Ask Gerry

I am about to set to boundaries of roughly 400ft of gold leylandii at 3foot intervals. my question is can i spray between them to kill weeds? if i get some weedkiller on the stem or leaves of the leylandii will it kill them.

Laurels were planted last April, they are in very poor condition, most leaves are yellow or brown as you can see in the picture. Some new buds are coming and also some new leaves at the very bottom but already there are some holes in these, any ideas how to get them growing properly?

I have beech hedge which i planted last year. the weeds are now beginning to grow. my dilemma is thast i want to spray emerging weeds with Round up, put a pre-emergent spray on it to keep all the other weeds down, and also feed it. except that i don't know what order to do things in and which feed should i use?

How do you kill ivy? I have tried Round up but with no success.

One section of my shrub border is covered in a blanket of moss. Do I scrape it all off - (it's almost possible to peel it away) and how do I get it to stay away. This particular section is in the shade of the house.

I always had a little horsetail but last year my property was full of it. It was not affected by the weed Killers I applied on the drive nor did Round up kill it in the beds. My area is too big to tackle it by hand. I want to be prepared this year to zap it immediately but with what? Please advise

Do you know where we can source a chemical free weed killer for commercial landscape maintenance company?

My garden is on heavy clay and produces a large amount of perennial weeds including various grasses and lots of creeping buttercup. Because the soil is wet it is not possible to shake it from the roots of the weeds. So I end up with a big heap of weeds and soil. Is there any way to kill the weed material in the heap so the soil can be reused? What about covering the heap in black plastic for a year?

We had approx. 100 poplar trees cut down at our front entrance (I didn't plant them, just inherited them!), as they were sending roots and shoots everywhere, including under the neighbours' drives. We need to ensure that these are fully gone and that any shoots are killed off, as they are coming back. I've checked with the local co-op and they said that Rootout! is no longer available for sale. As we have so many, how would advise handling this situation?Also, once they are sorted, I would like to plant some type of groundcover (as well as ornamental trees, bulbs and plants) to avoid dealing with grass, as our entrance is 1/2 mile from the house and it's not practical to haul the lawnmower back and forth. What type of groundcover would be best? It's quite a large area, roughly 100 yards x 10 yards, each side.

I have a wire fence in my back garden and two feet behind this is mixed hedge belonging to my neighbour. There is a lot of weeds, briars, bindweed etc in the space between the fence and the hedge. I am growing climbers on the fence for coverage and also have cats, so I'm looking for a weed killing idea which will hurt neither.

Can you advise how to rid my garden of a very invasive plant thats strangling hedging and trees in my garden. I'm not sure what type of plant it is but I'm assuming its some kind of ivy/ creeper. I've attached a photo for you. Its found its way from a neighbouring garden and efforts I have made so far to cut it out have been unsuccessful. I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle. It's beginning to engulf my laurel hedging and its making its way up other trees in the garden. Can I use some kind of herbicide without damaging the host plant?

I have a very large area that has been severely neglected and has become very overgrown with weeds all of which I have now strimmed to ground level and raked out as many roots as is possible. I am looking for the best / cost effective weed killer and have found one called "Touchdown" which apparently is the same as RoundUp but considerably cheaper. I want one that will kill everything is sight with the exception of mature trees (30+) years old which are surrounded by weeds at the base - could you recommend touchdown or an alternative and is it safe to spray directly at the base of established trees?

I have just planted some shrubs on a bank behind the house however I now want to put down weed fabric + cover with bark or decorative stone as the weeds are growing too fast. How could I keep the bark or stone cover on the membrane without it falling down or blowing away? Also which would you recommend?

Are rosebay willow herb and bracken resistant to roundup? Would repeat treatments work please?

what weed killer can you recommend for me to put down-I have had the garden completely cleared back to a blank canvas except for 1 beautiful tall "Xmas tree"(whilst builders were in doing a construction job on the house) the weeds (mainly tumble vine) are coming through again including briars,the garden had been completely overgrown and neglected for past 7 years and i will not be in a position for planting anything until next Spring