Overgrown Garden Project

Im probably not best to answer this but if it were my garden i would do as follows. Dig beds where you want them then dig and lay a path where nececary. then tackle what foliage/grass you have remaining. I would hire a high end strimmer and strim it all down as low as possible. then assess what you have, dig and remove any plants remaining.. unless of course their good and you want to keep. then id mow it with a good mower, but remove stones and any other shrapnall first of course.. only then can you asses the state of the grass. if its bad it may be that turf is the answer and from previous experience good turf is better and easier than seeding. seeding can be good but it will take more time and effort than turfing will and will require more time before you see results.

 

To be honest it all comes down to if you are willing to pay for a professional?
My nan had the same problem, because since my grandad passed there had been nobody to do it for her, and most of her children and grandchildren work long hours too, and don't have the time to dedicate it.

She paid for a professional to sort the good from the bad and he cleared it out for her - it only took him a couple of days.

Yeah okay it costs a bit of money but they will leave you with EXACTLY what you asked for and in a state that is extremely easy to manage only doing it once a week.

 

Sorry, but I disagree with that.

Soil preparation is the same for turf or seed.

More effort for Seed to rake a a seedbed, but not significant compared to the overall time to prepare the plot.

Lot more effort, and heavy work for anyone not reasonably fit, involved in laying turf compared to applying seed. Turf will need watering after laying (unless the weather Gods are kind ), Autumn sown seed will be fine, unless we get a draught in October.

Seed will take longer to mature, but if done in the Autumn it will be established by first-cut in the Spring.

If there is a need to walk on the lawn throughout the Winter then Turf would be a better choice (but a path, or stepping stones, would be better still!)

Seed will be cheaper, and a lot more environmentally friendly (depending on whether that bothers you, or not, of course)

 

I do understand what you've said and as i said i might not be the best person to comment. i wasnt sure after seeding if it would need any attention before it matured thats all , they have said that it needs to be low maintenance etc. but yeah im sure seeding will eventually produce the same results.
The environmental factor is actually one i hadent considered and now you have mentioned it it would actually bother me , i think we should all have a concern for the environmnent especially as our gardens are at the mercy of it

 

It would be lovely to see photos of your progression (:

 

Nightmare if sown in the Spring, IMHO, but lots of people do that of course! The weeds will be up with the seed (and you can't use chemicals until the lawn si 6 months old, at least), and it will need watering all Summer (but so will turf laid in the Spring I suppose ...)

EDIT: but Autumn sowing (i.e. "starting from now") is ideal, and it will be looking like an established lawn by Spring, and not need much help with watering next year.

Indeed, though I might object, but its not me making the buying decision!

I have bought turf once (needed to sort an area out in the middle of the Summer). Bought the turf from the fens (i.e. I drove onto the field to collect it ). That was what made me thing about the environmental impact - it bothered me that I was buying an inch of their topsoil - they took a "turf" crop every third year, which has to be "eroding" their solid for future generations. Also the haulage of the weight of turf bothers me, environmentally, but its very easy to justify with "I just need a few" and thus gloss over the "if everyone in the land did it" aspect !!

But all comments and opinions welcome

 

Interesting thankyou , so sown now probviding its done properly its pretty much maintenance free and will establish its self over the winter then. Ill deffinately bear that in mind next time im laying a lawn

 

Thats it although not quite "now", end September onwards I reckon is the time to sow, but there is some preparation to do before then

 

Whoops, been away for a few days! I went out and bought some Roundup and doused all the grass and weeds with it on Monday / Tuesday. Still waiting for the effects. Weed membrane has arrived and will be put down once it has been taken down to soil level.

Have discovered that neighbour has a rotovator Will be giving that a go!

Will post update pics!

 

Greenthumb came around, coincidentally, and have estimated £400 for doing a lawn renovation. Thoughts?

 

Ok.

Not yet on any of this. Give the round up time to do its job. If you rotavate now you'll just spread the live weed roots about, and if you either rotavate or use the weed membrane before the round up has done its job, then it would have been a waste of time, money and effort.

 

Definitely wasn't planning on doing anything further until its completely barren.

 

You might see some yellowing after a week, you should see more comprehensive yellowing after a fortnight; if you do then re-apply to any areas that are still green - that most likely you missed

GreenThumb quote is to prepare soil (after your RoudUp has done its job) and reseed?

Sounds reasonable to me on the assumption that they know their stuff and thus will do a job that yields a good result.

 

I have to second the 'are you sure you want a lawn' comment.

I'm not a very experienced gardener, but have a lawn in my tiny terrace garden. Out of all the things in the garden, the lawn takes the most looking after to look good. To be fair, I'm working with a weed infested, mossy lawn so there's a lot of remedial work. But in summer it grows fast and you got to mow it, there's the feeding, weeding, aereating. I would take mine out if I could. In a small garden I can't help feeling it's a waste of space...

 

Flip side, for me, would be that a smart lawn sets off the garden borders.

"Weed Infested" lawn is no different to weed infested beds is it Reetgood? Neither look very special!

Does it really take very long to look after? Cutting a back-garden sized lawn is only 10 minutes or so isn't it? or you need some more appropriate kit

The alternatives are paving, decking, gravel or similar which will suit some gardens, but usually is very "hard" on the eye - almost all look like carparks IMHO.

Other than an area for terrace (sitting out, paved, decking, whatever), for me the only reason to get rid of a lawn would be because I wanted to plant the whole area and have narrow "jungle-style" paths through it.

Personal choice of course, but if you are going to have a garden to enjoy then the time taken to manage an area of it is only part of the equation.