help garden like a field DANDELIONS : (

We have not long been in our house and this summer were tackling the garden we have a patch of grass that is covered from start to finish in dandellions massive ones. Some one suggested digging it all up killing the soil as the roots are huge and leave till sept and plant grass seed. The grass is greating tons of bees and flys and i now can see the bees are actually coming out of the soil. Am i doing the right thing and what to use to kill the soil and dandellion roots im completley new to all of this and on a veyr tight budget any HELP!!! we be very very appriciated!!!!

 

thanks for replying i will try and upload photo i am going to have to dig up the lawn anyway i think, as previous owners have bodged it up and is so uneven, previous owners have used a combiation of grass, stones, slabs which the dandelions are also growing underneath (so the slabs are coming up to) put all this is uneven and in random places. Just dont know whats best for the dandelions in the soil that are deep rooted how to get rid of them, thank you : ) : )

 

I recommend a hearty breakfast, a good sharp, clean spade and treat each one you dig out as a conquered enemy. Think of the job satisfaction at the end of it!!
And welcome to Gardeners Corner Charlotte,

 

Hello and welcome

The first thing I'd say on the subject is an old cliche. Rome wasn't built in a day. Take your time and enjoy it. Avoid setting arbitrary deadlines (I do this all the time, then get wound up when I miss them).

Unless the soil is past it (severely compacted and bereft of structure - like mine when I moved in) then I'd recommend against that. I certainly wouldn't consider it an option just for tackling the weeds. For one thing, there's a lot of hard work, there's no lawn at all until this time next year, and in any case once you expose bare earth, every weed seed for miles around will say ooh, look, and race to colonise it so you'll be no further forward.

I'm not sure about bees coming out of the soil. I believe some types nest underground but I'm not sure. Bumble bees do I think, but the good old bumble is harmless and should be welcomed. What is a garden if there's nothing buzzing, chirping or fluttering in it?

Digging the dandelions out is an option, but if its wall to wall dandelions, it might be a better idea to just spray them with roundup (other glyphosate based herbicides are available).

Its only the big, old, well established ones that's the problem. Younger ones will succumb to the mower and gradually just go away.

 

The bees would be a problem if they were there as you dug up the grass.
I have had an incident of Wasps nesting under grass, where it had been patched and not closely knit together.
If you can confirm either wasps or bees colonising under the grass it needs to be cleared BEFORE you start to dig it up. You might need a specialist.

 

evergreen weed and feed (4 in 1) eradicates broadleaved weeds and is effective against dandelions

35 grams per square meter .... wait 2 days after applying, then water well ...it takes a couple of weeks to kill the weeds though ....

don't overdose with the weedkiller as it will blacken the grass

 

I use salt, only because i have alot of dandelions (from next door) and it's year on year, it's cheap, i just put a table spoon in the crown of each dandelion on a nice dry day