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Post by spindrift on Jul 6, 2009 17:35:50 GMT
My friend has moved into a new house with a nice new lawn. Whilst she was away on holiday her cleaning lady (ever helpful) sprayed the weedkiller Roundup over most of the grass.
My friend called me over to show me the devastation. What isn't green is a deadly shade of yellow.
What to do now?
I imagine she'll have to wait a couple of weeks for the Roundup to complete its job (being systemic), then rake off the dead grass, apply new topsoil, scatter grass seeds and cover with chicken wire....
Casimira - would that be the right course of action?
Luckily the cleaner didn't kill the new hedge around the perimeter.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 6, 2009 17:40:40 GMT
Wow. Wonder where the cleaner will work next.
Roundup is totally evil. If your friend had it on the premises & that's where the cleaner found it, I hope she'll never buy it again.
Maybe she'll look on the bright side and decide to turn some of that boring lawn area into a real garden.
My advice is for her to phone the Roundup company and ask what to do in a case like this.
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Post by spindrift on Jul 6, 2009 17:45:39 GMT
Yes, she dd say that she didn't want to see the cleaner again!
I hunted around in her garage until I found the HUGE sprayer of Roundup; that's how I identified it although I guessed what had happened. I'll try and take a picture of the lawn when I pass by on Wednesday.
She does want to turn the area into a real garden. Unfortunately there's house-building rubble underneath and chalk and there's an unpleasant slope down to a field with nettles.
I'll post a picture of the area and you can advise me!
I think that once Roundup has done its job it won't affect the ground/earth around. Doesn't it just stay in the roots?
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 6, 2009 18:18:17 GMT
I don't know -- I refuse to use the stuff, although garden centers rabidly promote it. Spindrift, I had a house built on pure packed red clay plus the usual builder's mess. The first year I was there was the year Louisiana had 6 feet of rain in one month. A lovely knowledgeable woman at a plant nursery gave me great advice. She said that digging holes in that clay was only making bowls to hold too much water around the roots of the plants. I think the chalk in the ground (mentioned in your post about the fruit tree*) might have the same effect. The lady told me to dump huge amounts of good soil directly on top of the areas where I wanted gardens. She said that as plants became established in the good stuff, the bad ground underneath would be enriched by the good organic matter on top and become looser and better as plant roots broke it up. I had a guy bring in two flatbeds of rotted horse manure and it all worked just as the nursery lady said it would. *a big hole would still have to be dug for the tree, as discussed in that other thread. |
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Post by spindrift on Jul 6, 2009 18:48:37 GMT
That's a great idea - to put topsoil on top of the bad ground. I hadn't thought of that. Thank you so much.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2009 19:37:50 GMT
Roundup is scary. Even the commercials for it are scary.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 6, 2009 21:30:08 GMT
Roundup is scary. Even the commercials for it are scary. What's even scarier is "Roundup Ready" crops, courtesy of Monsanto. You can plant corn that is "roundup ready" and spray weeds with impunity, because the corn is genetically resistant to the effect of Roundup. But, they make these seeds hybrids that can't be planted from seed collected from the previous year's crop, so small farmers have to purchase the special seed each year. AND if the pollen blows onto adjacent fields of normal corn, they can become contaminated with the genetically modified strain, a big problem if you happen to be an organic farmer. Also a big problem if Monsanto decides to sue the adjacent farmer for "stealing" a patented strain. Everyone loses except Monsanto. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2009 21:53:23 GMT
Why was the cleaning lady spraying the lawn to begin with? Had she been mopping the floors with the Roundup thinking it was a floor cleaner and then tossed the bucket of "dirty" mop water outside.? Don't laugh,Ive heard some doozies.
I would not call the"Roundup people",but I would contact someone knowledgeable about lawns and turf,perhaps the equivalent of what we have here in the County Agricultural Dept.They have cooperative extension services that serve the general population.Or perhaps an Agricultural School or it's equivalent where you are.Or a local nurseryman or woman or the place where she buys her grass seed or turf. In the meantime .I would allow the rains or profuse watering to leach it out.
I'd go with starting flower beds like Bixa suggested but some people like their lawns.
Monsanto IS evil.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 6, 2009 22:44:24 GMT
Excellent point, Kimby! Genetically altered corn is being found in extremely isolated parts of Mexico. When you consider the terrain here, the rain cycles, and the subsistence level of much of the farming, you can see how supplanting the tough, adapted native strains of corn could wipe out an entire way of life.
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Post by bazfaz on Jul 7, 2009 7:23:37 GMT
There is an idea commonly held that loveable French peasants on tiny plots of land produce delicious food which they then sell from stalls at the market. Not round here they don't. They are addicted to Roundup. They spray Roundup under all the cherry trees and since this is a very hilly area the run-off after rain is devastating. Surely they can see the top soil being washed away? There is one man who has grass under his cherry trees and sheep cropping the grass. It looks good, he saves on Roundup and he gets an income from the sheep. He is probably considered to be oldfashioned.
We had friends in a neighbouring village who returned to England when she got terminal cancer. They asked us to keep an eye on their garden while the house was up for sale. Mrs Faz went round and put some extra plants in to make the garden more attractive. When she next went she found the peasant next door had been in and given everything a good cleansing shower of Roundup.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2009 8:00:02 GMT
France is apparently one of the biggest users of pesticides in the world.
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Post by bazfaz on Jul 7, 2009 14:41:33 GMT
We were in the Lot and Lot et Garonne departments last week. We saw none of those orange fields of Roundup abuse. It was a vibrant farming area - quite different from the Herault.
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Post by spindrift on Jul 7, 2009 18:30:11 GMT
Casimira...apparently the cleaning lady likes helping in the garden! Thistles were appearing here and there in the new lawn. Instead of digging them out she got the roundup. I suppose she can't read labels.
