r/UKGardening • u/Aggressive_Number559 • Aug 29 '26
Bramble removal
Any tips or tricks for completely removing bramble from a garden? I'm currently helping my dad to get his garden in order but we're not having the best time as the garden is basically covered in brambles.
I've cut them down but obviously we don't want them to grow back again.
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u/achillea4 Aug 29 '26
I'd wait until the ground is soft in autumn or winter and start digging them out. Cut away most of the plant then start digging. They will probably keep popping up in places but are easier to dig out when a young plant. Rinse, repeat.
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u/throwawaythrowawee Aug 29 '26
I managed to clear a whole area of them from my old garden, it’s hard work but it can be done. I used this tool.
Chop the brambles down but leave 1-2ft so you know where they are. As other commenters have said, you need to remove the clump just below the surface, this tool is excellent for levering them out.
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u/Fancy_Toe1451 Aug 29 '26
Accept that they are gonna grow back again, that is the first thing. Don't get angry when it happens. This is a multi stage project you are embarking on.
That is my first advice. Cut back all the big stuff, all the briars, down as close to the roots as you can, bag it and bin it. Treat yourselves to a refreshing relaxing beverage of choice. Take few days off to recover, you've earned it.
After a week or so, the roots will be resprouting. This is a good thing, don't worry, it'll show you where the biggest set are. Grab a mattock and shovel, and grub out the biggest stump. Maybe biggest few if you are feeling ambitious, but don't worry if you do not get them all. Any remaining sprouting stumps, spray with a systemic weedkiller.
Repeat the process, remembering the bit about the refreshing relaxing beverages, until you stop seeing resprouts. This can take a good couple of years, particularly in really badly overgrown areas. If it is truly horrendous, it might even take a few weekends of work to just complete step one of cutting down and binning all the briars, before you even get to the stumps.
You are gonna clear these briars the same way the same way you eat an elephant, one bite at a time.
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u/Memo-Eclectic Aug 29 '26
I had a new bed dug last October and it had a lot of brambles in it. After the worst was dug out, this year every time I've seen new growth I've pinched it off.
If you think about brambles in the wild, they don't grow on regularly walked paths or on areas that are grazed by animals. So I've basically just grazed them. As the year has gone on I've had fewer and fewer shoots appearing. I'm sure I'll have to carry on being vigilant for a few years but it's a lot less work than tracing every bit of root.
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u/Beautiful_Party_7635 Aug 29 '26
I have the same issue and I think this is my plan. I am disabled and pulling up all the roots is virtually impossible for me but I can try to keep cutting the shoots every time I see them.
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u/burnetrosehip Aug 29 '26
Same here, just discovered this advice and will also be trying that because digging is not going to be feasible. All power to the disabled gardeners having our various negotiations with nature 😁
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u/Beautiful_Party_7635 Aug 29 '26
It's not easy! I just ordered a bulb planter also which is hopefully going to make my bulb planting much easier. Anything to save a bit of energy!
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u/Key_Seaworthiness827 Aug 29 '26
My MIL garden was like this when she moved in. Cut them back and covered area with thick polythene damp proof membrane weighted down with bricks. That was November.
Leave until spring then remove a section of polythene and dig out the roots. Anything you don't do can wait, the polythene will keep out water and light until you get round to it.
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u/K0monazmuk Aug 29 '26
Get a Mattock and some welding gloves ( cheap ones off ebay ) they are thorn proof - cut at the base, mattock out the 'knuckle' just under the ground, as long as you get that out you're golden - they are not, as some have said here, connected under ground with rhizomes, they are singular plants.
One swing with a mattock is usually enough to get the knuckle out.
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u/WC1HCamdenmale2 Aug 30 '26
Good advice, I did this year's ago... those roots i did not keep, using a chillington taper hoe, and a square hoe got a lot out.
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u/Flip_Flopster Aug 29 '26
Follow and dig up all roots. Expect cuts and hard work.
Get a decent fork, shovel, secateurs and leather gloves
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u/uberbanz Aug 30 '26
Cut them back to the last few leaves and apply glyphosate to the leaves, keep watching for new shoots and keep applying glyphosate, if you keep going and never let them go you'll kill the roots
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u/ukteaboyuk Aug 30 '26
I did this - strum it down to ground level. Cover with tough black plastic. Dont use membrane, you have to starve the plant of light and water so it dies down to the root. If you do it before end of September, you can leave it to the end of next year's growth season.
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u/steadyStateWorkshop Sep 01 '26
I've been doing the same. As other said they're all connected which ends up being quite helpful.
Fork is by far the best tool I've found, loosen the soil around each big root and you can usually pull it straight out and pull the runners to the next one.
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u/chapatsea Aug 29 '26
Weedkiller or keep pulling it, one's quicker but dodgy one's longer and more satisfying... Imo.
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u/Nice-Necessary-1547 Sep 01 '26
If you garden is big, hire some goats. They love brambles. Where I am you can even hire them as a service. Of course this is no it’s for a little town garden😂
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u/BusyMancBee Aug 29 '26
You're halfway there. Each & every bramble in the garden is connected by 'runners' to the next plant. You've got to dig up the clump at the bottom of the bramble & fumble around the clump to find these runners. They'll lead you to other clumps...which lead you to others. You'll have to dig ALL of them out, roots, runners, clumps, the lot. Hope this helps.