Opinions on what to do please

Not to sure where to start with this post so I'll let the photos speak for thereselfs........














Since my last post looking for a gardener to help us get things under control in our overgrown garden we decided to give it a bash ourselfs ......these pics may still look overgrown and bad but compared to how it looked a year ago it is night and day .
We now are desperate for a good gardener to help us get things in shape ......We have had 4 local guys round to have a look ....they never came back
:(

the last guy said that I needed to returf the lawn which I thought was fair enough but when I asked him what he would do to prepare it he replied that they would strim the exsisting lawn to as low as they could get it then lay the turf on top !!!! and for the borders he said that he would pull out the larger weeds then cover the rest of the borders in bark and this would stop any weeds from regrowing ......I told him that this was not what we were looking for and he left muttering that I had wasted his time , He also quoted �£750 for the above work :rolleyes:

I am not sure if the local'ish gardeners on this site that I spoke to last year are still around but I really could do with some honest advice on what to do

Regards

Stuart

 

Is the lawn watered regularly?

 

Yes the Lawn is watered weekly .
The lawn was in very bad condition with weeds and moss , I treated this a few times with a weed and feeder also scarified it ,a lot of it has grown back but as you can see from the pics there is large areas that look scorched and there is no sign of life even after it has been given a few treatments of miracle grow lawn feed any ideas ?

 

I would give it one more chance before returfing by aerating,top dressing and reseeding with a good hard wearing grass seed.
Three years ago my lawn looked like yours and with that care,and regular 'Weed & Feed'is now lush and stands the 'Childminded' kiddies thundering across it in all manner of trikes and trucks!!

 

I'm one of those "local-ish" gardeners, Stuart - and I think those so-called gardeners should be hung, drawn and quartered!

Re the grass, Green Thumb are pretty good - I'd speak to them. http://www.greenthumb.co.uk/?gclid=CPbqkcDDsYwCFTJbQgodgF1mSw

RE ground elder and things.... well, I'd say that the area where they're worst, you should dig up the lot, disentangle the weeds from in amongst the plant and salvage what you can, or if you don't mind losing the plant, do that, and give the soil there a chance to be relatively clear of the stuff.

You should be able to get a gardener to do what I generally do, which is, to do an initial major shot at it, say a day (about �£80-�£100) and then a regular 2-3 hour stint until it's under control.

 

Have you considered whether there might be some sort of pest under the lawn? e.g. chafer grubs

http://www.shootgardening.co.uk/sitePlantProblem.php?type=pest&problemid=62

 

It might be worth trying this tip to see if chafer bugs or leather jackets are present:
Lay a piece of black plastic over one of the affected areas in the evening and weight it down. Pick it up in the morning and if any grubs have risen to the surface, the birds can eat them. If there are lots you know you have a problem!

 

Stuart in my oppinion you are well over planted this is whats causing the problem with the lawn ,you would need to water it every day to get any life in it, the roots of your shrubs are drying it out,first of all get rid of half of you shrubs certainly the conifers, you have some nice stuff there be selective, looks like you have some ground elder with a euphorbia being throttled with it get rid of this with some urgency.Pity I don't live nearer I would have helped you sort it

 

Speke to Glasgow airport and you'd be practically there, Walnut - why not give it a go! :D

 

I'd agree with Walnut.

Try thinning out your shrubs a bit
?

Also, try aerating the lawn with a fork, then backfill the holes you make with silver sand, then thoroughly water with a sprinkler.

It might help.

 

Dendy I travel everywhere by bicycle the best I have done is 169miles in 8 hrs so it is feasible.

 

But would you be in a fit state to take out a conifer???

I go along with the selective thinning out of the shrubbery - makes alot of sense.

As for the aeration of the grass, and adding sand for drainage - yes - that's always a good move.

I'd suggest doing all of this. The extra thing I've been doing this year is to use a mulcher mower as well as re-seeding the grass. It gives you a much better chance of thickening up the grass on balder patches. Wish I'd got one earlier!