There is an agricultural college near here. I'll suggest she phones them for advice.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 7, 2009 22:42:36 GMT
Roundup kills both broadleaved and grass family plants, in short everything vegetative. There are pesticides like 2,4-D that target broadleaf forbs only, leaving the grass green and verdant.
Roundup is used to kill plants and grasses growing up in your driveway or sidewalk cracks. Not in your lawn or garden.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2009 4:58:22 GMT
Are we talking about herbicides or pesticides?
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 8, 2009 5:16:15 GMT
Herbicides.
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Post by spindrift on Jul 9, 2009 7:19:12 GMT
I have the photos now. I'll post them soon! Here we go!   Last night someone suggested to me that my friend should dig up the dead grass and re-turf....but I don't know. Help! |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2009 11:23:41 GMT
Looking at the position of the treated turf especially along the lines of the already newly established border along the fence there I would just extend the border out and plant more flowers or ornamentals. In a heartbeat. The damaged turf in the other area closer to the house should rectify itself in time.I can't imagine spending the money to replace the turf,seems like such a waste when she could have a lovely larger herbaceous border filled with all kinds of neat stuff;annuals,perennials,edibles etc.
I can't tell what she's got planted along the fence there,roses?bamboo? I'm assuming that she's shooting for a tall screen.
I'm sure your friend is shocked at the sight of this but Mother Nature can be very forgiving and this may afford her the opportunity to do something that down the line she will love.
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Post by spindrift on Jul 9, 2009 12:13:07 GMT
Casimira - I think the builder put in the new mixed hedging of acer, beech, not sure what else. I haven't really looked at it other than to see if it had been sprayed. I don't think it has.
My friend is clueless about plants and gardens. She's asked my advice as to how to deal with the sloping land and the ugly fencing at the side. She tells me that she's also going to get advice from a landscape gardening firm. She's at sixes and sevens as her beloved son died only 10 weeks ago. I need to help her.
Please can you advise regarding general layout of this difficult garden? She wants to extend the paving at the top outside the house. Your idea of widening the bed next to the fence and putting in a herbacous border is a good one. I'm not sure what to plan for sloping gardens.
By the way there's chalk underneath and only a few inches of earth on top.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 9, 2009 14:12:09 GMT
Oh my gosh ~~ this lady just lost her child? That is terrible and sad. Then to come home and see devastation in her new back yard must have been a dreadful blow.
I guess the two sections of slat fencing are hers, and the nice tall privacy fence is a "free" one from the neighbors. Those hedging plants are going to take forever to give her privacy. Wonder what kind of acer the bldr put in -- it could be some fast-growing, problematic thing like silver maple.
Spindrift, if she has the money to spend, why don't you suggest a deck to her? That could have a lovely softening effect at the back of the house, plus some judicious placing of latticework would afford her a place to sit where she wouldn't be on view, but could gaze out across the landscape. She should do paving or decking before landscaping with plants, just as you did.
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Post by spindrift on Jul 9, 2009 15:39:46 GMT
Decking is worth considering although I think she wants to keep some grass for her small grandchildren to play on. You can see the ball they kick around in the picture. She definitely wants one fruit tree planted in the lawn. I suggested an apple tree would be best.
Trouble about the prvacy fence is that plants won't easily grow up it and I think she'll have to put some trellis on her side. I don't know who owns it.
In my view it's a promlematical garden.
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Post by tillystar on Jul 9, 2009 15:44:55 GMT
I am learning lots from thsi thread. One day when I have a garden I shall know stuff!
It looks like the decking would really suit the space.
Your friend must be gutted - its awful. What a disaster.
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Post by spindrift on Jul 9, 2009 15:48:27 GMT
She is gutted. To add to her distress her father died recently and she has to spend a lot of time caring for her mother.
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Post by tillystar on Jul 9, 2009 15:55:14 GMT
Oh thats just awful, your friend sounds like it must be her turn soon for some good stuff. I know nothing will make up for what she has lost, but at least not to add to it.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 9, 2009 16:34:47 GMT
Are we talking about herbicides or pesticides? I was less specific than I should have been in my terminology, but I believe pesticides includes herbicides, along with insecticides, fungicides, algacides and rodenticides...but I could be wrong about that, too. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2009 17:00:44 GMT
I would want to dig up all of the dead part and put in some new soil. Not necessarily a ton.
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Post by spindrift on Jul 9, 2009 18:32:45 GMT
He's right.
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Post by bjd on Jul 9, 2009 19:18:36 GMT
But would grass grow back quickly? One of my neighbours put Roundup on some crouchgrass in her "lawn" and ended up with brown patches for ages. Don't you have to wait a certain time before you can re-sow?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2009 20:06:31 GMT
That's why I think you have to dig up the patch and cart it off.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2009 20:14:09 GMT
I'm very sorry to hear about your friends troubles. You are a dear to be helping as you are.
The possibilities are endless as a space like that with no major obstacles to overcome such as tree removal etc. affords a multitude of approaches. It is like a blank canvas at this point save the acer's ,and depending on what species,cultivar they are, as Bixa mentioned ,they are not going to be much of a screen for quite some time ,and could present some potential problems down the road.
Without having any idea as to her particular aesthetic and what she would like for that space to ultimately provide for her and her family(grandchildren,pets) I have no idea what to recommend. Other then the immediate dilemna of the burnt grass which as K suggested taking out and adding soil to widen that border along the fence,it really depends on the long term "vision" she may or may not have right now given her recent losses.
I would encourage her to look at some garden spaces comparable in size and surroundings at this point to maybe help with her grief. Sometimes people,myself included ,can be overwhelmed with having to make decisions about something and then down the line regret what they have done.
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