Owen28 wrote:
Hi,

Im new to this forum and was hoping to get some tips.

My girlfriends garden was a bit of a dump when she moved in, and now
its getting towards summer I thought I would have a blast at doing it
up for her.
There was a massive tree in the garden thats roots are nearly up to
the house, this was cut down about two months ago. Obviously the
garden was covered in sawdust. Ive cleared all of this up (about 15
bags full of it), and Ive tidied up some bushes and removed chicken
wire and a wire fence running down one side of the garden.

Since the photo I have also fitted bamboo to the rear fence and the
new gate, this is for privacy and to stop the dogs barking at anyone
that goes past.
There is a small concrete flagged / patio area at the back. I will get
some pictures up when the sun comes out for five minutes.

My plan is to dig up all of the soil with a rotavator, attempt to
level it iff with top soil / sand. Put a new lawn down. Put a fence
up around the lawn area. Possibly make a rockery at the far left
corner. Also, to trim the hedges along the fence but leave them there
for privacy.
My concerns a

The roots of the tree, these branch out everywhere, will they break
the rotavator?

Possibly, or stall it. It will not chop them up if any size, by the picture
they are.

Will they soak up all of the moisture from the grass?

While alive yes, they have been doing so for years. If they die they will
rot and eventually collapse leaving a hole which can be noticeable if they
are large. How long this takes depends. Digging them out by hand will save
you a gym subscription and the price of the rotavator.

Will they make the lawn too uneven?

Too uneven for what? Think about what you want to do on the area of the
lawn and why you need one. Lawns are good for little kids to play on and
for sports, is that you?


The weeds, if I go over the lawn with a rotavator, will they grow back
through the new lawn?

Yes. You may even make it worse. Choose you method of dealing with weeds
according to the situation.

What can I do to stop this?

Learn a lot about the time consuming and resource intensive business of
growing lawns. In general bare dirt and disturbed dirt grows weeds. A
strong healthy lawn that is dense growing tends to exclude weeds. Unless
the conditions are right maintaining a strong lawn can be a real battle,
even then it is a chore that never goes away. Consider the options before
deciding.

David