Advice please, level and prepare for a healthy lawn
 

Hi
I'm hoping for a little advice, i'm new to gardening as I have only owned a garden since yesterday, well it is currently a paddock not yet a garden. It is over grown with weeds about three foot high, there isn't really any grass at all, it is also uneven all over and bumpy. I would like to end up with a healthy even lawn. With little to no experience I do not want to make silly mistakes at this stage. In the futre I wold like to create a beautiful garden but for now I'd just love a lawn. Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you for taking the time to read this.
sophie

Advice please, level and prepare for a healthy lawn
 

"slqdqjbq" wrote in message
...

Hi
I'm hoping for a little advice, i'm new to gardening as I have only
owned a garden since yesterday, well it is currently a paddock not yet a
garden. It is over grown with weeds about three foot high, there isn't
really any grass at all, it is also uneven all over and bumpy. I would
like to end up with a healthy even lawn. With little to no experience I
do not want to make silly mistakes at this stage. In the futre I wold
like to create a beautiful garden but for now I'd just love a lawn. Any
advice would be much appreciated, thank you for taking the time to read
this.
sophie




--
For a level lawn seeding is best but you can turf aswell rotovate level with
some topsoil then turf or seed

Advice please, level and prepare for a healthy lawn
 

Sophie wrote via gardenbanter.co.uk...
I'm hoping for a little advice, i'm new to gardening as I have only
owned a garden since yesterday, well it is currently a paddock not yet a
garden. It is over grown with weeds about three foot high, there isn't
really any grass at all, it is also uneven all over and bumpy. I would
like to end up with a healthy even lawn. With little to no experience I
do not want to make silly mistakes at this stage. In the futre I wold
like to create a beautiful garden but for now I'd just love a lawn. Any
advice would be much appreciated, thank you for taking the time to read
this.

Welcome to this Newsgroup.
Personally I would spray with Glyphosate weedkiller (Roundup) to kill all
the grass and weeds, may take two applications and the plants need to be
actually growing with green leaves for it to work. So you may be well to
wait until next spring.
Look at your soil, dig into it, is it clay and very wet/water retentive if
so you will need to rotovate in a lot of sand to open it up and improve
drainage. If it's very sandy then some good loam may be a good idea.
Then I would rotovate the whole lot going over it time and time again to
break up any clods and get a fine tilth. Then rake flat, heal all over (walk
on you heals or roller) leave it to settle and rake again, walk/roller again
and rake again, etc, etc until it's flat and firm. Then seed it with a good
lawn seed, there are lots of different types of lawn seed so you need to
decide if you want lush but tender grass or hard wearing grass for kids to
play on.
Doing the preparation well is the key to a good lawn, don't bother or get it
wrong and you will always have trouble. That holds for seed or turf.
You then need a good lawnmower, a cylinder mower (kept sharp) is the only
sort for a good lawn, rotary mowers are never as good.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

Advice please, level and prepare for a healthy lawn
 

slqdqjbq wrote:
Hi
I'm hoping for a little advice, i'm new to gardening as I have only
owned a garden since yesterday, well it is currently a paddock not yet a
garden. It is over grown with weeds about three foot high, there isn't
really any grass at all, it is also uneven all over and bumpy. I would
like to end up with a healthy even lawn. With little to no experience I
do not want to make silly mistakes at this stage. In the futre I wold
like to create a beautiful garden but for now I'd just love a lawn. Any
advice would be much appreciated, thank you for taking the time to read
this.
sophie

You don't say how big it is. And you might as well have the odd flower
border or kitchen garden near the house all grass is so boring.

It is a bit late now to do anything effective. Best bet is to wait until
spring when the first new growth shows (and you might well find the
garden contains some spring bulbs you want to save) and then hit
everything you don't want with glyphosate and wait 2-3 weeks until
everything is tinder dry. Then clear the debris away from fences and
torch it keeping a spade and bucket of water handy in case things get
out of hand. I have cleared several overgrown wildernesses this way.

This kills all but the most persistent weeds and most of their seeds.
then you are down to rotovating the soil and taking out any big roots of
bramble, groundelder or nettle that you find. Level and if necessary mix
in some peat (or substitute) and sand into the top layer and reseed with
the sort of grass you want to have (probably something moderately
robust). Then leave it to grow undisturbed for a few weeks. Keep a bit
of extra seed back for filling bare patches - you are unlikely to get an
even spread first time even with a spreader. And different seed mixes
will look different - even some that are nominally the same mix!

If there are many perennial weeds you might have to let them regrow for
a few weeks and then hit it again with glyphosate.

Regards,
Martin Brown