Lawn - please HELP
 

We have an average small suburban rear garden in London, about 10 x 10
metres.

It is about 5 to 10 feet deep in weeds. Each time I remove them they
grow again very quickly, and even a strange dingo-like dog which made a
home there, now has a house so packed with weeds he can't get in. For
various good reasons I cannot keep on digging out the weeds, but I want
to keep it as grass and not concrete or tarmac it.

This situation cannot be new to many readers, so please help, even a
useful URL or FAQ is better than nothing but I have not found any
useful advice on the net so far.

The best possibility so far is, after getting out the weeds and maybe
putting on Potassium Chlorate from Poundland, to cover the whole lot
with plastic bags, hold them down with stones and then put a thin layer
of dirt over that. But this appears in no way ideal, as rain will
remove the thin layer of soil and also it will be disturbed when walked
on.

What I would like is a no work patch of grass or lawn, shouldn't be
impossible in this day and age. All advice welcome.

john wrote:
We have an average small suburban rear garden in London, about 10 x
10
metres.

It is about 5 to 10 feet deep in weeds. Each time I remove them
they
grow again very quickly, and even a strange dingo-like dog which
made
a home there, now has a house so packed with weeds he can't get in.
For various good reasons I cannot keep on digging out the weeds,
but
I want to keep it as grass and not concrete or tarmac it.

This situation cannot be new to many readers, so please help, even
a
useful URL or FAQ is better than nothing but I have not found any
useful advice on the net so far.

The best possibility so far is, after getting out the weeds and
maybe
putting on Potassium Chlorate from Poundland, to cover the whole
lot
with plastic bags, hold them down with stones and then put a thin
layer of dirt over that. But this appears in no way ideal, as rain
will remove the thin layer of soil and also it will be disturbed
when
walked on.

What I would like is a no work patch of grass or lawn, shouldn't be
impossible in this day and age. All advice welcome.

This just cannot happen if you cut it regularly: never less than once
a week. Then you can tackle the remaining weeds (there'll probably be
fewer than you fear) with the usual weed-and-feed preparations,
following the instructions on the packet. But there is no such thing
as a no-work lawn.

The plastic film idea won't work, I'm afraid, both for the reasons
you give, and because it'll be a muddy puddle when wet, and dead
grass when it's dry.

--
Mike.

"john" wrote in message
oups.com...
We have an average small suburban rear garden in London, about 10 x 10
metres.

It is about 5 to 10 feet deep in weeds. Each time I remove them they
grow again very quickly, and even a strange dingo-like dog which made a
home there, now has a house so packed with weeds he can't get in. For
various good reasons I cannot keep on digging out the weeds, but I want
to keep it as grass and not concrete or tarmac it.

This situation cannot be new to many readers, so please help, even a
useful URL or FAQ is better than nothing but I have not found any
useful advice on the net so far.

The best possibility so far is, after getting out the weeds and maybe
putting on Potassium Chlorate from Poundland, to cover the whole lot
with plastic bags, hold them down with stones and then put a thin layer
of dirt over that. But this appears in no way ideal, as rain will
remove the thin layer of soil and also it will be disturbed when walked
on.

What I would like is a no work patch of grass or lawn, shouldn't be
impossible in this day and age. All advice welcome.


Grass must be cut at least once a week plus you need to treat with a weed
and feed fertilizer in spring and an autumn feed too

If you want to start again from scratch you need to spray all the area with
glyphosate ........then dig it all over in the autum ...........ready to lay
new turf or seed it in the spring

john wrote:
What I would like is a no work patch of grass or lawn, shouldn't be
impossible in this day and age. All advice welcome.

I suspect that is impossible. What you can achieve is a less work lawn.

I mow my lawn every two weeks on a high blade setting, and leave the
weeds be. I have maye 2 or 3 times the amount of lawn you have and part
of its on a damn great big slope, I mow it in 20 - 30 mins tops,
admittedly with the help of an 18" blade rotary petrol mower.

For a basic utility lawn (not bowling green) mow reguarly whether its
once a week (best), every other week (fine), or every month (I wouldn't
leave it any longer!) except when the grass isn't growing (probably
sometime between Oct/Nov and Feb/Mar/Apr - dependent on loaction and
weather), making sure you cut your grass to the longest length your
lwoer will do - an inch is generally recommended for this type of
treatment. Leave the weeds be, the worst of them will diappear over time
with regular mowing, the rest you can live with.

If you haven't got a mower, invest in one, or possibly a strimmer - I've
never used one and don't like them but it may suit you, and has the same
effect used reguarly.

