Garden Completely Overgrown

What's happening?

Clearing an overgrown garden is mostly a sequencing job. Wade in with a strimmer and you will hit the three things that make the job go wrong: hidden hazards, protected wildlife, and plants that punish being cut. Under long grass and bramble there is routinely broken glass, wire, dumped metal, old paving, wells, drain covers and, in older gardens, buried asbestos-containing sheet from a demolished shed or garage. Nesting birds are protected while the nest is in use, and hedgehogs and other wildlife use exactly this kind of cover. And a handful of species change the whole plan if they are present: Japanese knotweed is controlled waste, so soil and plant material containing it cannot go in the ordinary garden waste stream, and cutting or spreading it makes the problem larger and more expensive. Survey before clearance is not a formality; it is what keeps the job cheap.

What usually causes it?

• Several seasons with no maintenance, often after a house sale, probate or illness
• Bramble, nettle and coarse grass colonising the whole plot and growing through beds, hedges and fences
• Self-seeded saplings (sycamore, ash, buddleia, willow) that have reached small tree size
• Invasive plants established unnoticed, including Japanese knotweed along boundaries and hard edges
• Ivy and bramble smothering fences, sheds and walls, hiding their real condition
• Rubbish, old materials and dumped items buried under the vegetation
• Boundaries lost from view, so nobody is sure where the line actually runs

Is it dangerous?

Yes, more than it looks. Hidden glass, wire, protruding metal and old fixings are the everyday hazards; open wells, unguarded drops and rotten covers are the serious ones. Strimmers throw whatever they hit. Suspected asbestos-containing material must not be broken up or moved: it is hazardous waste and needs identifying and removing under the right controls. Bonfires are the other common mistake: burning garden waste can amount to a statutory nuisance, and burning invasive or treated material on site is not an acceptable disposal route.

Can I fix it myself?

Survey before you cut. Walk the plot and mark what you can find (covers, holes, glass, metal, sheds, sheet material, boundaries), and cut a narrow path through the middle first so you can see. Look for knotweed on the boundary and along hard edges before anything is cut, because identifying it after clearance is much harder and spreading it is the expensive mistake. Check for active nests. Then work in stages, top growth first, with strong gloves, eye protection and boots. Small-scale hand clearance is realistic; a whole neglected plot in a weekend is not.

When should you call a gardener?

Call a gardener for a whole-plot clearance, and call before cutting anything if you suspect Japanese knotweed, if you have found sheet material that might contain asbestos, or if there are self-seeded trees rather than shrubs. Also call where the boundaries and structures are hidden and you need to know what condition the fences and walls are actually in. Anything with a real trunk goes to a tree surgeon, and buried rubble or failed levels revealed by the clearance goes to a landscaper.

What will the gardener actually do?

• Walk and survey the plot before cutting, recording hazards, structures, boundaries and any invasive or protected species
• Check for active nests and signs of wildlife use and plan the sequence around them, flagging suspected asbestos-containing material and invasive plants for specialist handling
• Clear in stages: top growth, then bramble and root mass, then ground-level debris
• Cut back hedges, ivy and climbers off fences, walls and sheds so their condition can be seen
• Remove arisings and rubbish off site through the correct waste streams rather than burning them
• Hand over what the clearance revealed (fence and wall condition, drainage, trees and levels), so the right trade picks up each part

Who fixes this

• Garden tidy up

Questions people ask

Sources & References

1. RHS: Japanese knotweed
2. GOV.UK: Prevent Japanese knotweed from spreading
3. Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 1 (protection of wild birds, nests and eggs)
4. GOV.UK: Dispose of hazardous waste