Hi everyone,
I'm new to this forum and also to gardening, but I would like to start tidying up the place and doing a little something to make the garden look presentable.

I don't have a large garden and I have never really bothered with it. Until now, I used to pay a neighbour £5 to strim the lawn every now and again and that was it.
I hadn't really noticed but the grass was getting worse and worse and the weeds were becoming more and more, until the was hardly any grass left.

I decided to sort it out so, without any advice, I bought some grass seed and skimmed all the top layer off so it was mud, but then I got ill and before I knew it, it had regrown twice as bad. (I have added a few pictures of what it's like now). There are huge thistles, mutant dock leaves, a large sheet of clover type things, some nettles and more. The only thing I don't have growing there is grass haha.

Ok, thanks for reading my story. Now I would like to ask for some advice.

I have skimmed the top off again to leave the earth (please see final photo). I am aware that all the roots are still there.
Should I just use a fork to turn all the soil over and rip up all the roots, or do also I need to treat it with something before applying grass seeds? (please bear in mind, I do not have much money spare so I'd like to do this as cheaply as possible).
I do not have a large area to treat as I want to make a border around the lawn too.

Thanks

How come no-one is answering? I am in desperate need of some advice. PLEEEEEEEEASE!!

jackrmee wrote:

How come no-one is answering? I am in desperate need of some advice.
PLEEEEEEEEASE!!

what is there to say, if it is a small
space, just keep spraying glyphosate on
anything green that comes up and eventually
you'll get it all dead. space out your
sprayings by a few weeks and keep it
watered during the dry spells to keep
the weeds from going dormant.

then reseed the surface (but disturb
the soil as little as possible) and keep
it watered as recommended by the seed
company.

trim appropriately and keep it weeded.
some deep rooted plants may keep trying
to come up for several years. spot treat
them or just keep cutting them off as
they grow eventually they give up.

don't bother putting the border and
decorations in right away as it's pretty
likely the weeds will come up through it
anyways.


songbird

On Jun 22, 6:59*pm, songbird wrote:
jackrmee wrote:

How come no-one is answering? I am in desperate need of some advice.
PLEEEEEEEEASE!!

* what is there to say, if it is a small
space, just keep spraying glyphosate on
anything green that comes up and eventually
you'll get it all dead. *space out your
sprayings by a few weeks and keep it
watered during the dry spells to keep
the weeds from going dormant.

* then reseed the surface (but disturb
the soil as little as possible) and keep
it watered as recommended by the seed
company.

* trim appropriately and keep it weeded.
some deep rooted plants may keep trying
to come up for several years. *spot treat
them or just keep cutting them off as
they grow eventually they give up.

* don't bother putting the border and
decorations in right away as it's pretty
likely the weeds will come up through it
anyways.

* songbird

For that size space and especially given that you're
moving into summer, I would definitely not be seeding.
If you want to establish turf now, buy sod or whatever
it is you folks in the UK call grass that you buy that
is already green and growing. The best time for
seeding is Fall, when you have declinint temps,
far less competition from weeds, less watering
reqt, etc. You can also do it in early Spring if you
have to, but now is the worst time.

As suggested, kill whatever is there with glyphosate,
(Roundup or equiv and NOT the extended length
product). I'd apply it at 5% which should kill
everything in one shot in about 10 days. Then you
can prep the soil and lay the sod. Testing the soil
for at least PH would be a good idea too.

On Jun 22, 9:24*pm, "
wrote:
On Jun 22, 6:59*pm, songbird wrote:


For that size space and especially given that you're
moving into summer, I would definitely not be seeding.
If you want to establish turf now, buy sod or whatever
it is you folks in the UK call grass that you buy that
is already green and growing. *The best time for
seeding is Fall, when you have declinint temps,
far less competition from weeds, less watering
reqt, etc. * You can also do it in early Spring if you
have to, but now is the worst time.

As suggested, kill whatever is there with glyphosate,
(Roundup or equiv and NOT the extended length
product). * I'd apply it at 5% which should kill
everything in one shot in about 10 days. *Then you
can prep the soil and lay the sod. *Testing the soil
for at least PH would be a good idea too.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Agreed, but with one addition: prior to laying sod he needs to "fork
the soil" and rake it smooth so that the new sod has a loose base for
the roots.

The Brits like to inquire in this forum, but to my knowledge I have
never known them to identify their grass type. I assume with their
latitude it's probably fescue of some type. Does fescue come in sod
squares?

On Jun 28, 6:37*pm, Red wrote:
On Jun 22, 9:24*pm, "
wrote:





On Jun 22, 6:59*pm, songbird wrote:

For that size space and especially given that you're
moving into summer, I would definitely not be seeding.
If you want to establish turf now, buy sod or whatever
it is you folks in the UK call grass that you buy that
is already green and growing. *The best time for
seeding is Fall, when you have declinint temps,
far less competition from weeds, less watering
reqt, etc. * You can also do it in early Spring if you
have to, but now is the worst time.

As suggested, kill whatever is there with glyphosate,
(Roundup or equiv and NOT the extended length
product). * I'd apply it at 5% which should kill
everything in one shot in about 10 days. *Then you
can prep the soil and lay the sod. *Testing the soil
for at least PH would be a good idea too.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Agreed, but with one addition: *prior to laying sod he needs to "fork
the soil" and rake it smooth so that the new sod has a loose base for
the roots.

The Brits like to inquire in this forum, but to my knowledge I have
never known them to identify their grass type. *I assume with their
latitude it's probably fescue of some type. *Does fescue come in sod
squares?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I also would think that in the UK they are probably using fescue,
bluegrass,
and.or rye, just as we would in the northern parts of the US. Here in
NJ
tall fescue is frequently used as part of sod together with bluegrass.

As you point out, many of the people posting here fail to identify
what
kind of grass they have or even where they are located. The advice
for someone in Miami is going to be different than for someone in
Maine
or the UK.

Hi Jack!

When I started to make moves on my garden, I can guarantee it was in a much worse state than yours!

Highly motivated, I dug up all the grass one weekend, rotavated and treated the soil underneath, treated it for the poor Ph and condition it was in, took out all the debris that was buried among it, raked and levelled it. I bought some fresh treated topsoil and decided to get some fresh turf to lay over it!

Ever since it's been fantastic! It may not be the kind of move you want to make as it was a long winded and costly way of doing so, but I hope this aids you in some way!

The soil I used was from Hallstone Direct based in York (Hallstone Value Topsoil | Topsoil | Soil | Top Soil)

I used the Medallion turf from Rolawn which is also based locally to me in york (Quality Lawn Turf from Rolawn: Medallion Turf)

Best of luck in sorting your problem!

Matt