On 17/04/2013 14:44, MichaelD wrote:
Hello everyone,

I recently bought a house with a 30x90ft garden, which was massively
overgrown:

[image: http://imageshack.us/a/img580/1193/gardenold.jpg]

I have since spent quite a bit of time pulling out all of the old bushes
and trees, burning as I go. As you can see, I've certainly made
progress:

[image: http://imageshack.us/a/img27/5903/garden2b.jpg]
[image: http://imageshack.us/a/img6/6974/garden3u.jpg]

However, I am now moving towards being in a position whereby:


- There are lots of roots in the ground from the large bushes / small
trees
- I have attempted to remove the bramble roots, but not done a great
job - lots left in there / hidden
- I want to remove all of this, and then lay grass!


My plan is to hire a mini excavator (it's about 800cm wide - will fit
through the door in my garange!) and pull up the remaining large roots
(e.g. against the fence on the left, and over on the right).

I plan to use the excavator/digger to pull up the small amount of grass
that exists, and also level the ground a bit more.

I then plan to get a heavy duty (13 horse power) rotorator, and use it
across the whole area. I hope that this will pull up any roots / weeds
/ stones which are under the surface, so that they can be easily picked
up and removed.

The rotorator should also leave the ground in a good condition to lay
grass seed... I hope.

I wanted to check with you guys regarding this - have I missed anything
or am I going about anything the wrong way? I am aware a rotivator is
going to blitz certain roots (e.g. the brambles), but I am unsure how
else to get rid of something dotted hidden across a garden of this size.
Obviously the mini digger will identify some bits...

Please do advise / help - I was hoping to get the digger this weekend
and do most of the digger work, with the rotivator the following
weekend. I can only spend weekends on this due to work, and we have
some extra help (probably 3-4 of us each day).

Does this all sound achievable?

Makes me think you have been watching to much "Homes under the hammer"
and are trying to get everything done "Yesterday" ready to sell on.
In which case just level, slap down some turf, sell and let the next
person clear up your mess.
You say you want to get a 13 hp Rotavator to clear roots etc,
If you've never used one before. then my advice is DON'T.
Get someone in to do the job, it will be cheaper in the long run.
They are not the machine for an amateur to play with on rough ground.
Hit a good root and they can take off, jumping 10 ft or more before you
get it back under control, It happens to me, and I've been using them
for over 50 years, The root doesn't tell you where it is.
I agree with the others, you look to have hacked back some nice shrubs.
David @ the dull end of Swansea Bay