Partial Lawn Replacement Advice

Hi everyone -

I'm new to this forum - and pretty clueless about gardening to boot - so please realise even what might seem very rudimentary info will be welcome and informative for me.

I have a bit of a problem that I'm not sure how to approach, and looking for some advice.

I employed a gardener to clear up the garden of my dad's house, which had become very overgrown due to him not being able to take care of it any more. The remit was to tidy up the entire space, prune back everything, mow the lawn which had got out of hand, and treat and remove some bramble etc.

The problem is that when I got over there to view it, it became apparent that one corner of the lawn had been totaly scalped - to the extent that it's now just bare earth, there's no longer any grass apparent there. That corner has a slight upward bulge to it, like a kind of mini-hillock, and I'm guessing the mechanical equipment they've used was not adjusted properly for this.

I contacted the guy about this, and he said he wasn't aware of the issue, as he had apparently subcontracted someone else to do the lawn. He asked if I was wanting that replaced, and I assured him that yes indeed, I was wanting that. Was back over at the house the other day, and no action has apparently been taken.

So my question is - being ignorant of the cycle of planting, renewal etc - and this being December - what action specifically should I be asking for? Is it a question of planting seed, or should I be expecting him to replace turf in the affected area?

( The bramble has also not been treated and removed - simply pruned back - but I guess that's a question for a different sub-forum! )

 

Welcome to the forum

Bit surprised to hear a gardener say he had contracted out grass cutting !

Can you post a pic of the scalped area or say how many square yds/mtrs it is.

As @JWK has just mentioned , little will grow this time of year, so much better to leave things until the warmer spring weather, by then you might find the grass roots have regrown anyway ?

Same with the Brambles, if not dug up you need to wait until spring when the new growth starts to show and then used a water on weedkiller like SBK, which we have used several times with good results.

Think its better for you to find a different gardener anyway ! perhaps wait till spring then look around your Dads area for the gardeners vans that the locals use and trust to do a decent job.

 

It sounds like it was a bit out of hand, once things get overgrown its not easy to get things looking good in one or two visits, especially very late in the year.

I think you need to wait until spring now before anything else can be done.

 

The work was done around November.

The situation is complex because he had come round on spec and quoted me for the work, and I'd told him I didn't have funds in place to do it yet. I was intending to get other quotes as I got the money together, but when I got back to the property a couple of weeks later (I don't live nearby) they had gone ahead and done the work! I felt this was a bit off - but my dad had passed away, I was still feeling quite fragile, and I really didn't want a legal dispute on my hands. And in any case they'd clearly done a lot of what I wanted in terms of clearing and pruning. He wasn't able to accept a card payment, so I told him I'd pay in four (monthly) instalments - which means I still have leverage in making sure the job gets completed.

But since my goal was and is to sell the property, waiting till spring to get the lawn replaced was not what I'd hoped for. Maybe that's my best plan now though...

 

It's about 2 metres x 2 metres.

As you say, it's possible that it will grow back at least partially in spring.

I don't want to alienate the guy completely with demands that are botanically impractical in December, so maybe the best course is simply to withhold the final two payment instalments until the work's completed. I think I'll ask him what his plan would be for the lawn and bramble, and talk to the estate agents about whether I should be trying to sell now or just waiting till the garden looks a bit better!

 

OK, thanks for the comments everyone, I have a better picture now.

Just two further questions before I contact the Bloke...

* If I ask him to reseed it, what sort of month would it be when it started to look like actual grass, rather than just bare earth?
* If I asked him to returf it, what might I expect that to cost him (going on 2 metre x 2 metre).

Just trying to figure out what's reasonable given the price he charged me...