If you are not willing to put in the time, then look into an alternative
such as astroturf or concrete.

Sarah

On 21/8/05 18:30, in article
, "john"
wrote:

We have an average small suburban rear garden in London, about 10 x 10
metres.

snip
What I would like is a no work patch of grass or lawn, shouldn't be
impossible in this day and age. All advice welcome.

Why do you want a lawn? Why don't you put down an impermeable membrane,
cover it with gravel or pebbles or paving (or a mix of those) with a water
feature of some sort and pots of plants around and about? If people aren't
going to sit on the grass itself, I can never, ever, understand why those
with a small garden want a lawn at all. I'd get rid of it and have a paved
terrace on which to put chairs and tables or sun loungers. But don't cement
it over. People you sell your house to in years to come might feel
differently.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

Sacha wrote:

Why do you want a lawn? Why don't you put down an impermeable membrane,
cover it with gravel or pebbles or paving (or a mix of those) with a water
feature of some sort and pots of plants around and about? If people aren't
going to sit on the grass itself, I can never, ever, understand why those
with a small garden want a lawn at all. I'd get rid of it and have a paved
terrace on which to put chairs and tables or sun loungers. But don't cement
it over. People you sell your house to in years to come might feel
differently.
--

I went to see a house last year and the garden was almost completely
covered in slate chippings.

wrote in message
oups.com...

Sacha wrote:

Why do you want a lawn? Why don't you put down an impermeable membrane,
cover it with gravel or pebbles or paving (or a mix of those) with a
water
feature of some sort and pots of plants around and about? If people
aren't
going to sit on the grass itself, I can never, ever, understand why those
with a small garden want a lawn at all. I'd get rid of it and have a
paved
terrace on which to put chairs and tables or sun loungers. But don't
cement
it over. People you sell your house to in years to come might feel
differently.
--

I went to see a house last year and the garden was almost completely
covered in slate chippings.

Bad roof?

--
Tumbleweed

email replies not necessary but to contact use;
tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com

wrote in message
oups.com...

Sacha wrote:

Why do you want a lawn? Why don't you put down an impermeable membrane,
cover it with gravel or pebbles or paving (or a mix of those) with a
water
feature of some sort and pots of plants around and about? If people
aren't
going to sit on the grass itself, I can never, ever, understand why
those
with a small garden want a lawn at all. I'd get rid of it and have a
paved
terrace on which to put chairs and tables or sun loungers. But don't
cement
it over. People you sell your house to in years to come might feel
differently.
--

I went to see a house last year and the garden was almost completely
covered in slate chippings.


One of the comments people made when we opened our garden to the public
recently was 'Oh,you have a lawn, how lovely" Our 'lawn' is about 2 metres
x 3 metres, but it is a bit of grass :-))

Mike

On 23/8/05 17:13, in article
,
" wrote:


Sacha wrote:

Why do you want a lawn? Why don't you put down an impermeable membrane,
cover it with gravel or pebbles or paving (or a mix of those) with a water
feature of some sort and pots of plants around and about? If people aren't
going to sit on the grass itself, I can never, ever, understand why those
with a small garden want a lawn at all. I'd get rid of it and have a paved
terrace on which to put chairs and tables or sun loungers. But don't cement
it over. People you sell your house to in years to come might feel
differently.
--

I went to see a house last year and the garden was almost completely
covered in slate chippings.

That sounds a bit funereal to me but a paved garden, in courtyard fashion,
could be lovely.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

"john" wrote in message
oups.com...
We have an average small suburban rear garden in London, about 10 x 10
metres.

It is about 5 to 10 feet deep in weeds. Each time I remove them they
grow again very quickly, and even a strange dingo-like dog which made a
home there, now has a house so packed with weeds he can't get in. For
various good reasons I cannot keep on digging out the weeds, but I want
to keep it as grass and not concrete or tarmac it.

This situation cannot be new to many readers, so please help, even a
useful URL or FAQ is better than nothing but I have not found any
useful advice on the net so far.

The best possibility so far is, after getting out the weeds and maybe
putting on Potassium Chlorate from Poundland, to cover the whole lot
with plastic bags, hold them down with stones and then put a thin layer
of dirt over that. But this appears in no way ideal, as rain will
remove the thin layer of soil and also it will be disturbed when walked
on.

What I would like is a no work patch of grass or lawn, shouldn't be
impossible in this day and age. All advice welcome.

Just keep on mowing, the weeds at least will be kept under control, even if
they don't dissapear altogether.

Alan