Learning to like a once loved garden - weeding advice needed!!

Spent three days clearing the extensive front garden of our rented home and uncovered what was once a very well thought out and loved garden. However, the previous owner gravelled a large portion each side of the path straight on top of soil. We now have grass, weeds and (I think) bluebells about to sprout.... Lots of it!!! What can I do? Any weed killer would need to be pet friendly - salt, vinegar and boiling water seem to be the suggestion online but think that's aimed at small pathway problems and this is a big area. Also, once the weeds have been attacked, what's the best way of clearing the debris and making the gravel look nice again? This is a rented house so I wouldn't want to invest too much money in a solution but I would like to tidy things up and enjoy the space we have. Landlord has helped with big jobs such as removing ivy and topping trees but general upkeep is down to us. Very time and cash poor with zero gardening know-how....... Help!!! :-) pictures included.

Once salt gets into the soil it takes a lot of water to flush it out, I would avoid salt as a first remedy.
You could try vinegar or boiling water, these are both temporary, and could give you some knock down.
Other method: Hand weed, but use the right tool. On this side of the pond it is called a 'Hula Hoe' or 'Scuffle Hoe'. Lets see if I can find a picture...

http://www.gardeners.com/buy/hula-garden-hoe/38-926.html

This is really easy to work, and does a great job in loose gravel or soil.

That's really really helpful and makes sense - thank you.... Quick search online and I've found one in the UK.... I think we're calling them a 'stirrup hoe' here but I like 'hula' more..... Many thanks!!

Looks like my garden. Same thing with the old house we bought, but our is worse. Personally I'm too lazy to pull out all of those grasses and weeds. I would just use some black tarps and cover them up and let them dies, I guess it won't kill the roots though. But then I put raised beds on top of them with cardboard in between. When the weeds and grass already died, I grew clover in their space so the weeds won't have a chance to get back.

This message was edited Apr 17, 2015 12:31 PM

The Blue Bells will flower very soon and by June /July, their green foliage will have died down too.
The Blue Bells are deep bulbs, they take themselves /Bulbs deeper each year, so digging the bulbs up would be a hard task. they are beautiful when in flower and spread by exploding seed heads. IF you really don't like or want to keep these bulbs, then you either dig the bulbs out (Before the greenery dies down) at this time you know where to dig, IF there are no green foliage you will need to dig the whole area. OR use a weed killer to kill off the bulbs, again you need to do this while foliage is green, the foliage will be needed to take the killer way down to the bulbs. this stage could take months as the weed killer has to travel way down to the bulb and then it has to be taken into the bulb,

As for removing the weeds and grass, I like to use a small hand fork, or hand rake, both of these move the stones away from the weeds then use one or other of the tools to remove the weed by the roots. I have no info on the hoe Diana is talking about as I cant use the a garden hoe without cutting the tops of everything in the border LOL, so my advice would be, go to the garden store and actually hold the tools in your hand, try them for the feel, weight, and price, I've a store room full of so called gadgets that are as much use as an ashtray on a Motorised Bike.
I now try to feel / hold any tools I want as they are not cheep and also how heavy they feel in a females hand is not the same as a guy holding tools.

I find if I kneel on a pad, use the fork, how or whatever tool of your choice, it becomes very therapeutic to clear small patch at a time, fill a bucket of weeds, have a coffee and then fill the bucket again, you will be surprised. You can do as little or as much as you want per day, BUT weed-killers take weeks / months to work and they kill everything they touch, blow onto, so if used, use on a still day and cover any other plants you DON'T want touched by the killer.

After you clear the area, you can top up the stones with fresh ones and this can help keep the new weeds at bay, every other week IF you can, you can use a rake over the stones and this will dislodge any germinating new weed seedlings.
Hope this helps you out a little and you can then begin to enjoy your garden.
Kindest regards.
WeeNel.

Thanks very much for all the help and advice!!!! This is great!!! :-)