On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 20:09:12 +0200, kay
wrote:


bluemoon 1502;987924 Wrote:
Hi, I am knew to this forum (and gardening) so please forgive me if this
is written in the wrong place, I have searched but cannot find a
solution to my problem.. I am hoping someone could offer me some advice?


I have recently moved into my first house which has a 'garden'.. I say
'garden' because it is more like a small overgrown meadow! My first task
was to cut the grass and privets back. The first time i cut it was about
a month ago with a strimmer, but i would bet that it hadnt been cut for
a good few years before that as the grass was at least 2ft long,
contained moths, toads and god knows what else! My girlfriend and i went
on holiday the weekend after i cut the grass and on returning home 2
weeks later, we found it had hrown again to about a foot in length! Now
this grass isn't nice looking. it's thick and straggly and is more like
grass you would find in a wild, overgrown field, than someone's back
garden. There are weeds everywhere and the ground is not level.. My
question would really be - Can I take off the top couple of inches,
maybe a foot to kill the grass and weeds and use what i have dug out to
level the ground? I would like to get the garden looking half decent
before the winter and maybe next year look at making it actual look
good!

I cannot use any kind of weed killer in the garden because I have a dog,
I am on a fairly tight budget so the more cost affective the better
really. However, I am more than willing to do a lot of manual labour and
digging in order to get it sorted.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!


If it hadn't been cut for a good few years, it wouldn't be grass, it
would be scrub and bushes by now!

Grass expects to grow and flower each year before dying back for the
winter, so can easily grow to 4ft high within a couple of months.

Soil is full of weed seeds, and more will be blown in - getting rid of
weeds is a perennial job, like washing up or cleaning the house, not
something that you do once.

I've a feeling that you probably do not like gardening, although clearly
you would like a garden that looks tidy. I suggest you march noisily
through the grass to disperse your toads, then strim it, then mow it
with your mower on its highest setting. It will look pretty revolting,
with white lower stems of grass, but green shoots will regrow quickly.
Repeat the mowing every week through to the autumn. By then, it will
look a lot more like your idea of a back garden, and you can think about
the next step.

I'll add to what Kay has said that if you really want to get back to
bare ground and then dig things over to level the patch, you can, even
with a dog, use weedkillers carefully. Get some Glyphosate (Bayer
brand do a pure glyphosate; avoid other brands like Roundup). Once
your dog has had a run outside, spray the area with it (the
instructions tell you how to mix it up - don't be tempted to make it
stronger than they tell you). Choose a dry, sunny day and spray away.

Keep the dog inside until the spray has dried - at the moment, a
couple of hours should do it - as once it has dried, it's safe for
pets.

You may want to repeat the treatment a fortnight later.

Then just be patient while everything dies. Then you can happily dig
everything over. Leave things thru to the autumn; respray with
glyphosate if you need to but otherwise just pull up and dispose of
any weeds that grow.

Then research preparing the ground for seeding a lawn. Do the prep.
Sow a load of seed and you're away.

--
Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Wilting just a little at the east end of Swansea Bay.