[Just_me]

Hi,
We池e currently buying buying a semi rural home with a few acres that痴 rented to a local farmer and a 1 acre plot garden that痴 gotten a bit overrun. The father of the family who lived in it for 25 years has passed away and I知 assuming it was pops who maintained it. It痴 not flat, has a small stream with steep bankings. And the som has been mowing it and dumping the cuttings in piles hidden out of sight.

It looks quite nice on google maps when I知 guessing pops was out and about.

I知 thinking an ATV/Quad with a pull along mower/mulcher to keep the grass and weeds down. What can I do with the loads of piles of grass cuttings? Can I spread them out to mulch or do I need to get rid?

There痴 quite a few trees that need sorting and lots of strimming. Are multitool systems any good or am I better getting separate tools for pruning, strimming etc. Never had more than a postage stamp garden before. I知 a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Tia.

[doganjo]

If it's quite overgrown you could maybe ask the farmer to top it for you, or find someone local who would strim it.

I've just had that done with a bit of my land - he's coming back tomorrow to heavy strim it to the bare earth then put weed fabric on it so I can put plants in then cover with bark.

Depends what you want to do with it, but I think a bare earth policy is probably best if you can.

Then you can put in hard landscaping, raised beds, sheds/greenhouses etc

[chrismahon]

The grass cuttings can be used to kill heavily weeded areas prior to re-seeding. Strim them down and put 6" thick layer over the top and leave a year. How you tackle the grass cutting long term will depend on how smooth the surface is and how thick the grass gets. Self-propelled lawn mowers will clog up if you try to cut more than a few inches and they don't like rough ground. An acre isn't that much and a quad is a big investment which needs secure storage, as do all your new tools. But if spare time is short you may want to go that route.


We have separate tools for everything. If you have a lot of pruning to do look at the new Stihl GTA26. Fiscars do a range of loppers and we have several plus one of their extending units. For really high stuff Silky is the way to go. Pruning is a slow job and it may be better to get someone in for the first round.


It will all take time and money so the best advice I can give is be patient. We are 4 years in with our place and still nowhere near getting it sorted.

[Kiran]

I inherited, when we moved in, a Hayter Condor mower. I had to strip  clean and rebuild the carb and fit a new pull start but now working the mower takes down pretty much anything. When I'm clearing new areas I run it on max height first followed by the desired height. Does an amazing job. I'm not sure what the current version is, it may not be the condor but its definitely worth a look.

[Just_me]

If it's quite overgrown you could maybe ask the farmer to top it for you, or find someone local who would strim it.

I've just had that done with a bit of my land - he's coming back tomorrow to heavy strim it to the bare earth then put weed fabric on it so I can put plants in then cover with bark.

Depends what you want to do with it, but I think a bare earth policy is probably best if you can.

Then you can put in hard landscaping, raised beds, sheds/greenhouses etc

Good idea about getting someone in to get it back to where it was and work from there. Thanks.

[Just_me]

The grass cuttings can be used to kill heavily weeded areas prior to re-seeding. Strim them down and put 6" thick layer over the top and leave a year. How you tackle the grass cutting long term will depend on how smooth the surface is and how thick the grass gets. Self-propelled lawn mowers will clog up if you try to cut more than a few inches and they don't like rough ground. An acre isn't that much and a quad is a big investment which needs secure storage, as do all your new tools. But if spare time is short you may want to go that route.


We have separate tools for everything. If you have a lot of pruning to do look at the new Stihl GTA26. Fiscars do a range of loppers and we have several plus one of their extending units. For really high stuff Silky is the way to go. Pruning is a slow job and it may be better to get someone in for the first round.


It will all take time and money so the best advice I can give is be patient. We are 4 years in with our place and still nowhere near getting it sorted.

Four years in and still learning 😱😭

[macgro7]

Same with our 3/4 acre garden 
We've been here nearly 7 years - I'm changing something, adding, removing, planting, chopping away, re-ploughing etc every year 

[Fleecewife]

Four years in and still learning

Hmm - we've been here for 26 years and I'm still learning and hope that never changes     

[doganjo]

If it's quite overgrown you could maybe ask the farmer to top it for you, or find someone local who would strim it.

I've just had that done with a bit of my land - he's coming back tomorrow to heavy strim it to the bare earth then put weed fabric on it so I can put plants in then cover with bark.

Depends what you want to do with it, but I think a bare earth policy is probably best if you can.

Then you can put in hard landscaping, raised beds, sheds/greenhouses etc

Good idea about getting someone in to get it back to where it was and work from there. Thanks.

We've done a rethink on the bark - far too expensive for 100 square metres so it will be wildflower seeds, poppy seeds, a few ground cover plants which I already have - lamium, bugle etc, and a couple of perennial evergreens

[macgro7]

Don't use bark - use wood chips instead - so much cheaper. Call local tree surgeons.

[doganjo]

None of them near enough to make it viable.  I'll stick to the wildflowers etc, prettier too