Novice advice needed!

Good evening all.

I'm very much a beginner at the whole gardening scene as I have always lived in an urban area with very little opportunity to get my fingers green.

However, we have moved into a semi detached house which has an 85ft x 35ft rear garden. There is decking covering 7ft x 35ft at the rear of the house with a small rectangular pon. The rest has been turfed (badly in my opinion).

What I need it some advice on how to bring this garden to life as such. The turf was never rolled after it had been laid which I am told is a mistake straight away. The garden does feel lumpy and uneven. We have a 3 year old daughter who i want to spend the majority of her time enjoying and taking advantage of such a big open space and make it as nice and child friendly as possible for her.

The grass isn't very green and hasn't been maintained at all. Any help/guidance is greatly appreciated.

Kindes regards

Sam

 

Hi Mottsey & welcome to GC.
Put up some pictures to give the guys & gals an idea of what's there and I'm sure you will get a few responses.

 

Hi all,

Please see below some images of the garden, not the best but these were taken the other evening...







Any advice is much appreciated.

Sam

 

Rolling a new lawn isn't to get it level, but rather to make it "tiller" - which is the process by which the grass plants make extra shoots from the base, and thus "thicken up". To get a lawn level the soil must be made absolutely flat before putting the turf down ... so a bit late for that :(

You can "top dress" the lawn with top soil + sand in the Autumn - work it in with something flat - like the back of a rake (if yours has a flat edge). That will make it nice and smooth but may take multiple goes over the coming years. It would be preferable to "over seed" after you do that (apply grass seed at a relateively light rate [comapred to sowing a new lawn) to help the particular types of grass that you want become dominant - so if you want a bowling green you would overseed with fine grasses.

Ideally you would "hollow tine" it before top-dressing - you can hire a machine that will push a hollow tube into the turf, and extract the "core". It makes holes every couple of inches, and they will improve drainage, and the top dressing you apply will find its way down into the holes and improve the soil. You can do a similar job by sticking a fork in, giving it a wiggle and then repeating a few inches away - but its a slow and boring job - but think what you could save on a gym subscription, eh?!

Your lawn looks like it hasn't been cut regularly. That is key to having a nice lawn. Cut it once a week, without fail! and if you can do it twice a week when it is growing strongly in the spring so much the better. I can't see any/many weeds, so it looks like the turf was "clean", and the grass is consistent, so at least you are not starting with a nightmare of weeds to sort out.

It might benefit from some fertilizer too. If you want someone else to "manage" the feeding of the lawn and so on get Greenthumb to give you a quote. Most people think they are pretty reasonable, and I've seen plenty of lawns that Greenthumb manage that look smashing You'll still have to become fairly OCD on mowing it regularly though, but you won't have to become an expert on getting the fertilizer right, nor having the equipment to spread it accurately so it doesn't have dark green stripes on the bits you fertilized, and light green on the bits you missed!

However, that has little to do with making an inspiring garden Looks like you need the lawn for your little one to romp about on, and maybe you will have a football-kicking son to follow, so that may preclude doing anything exciting with the garden for several years?

But for good advice you need to tell us what you want from the garden. For example:

Grass area for the kids?

Patio / Terrace / Decking to sit / entertain on?

Wow-factor plants? (Exotic might do that, and could be done around the perimeter leaving a functional lawn)

Particular colour schemes / plant styles that you like? Cottage garden?, Roses?, Herbaceous borders? Topiary? Do you want to grow your own Vegetables?

How many hours a week would you be prepared to spend on it? Everyone wants Low maintenance! so better to work back from how much time you have (and more importantly could you spend significantly more time in Spring to get it going, and then relatively little time keeping it ticking over through the Summer?)

 

Kristen.........



Very

 

Wow, thank you so much for the detailed reply.

There is already a decked area at the back of the house which is ample enough room for what we need.

In relation to plants etc, I am looking to build raised flower beds going up the fence side of the garden so we still can have plants without the risk of them being trampled on. Probably make these out of decking and have it the full length of the garden.
I also want to build a raised flower bed specifically for my daughter which she can have as her 'little garden'.

I have a good friend who works for a tool hire company who I will be able to get a machine to hollow tine the garden with. When would be the best time to do this? Is there particular weather which this would be ideal to do?

Like I said previously I am a total beginner and really do appreciate all the help and guidance anyone can provide me with.

Many thanks

Sam