Removing a flower garden?

Katrina_0087

Google has failed me.

We bought our house a couple of Autumns ago and the back yard has two flower beds. I am horrible with flowers and prefer veggie gardens. I have successfully converted one to a veggie garden but the larger bed, which includes a bleeding heart, some tulips (I don't mind if those stay) and poppies will. not. die. I have tried covering them with plastic for a season, suggested by a friend, digging them up (most poppies are gone but I missed some and bleeding heart came back bigger and stronger). The vines from the bleeding heart just kill everything i try to plant.

Why won't it just die?

GRsweetpea

Find a gardener near you to come take them off of your hands. 

Or plant your veggies w/ the flowers.

Bleeding heart vines?  That doesn't sound right, but maybe you have a type I'm not familiar with.

+j+k+

Bleeding hearts are a tuber flower. Tulips are bulbs - you can also dig those up when the start to sprout if you really want to remove them.  You can dig the majority of everything as it shows itself this spring.  But I agree, if that "bleeding heart" is vining, it's not a bleeding heart. You have something else.  Doesn't matter. Dig it up when it starts to show itself.

My personal favorite plant/weed killer:  Round up.  Lots of it.  The stronger the better. I get the concentrated gallon and dilute it, but you don't have to do as exactly as they say - dilute it only half as much - trust me, farmers use it at least 10 times as strong so it's not going to hurt anything if you are careful as to where you spray.  Get one of those big container sprayers and fill it up with the chemical.

Dig up everything up that you can that you want gone, then spray the roots you see and the entire bed.  Start early. April, May, you may have to go into June.  Spray it on dry days when you know you're not going to get rain for at least 24 hours - better if it's 48 hours.  If it rains - spray again after when you have a dry day. 

Spray the entire garden every other week.  You don't have to douse it heavily - just make sure all the green plants and weeds get some of the liquid on it. It will do the trick.

More than likely you will not be able to plant vegetables this year, but you if keep spraying consistently until you know all the origianl flower bed is gone, you won't have a problem in 2013.  

Come Spring of 2013 - put good soil and fertilizer in there and you'll have your vegetable garden!

TarHeels&Rebels

+j+k+:

My personal favorite plant/weed killer:  Round up.  Lots of it.  The stronger the better. I get the concentrated gallon and dilute it, but you don't have to do as exactly as they say - dilute it only half as much - trust me, farmers use it at least 10 times as strong so it's not going to hurt anything if you are careful as to where you spray.  Get one of those big container sprayers and fill it up with the chemical.

Dig up everything up that you can that you want gone, then spray the roots you see and the entire bed.  Start early. April, May, you may have to go into June.  Spray it on dry days when you know you're not going to get rain for at least 24 hours - better if it's 48 hours.  If it rains - spray again after when you have a dry day. 

Spray the entire garden every other week.  You don't have to douse it heavily - just make sure all the green plants and weeds get some of the liquid on it. It will do the trick.

More than likely you will not be able to plant vegetables this year, but you if keep spraying consistently until you know all the origianl flower bed is gone, you won't have a problem in 2013.  

Come Spring of 2013 - put good soil and fertilizer in there and you'll have your vegetable garden!

Oh my God.  Are you for real!?  Are you trying to personally ruin the environment all by yourself? 

It is patently clear that you don't know anything because you don't apply RoundUp to the roots, but to the leaves because that's how it's absorbed.

Excerpted from this post by Southern Living's Gardening Editor:

To find out how home gardeners across the country use Roundup, I recently posted the following questions on Grumpy's Facebook page: "How many of you use Roundup in your gardens? Do you read and follow the directions before using it? Do you feel safe using it?"

The responses (and I thank every one of you who took the time to answer) were very interesting. A number of you said you would never use it for any reason. Even more said you do use it for very specific reasons. You use it on weeds that grow in the cracks in your sidewalk and driveway. You use it to kill tough weeds, like poison ivy, English ivy, Johnson grass, and Bermuda grass. You use as little of it as possible and you follow the label directions.

Of course, some of you don't use it the right way. You say you mix it to double-strength in the belief that if the recommended dosage kills a weed, twice as much kills it twice as good. THIS IS INCORRECT. Roundup kills weeds by being absorbed by leaves and stems and then transported by the plant's vascular system to the roots. When you double the dosage, you destroy the vascular system before translocation occurs. The chemical never reaches the roots and the weed grows back. SO FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.

OP, I agree that you probably have a rather determined weed of some sort.  Either post a photo of it here or take a clipping of it to your local Extension office.  Whichever you do, the best answer is probably going to be digging it out by its roots, unfortunately.   GL!

 

Katrina_0087

thanks for the responses. maybe it is something else? I'll definitely post a picture of it in spring, it hasn't reared it's ugly head yet. 

GRsweetpea

Yeah... I'd stay clear of Round Up.  Especially if you plan to use that soil for growing food.  Ever.

If you want to spray something on, you can try vinegar, but digging it up is the best way for removal.