pictured below is one of interesting options.

I wish all dreams were like this

Fairy-tale straw bull-three

Your house is so reminiscent of your native village, where my grandmother kept a cow, pigs and other living creatures. How to bring nostalgia back to modern landscape design? A bull from hay will be very appropriate, and most importantly, not much work will be required. The frame is connected from the wire, and covered with hay on top. Wonder how great it turns out.

The touching charm of handmade

Stump-feeder - not a rattle at all

It is not necessary to uproot old stump who remained on the site. Make a bird feeder out of it. In the cold, your yard will become a haven for titmouse, sparrows and other birds who want to eat. Everyone - both children and adults - will be happy to watch the bird's meal. The inside of the stump should be hollowed out, leaving intact side surfaces. Put some grains inside and your feeder is ready to receive the first guests. Having made it from a tree stump, you can hang the product on a branch near the house.

Birds on a homemade feeder always sing beautifully

Grass figures are right in their own way

Something similar happens if the figure is trimmed with canvas on top. artificial grass. The coating is reliable, weather-resistant and does not require watering. The frame can be made of almost any material, of course, taking into account the effects of moisture and sun. Great example garden sculpture- rhinoceros in the photo below.

Donkey from the grass drags a lot of beauty

Grid figures are just sweets

Mesh garden figures are becoming more and more popular. It can be a jug, a bird and a donkey, etc. Of course, you need to tinker a little to tie it with wire beautiful figure made of green PVC coated mesh. Such products are complemented by weaving and climbing plants. Internal cavities can be lined with fine plastic mesh also green, and then filled with soil. Then you can plant any plants that are not demanding on moisture.

A weight of responsibility made of flowers won't let the peacock fly away

Decorative well - landscape miracle worker

Wells-flower beds look beautiful, from which various flowers seem to splash out. The presence of a well or a well in the country concrete rings, will allow you to create a decor on an existing basis. Choose brick or stone for your walls. Such materials are most suitable, because they tolerate dampness well, which means they will be a reliable “shelter” from rain, sun and frost. When you need to disguise frameless installations, choose any material for decoration - lining or boards, siding, plastic panels or tiles. The photo shows one of the options.

decorative well harmonizes perfectly with the decoration of the house

Cart for decor - support for vision

Such an unusual design solution closes two tasks at once: it serves as a flower garden, on which you can place the volumes of two flower beds at once, and it will also be very original item decor. Today you can choose the most different variants carts Sizes and styles will vary. Classic variant- cart in rustic style, but some prefer to choose a cart in the style of the wild west or from the Provencal streets for their garden. Carts can be made of wood or metal, or have combined parts.

An old wagon scatters beauty

Minor confusion and how to solve them

Let's consider the most common site problems that the owners are most concerned about. We ennoble uncomfortable and uncomfortable areas:

1. Lack of space for flower bed. Great solution there will be a selection of beautiful stylized pots, flowerpots and flowerpots in which you can plant any plants. Such point decorations are very mobile and can be easily moved from one point of the garden to another.
2. A simple chain-link fence does not have decorative feature and does not protect from prying eyes. The problem is solved by planting climbing plants next to the fence, which, twisting around the net, will create not only protection from prying eyes, but also give aesthetic pleasure. Choose as plants climbing rose, parthenocissus or ivy.
3. Lack of space for arches and pergolas. As an alternative, choose any vertical object available in the garden: an old tree, a fence, the walls of house buildings. Thus, you will receive blooming garden with climbing plants and decorate unsightly objects.
4. An unsightly pillar on the frontal place, spoiling the view. Decorate it with flowers that can be planted in cans. You can also plant a bindweed at the bottom of a post and let it decorate an ugly object.

If you tickle your heels, you will laugh

1. You can beat a boring garden with shrubs and plants that can be cut, for example, boxwood. Thanks to this find, you will decorate garden plot original figurines from greenery.
2. Places that require camouflage, such as a crack in the foundation, can be decorated with cushion plants with a pleasant shade and voluminous shape. These plants are usually shade tolerant and can be planted in both shade and full sun.
3. The compost heap has bad smell and does not add aesthetics to the landscape. By creating a green barrier around the perimeter of berry or ornamental, but fragrant shrubs, you can solve both of these problems at once.
4. The untidy appearance of the site is created by fallen autumn leaves. From the abundance of work, you do not have time to remove them, and they spoil the whole look. Plant ground cover plants in the garden that perfectly decorate fallen leaves.
5. Available track from concrete slabs can also be played. It is worth taking out the plates in a checkerboard pattern and planting low ones in their place ornamental plants. So, the appearance of the track will become more attractive.
6. Children run on the lawn in a short way, and new paths appear that do not look very aesthetically pleasing. Fill them with gravel and it will look like it was intended.
7. You can refresh the faded and dull colors of buildings and fences with the help of drawing. Wall art will give the garden a bright, unusual and attractive look.

Let's proceed from the fact that there is at least something in the country.
If something is missing, skip this step)))
So!
We have a plot.
The site must have a fence. Determine how much you need it now. Maybe you'll get by with the first year.
A minimum fence will be required from the road or ditch (so that the kids do not fall there) - dig in the posts and pull the wire if the materials are tight. If the budget allows, you can immediately make a good fence.
Tip: you will need a fence rather from dogs and cats that will trample your beds. Plus additional protection from dust. Therefore, it is necessary to make a fence from the side of the check-in. With neighboring plots the border can be made symbolic - not necessarily a three-meter-high fence, just some kind of net. It is worth making a serious fence if the neighborhood is too close (uncomfortable - you are too visible, etc.), although usually everything is very calm in the summer at the dacha in greenery. In other cases, they manage with a net or a low fence - again, in case a dog wanders.
The site has a well manual feed water. If not, break through.
Advice: drinking water you can bring with you, but you can’t bring so much with you for irrigation. Therefore, it may not be necessary to make a deep well. In some places, already at three to five meters, you can “attack” the water: wells are not drilled there, but “driven in”.
The well needs to be pumped. Because at first it will definitely go with sand. How long it will take, no one knows.
Tip: Consider automation. If there is electricity, think about whether it is possible to supply pumping station(surface). Even with a well, it also happens that you can’t pump it up. Not enough time, not enough energy. Automation is great.
Land and layout. Look around. How do you see your site? So do it! Choose a place for a toilet (if not already), a place for a house. Think about where the beds will be and which ones (what you will plant). Will you make a playground. Will you put a gazebo, bath. Do you need sheds, or will you cheat and get by with the space under the house or in the house. Proceeding from this, process virgin soil - with a cultivator or a mini-tractor.
House, outbuildings. Assess their condition. Remember, you don't have to set up palaces. At this stage, the task is to restore the dacha to an acceptable level according to reasonable prices. In other words, a barn in the country is nothing more than a structure for temporary storage of tools and materials. And if it does not fall from the wind - it is not necessary to break it yet. With the house, the situation is not so rosy - here you need to approach more carefully. Evaluate the base of the house, look at the roof (if it leaks), the condition of the floors and walls. Consider installing a replacement container - maybe it will be cheaper than bringing the house to an acceptable condition.
Tip - a lot depends on what exactly you expect from the house. One is enough to have a roof over their heads in the summer. Others wish to come practically all year round(Albeit without winter overnight stays). That's where you come from. In fact, the container option is not bad. You can insulate it yourself and very “budgetary”. A potbelly stove will heat the container very quickly. The only question is the accommodation of the whole family, but a 40-foot container will allow this.
Good luck at your cottage!
© Area on the islands

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