Help with my Grass

Hi All,

I hope this is posted in the right section.

The garden at the rear of my house is beginning to look more like a medow. I need help in what I can do to identify what is growing in this mini rain forest of a garden and what methods/tools/chemicals can be used to kill the overgrown weed. I have attached some pics for reference.

Around 10 years ago my sister has the grass that comes on rolls laid on the bare soil and it was supposed to be top quality grass. It certainly did look like that for a few months, but then all hell broke loose.

In the rear of the garden we have an apple, pear, passion fruit plant and walnut tree all which give fruit. But their branches all overcast the grass which has stopped grass growth and caused weed to grow instead (see last pic)

Shall I buy a rotovator and pull the whole lot up? What are my options?

Thanks

Pics







:flag:

 

IMO you could mow it and treat it to bring it back round as a lawn, but personally I'd spray it off, rotovate and start again with some good quality turf.

 

Hi Kais,

It looks just like my lawn did when we first moved in.


I would strim it off first then mow on your mowers highest settings. A feed and weed treatment will bring it back to it's former glory, but it will next year I think until you see it at it's best. The heavily weeded areas can be scarified and re-seeded with no trouble.


It looks like it is all growing on some good soil there so you should be able to bring it all back very easily. It looks very do-able and I have no doubt you will be posting pics of a glorious lawn in no time.

 

If you are in a hurry, and have the money for turf (around £1.50 per sq.m.), then start again - and then mow every week!

Otherwise, mow it every week! and by next spring it will be looking like a half decent lawn. Don't cut it back too fiercely to start with, then gradually lower the cutting height of the mower. The finer grasses will survive, the rough stuff won't tolerate frequent cutting.

Then when it is looking like a lawn (in a month, if we have wet weather, but probably not until next Spring if the weather if dry) then you can use a selective weed killer to get rid of the non-grass stuff. Don;t do that too late in the season, it will be a waste of money as the grass won't have enough growing season left to fill in the spaces, so a good weed & feed (or separate fertilizer and selective weed killer for lawns) next Spring might be the best bet.

You could also cut it really REALLY short, this Autumn, spread some good qualiy top soil and sharp sand over the whole lot, and then re-seed it. The grass that grows through will be fine - you will mow that from next year, plus the grass the comes from seed. I *think* that you can use half the normal seed rate with this mentiod, but I'm not sure.

 

I agree with lollipop, this is what I'd do too, not too sure about the weed treatment though as most of these weeds will be killed by repeated mowings. Dandelions and plantains won't though but can you live with these? Docks will take awhile to go too. Another possibility for the shady bit at the end under the trees is that just that bit could be dug up and reseeded with a shade tolerant grass seed mixture.

 

Is planting grass seeds on bare soil season dependant? What can I do about the grass that doesn't grow under the tree area? I'm guessing it doesn't grow because it is starved of sunlight and or water. What methods are used to plant seeds? (Sorry I'm a novice I will probably just end up throwing it on top of the bare soil and hoping for the best)

What treatment weed killer shall I buy please. I know I need alot but are there some special cost effective gardeners secret method I can follow?

 

I've uploaded some more pics so you can get the extent that the branches grow on the walnut tree. It reaches half the garden and you can see the weeds growing directly underneath. The walnut tree is great as it attracts the few red squirrels that came and robins, but I have come to find that the grey squirrels have taken over. Shall I cut some of the branches hat pretrude into the garden?

The last pic is the lawn mowed. I noticed whilst cutting the grass that there are many bumps and ditches in the garden. Is there a way to level the garden if I was to take away/add soil to the areas that need leveling. Shall I use a long plank of wood like what builders use when leveling concrete? :skp:





Thanks for your replys so far :gnthb:

 

Unless you want a bowling green then ( and be aware I am not a lawn nerd......I mean fan sorry), then try to learn to live with them. Gentle rises and falls are acceptable in a garden-I mean, I have kids so for now the lawn is theirs.

The sowing of grass is season dependant-but you can sow in all seasons except winter, and luckily now is a good time to sow seed-plenty of sunshine and rain in Englands' Summers.


If you let the grass regrow for a week-and green up, you can go at it again-this time a little lower.


A bit at a time will do wonders-it will look a mess at first, but it is in recovery.

 

Thanks Lollipop. I guess I better start getting a move on especially if now is the right season. Also as I am new to the forum, I am going to move this topic to the Lawn Discussion area as it is more focussed on that and the tree questions I shall post in the Tree discussion area.

Thanks again.

 

You're very welcome, I will just add that it really doesn't look that bad-overgrown yes, absolutely, but nothing too serious and you will soon be enjoying yourself in the garden-maybe, if luck and the weather stays on your side you might just squeeze in a family BBQ this year, I quite like your garden.

 

Thread continued in the lawns forum here:

http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/m-lawn-needs-p353116.html#post353116