'Peter',

Best if you hire an industrial strimmer or the like and get rid of all
of the overgrown grass down to about an inch or so. Then, in the
spring, treat the lawn to a good weed and feed fertilizer. Give it
regular mowings, water during dry spells, and you will be amazed how
quickly your lawn will recover itself and start to look good again.

When the grass is under control you could re-mark your borders by using
a hosepipe as a guide and in that way you can have nice scalloped edges
of your choice and widish borders in which you can plant shrubs,
perennials, small conifers, annuals and even a small tree or two.

This site will give you some ideas:

http://tinyurl.com/23io (Best to go to Landscaping|
Garden Plans).

I wish you luck.

Regards,
Emrys Davies.






"Peter Lewis" wrote in message
newsan.2002.10.20.14.58.08.446606@NOSPAMflamingc amel.co.uk...
Ok. The lawn is in such a sorry state right now I'm at a bit of a
loss.
The grass hasn't been cut for probably a couple of years and is pretty
sparse so that the soil is clearly visible. The grass that is left is
pretty long but flattened so mowing would be difficult. The soil is ok
(not clay or too rocky) as far as I can tell. There are quite a few
pretty
tough clumps of grass dotted about and the area is fairly well drained
(I
haven't seen it get waterlogged ever). The edges where it meets the
border
have also become lost as the grass peters out.

Sorry for the ignorance, I'm pretty new at this.

Thanks,

Pete.


On Sun, 20 Oct 2002 15:08:33 +0100, Emrys Davies wrote:

'Peter',

You have not described the state of your lawn, the soil, drainage
and
whether there are lots of bare patches, that it is full of weeds or
that
the grass has not been cut for a long while. You do mention
overgrown
but with what and to what extent?

Cutting it back to bare soil before the winter or leaving it to die
off
are definitely not options which you should pursue but once you have
given a fuller picture I am sure that you will get plenty of good
advice.

Regards,
Emrys Davies.




"Peter Lewis" wrote in message
newsan.2002.10.20.12.55.06.952836@NOSPAMflamingc amel.co.uk...
Hello there,

Since movng into my house about a year ago, I've decided it's
finally
time
to do something with my garden.... I've been putting it off for so
long
now and I'm afraid the job has become much bigger than it should
have
been! The "lawn" is fairly overgrown but never having had to
maintain a lawn before, I'm looking for a bit of advice.

I've raked it over a bit to get rid of the dead stuff and I've been
advised that I should resow it in the spring. Would I be better off
to
try
and cut it right back to pretty much bare soil before the winter or
leave
it to die off? Will that make more work in the spring? Any other
related
advice would also be much appreciated. I've read the Lawns
FAQ -thanks!

Peter Lewis,
Leicester, UK.