Basic garden help! :)

hi everyone,

Completely new to this forum, however I've scoured the internet and found lots of different conflicting advice on what I should do with my garden. I've had a read through your forum and you guys always give good advice so I'm hoping now is no different

Basically I moved into a new house with my family around a month ago, and the garden, which is fairly average in size, is covered in around foot high weeds.

I think there was grass under there at some point, but without stripping it all back its hard to know.

My aim; to have it all as grass by summer time!

My problem; how do I go about getting rid of the weeds, and subsequently reseeding it?

Should I use weed killer, and if so, when? And what type? I've read that using weedkiller is most effective when the plants are growing, which they won't be at the moment. But I need to seed the lawn in time for spring I'm assuming, so I'm a little confused!

Or should I dig the weeds out?

Attached it a picture. I know it's not a massive project or problem but I am a complete novice to gardening and would like to get it right!

Thanks for reading, and hope you can help

Cheers,
Jordan.

 

I would...

Cut the weeds down now, or in the coming weeks, then remove the waste. When you see new growth in Spring, use a selective weed killer such as Verdone (is that called Weedoll or something now?) or even better Stroller Combi if its available in the UK. If grass is present, then it will soon show. If not, reseed in August. Its usually wet* then, so the grass grows quicker.

Remember, gardener only needs three things, patience, more patience, and even more patience.

*this wetness is caused by the abundance of Bank Holidays in the month of August!

Welcome to the forum!

 

The reason you saw conflicting advice is threefold. 1. The Internet gives a voice to everybody, even people who know nothing. 2. Every gardener has his or her own way of doing things based on their own experiences and 3. Depending on your soil type, how much light it gets, how it drains, what else is growing in or near it and many other factors all influence the liklihood of success or failure of any particular strategy.

So let me start by asking a couple of questions.

How well does the ground drain after heavy rain? Do puddles ever form on it, if so how long does it take them to soak away?

Is there anything tall that would cast it into shade for much of the day? Or does it get the best of any sunshine?

If you could dig out a tiny sample of the soil, would it be slimey and slightly red, slimey and grey, gritty, a lovely dark brown or something else?

And then there's usage. Will it be a purely ornamental lawn, a lawn for occasional use, or will there be kids playing footy and dogs tearing around in it?

The ideal prep strategy depends on the answers to the above, and the last few questions influence the best choice of grass seed because not all grass is the same.

 

My tuppence worth - I wouldn't go to the effort of digging out the weeds. You are bound to leave some of the root in the ground and they will reappear.

Systemic weedkiller will sort them out.

How about some flower beds - grass is OK - but BORING - especially as it looks like you'll be sitting on the decking. Some beds around the perimiter of the lawn would look nice. and soften the fence/walling - just a suggestion.

 

to GC @JPetch and congratulations on your new family home

It may help members answer your questions if you could put your location in your profile (a general location is fine; not looking for an address or postcode )

You've set yourself quite an ambitious target, in my opinion; especially if you are hoping to achieve it by sowing grass seed.
To tackle the weeds, you are quite correct, a domestic weed killer works when the plants are in active growth (which isn't now).
The main issue you have really is knowing which weeds are which! There are some weeds which you will not see right now but which are right boogers to keep on top of e.g. bindweed.
You could try digging up the area to try and eradicate the current weeds you can see, but, in some cases, going that route could cause you some more issues because if you chop the root and leave even a teeny bit in the ground (e.g. bindweed) it will just come back again.

What would I do? First, I would readjust my time frame. I'd be planning to have a lush lawn come Spring 2018. Second, I would address the questions set by clueless1 (knowledge is power ). Third, I'd be trying to identify which weeds are showing now so that I would know how best to tackle those. In the meantime, I would be letting nature take its course and see what crops up in the next few months; again, so I would know how best to tackle those weeds which pop up. I'd be stocking up on domestic weed killer ready for a full on attack come Spring - do remember, you may need to make several applications over a number of weeks/months to be certain you have killed off the weed and its roots completely.

I don't want you to feel put off, so, below are some pictures from my previous garden.

Ok, so, how the area looked when we moved in (area behind the fence). Not been touched for years.




Two months later, after a good dose of weed killer, a large strimmer, some hand weeding, tree trimming and a lot of burning!









One year later, it was still quite bare, but was beginning to take shape.







And the year after that ...






Yes, it took two years to get to that point, but it was a large area and extremely overgrown/neglected when we first got there.

After all that work, we moved out two years later