The villa in central Lomma had two large perennial beds totalling 28 square metres along the driveway up to the house. After a few years without care, couch grass and white dead-nettle had moved in and smothered the original planting of Japanese anemone, ladys mantle and steppe sage. The owner wanted to save what could be saved without redoing the whole bed.
On the site visit we found that Elymus repens had established long underground rhizomes throughout the bed, while Lamium album was carpeting the half shade under an old magnolia. The soil was sandy as is common in Lomma, which lets couch-grass rhizomes run freely and means they must be lifted whole to stop them resprouting.
We hand-weeded the entire bed without any chemicals. Every couch-grass rhizome was lifted intact with a digging fork, since the smallest five centimetre fragment will start a new plant. The white dead-nettle was pulled with stem and root. The existing perennials were lifted, divided with a sharp spade into three or four new plants each and replanted into improved structure.
We finished with a 4 centimetre top dressing of compost-blended leaf mould, set a steel edge against the lawn and scheduled two care visits a year. The RUT deduction of 50 percent applies to labour, so for these perennial beds in Lomma the net cost to the owner came in well below a full replanting.
What we found on site
- Two beds totalling 28 sqm along the driveway up to the house
- Heavy invasion of Elymus repens with running rhizomes
- Carpet of Lamium album in half shade under a magnolia
- Sandy Lomma soil, fast draining, low organic content
- Surviving perennials: Japanese anemone, ladys mantle, steppe sage
How we approached the work
- Careful lifting and heeling-in of the existing perennials
- Hand-weeding of couch grass with a digging fork, every rhizome lifted whole
- White dead-nettle pulled with the root, no chemicals used
- Perennials divided with a sharp spade, three to four new plants per clump
- Top dressing of 4 cm compost-blended leaf mould, steel edge against the lawn
- Care contract: spring start-up and high summer weeding
