Cheap and quick way to turn shrubland into nice lawn

ISIOTB

I have a paddock of 1 acre that hasn't been tended to for a long time. The soil is uneven and the grass/weeds/nettles are long, around 1-2 foot in length in places.

I'm looking for a cheap way to clear this and turn it into a beautiful lawned paddock.

I don't want THE cheapest way, ie spend all hours god sends doing it myself manually, but I am prepared to do some of the work myself if needed.

Anyone have any idea what steps I need to take, who to hire, what they would reasonably charge etc????

Many thanks for any advice!!!

Davesnave

I shall watch this thread with interest.

I wouldn't dare post what I plan to do with mine, as the 'vinegar & old carpet' brigade would flay me alive.:rotfl:

Let's see what they come up with.....

Wookey

Personally i would lower it first to prevent anything seeding anymore, as its going to be given over to grass i wouldn't hesitate to use a decent weedkiller on it. With that amount of ground if you know of any friendly farmers with a field rotavator and tractor i'm sure they wouldn't mind running it over it for you once everything has been killed of. Once rotavated and levelled out a bit you may well want to let it sit for a few weeks, any weeds that have been missed can be redosed as they start to show themselves, once your happy its weed free then sow your grass, time is against you here though if you want to get it sown this year.

Ken68

Wild gardens are all the rage, ISIOTB. Leave it, add a small pond, let nature take over. Mow a winding path thru it. Keep records and take photos.

DKLS

There is no quick or cheap way to make a nice lawn from what you have.

Ken68s advice is the best.

rhiwfield

To stop grassland scrubbing up you either need to cut or graze. Nettles suggest fertility so if you wanted to achieve a prairie effect or wildlflower grassland you may have to reduce soil fertility in places by scraping off topsoil or cutting/raking over several years. It doesnt sound if that is your preferred route but you may want to check grassland species composition to make sure you are not wiping out a meadow with wildlife value. For instance you may see a flush of wild orchids after the first major cut.

If you dont want grazing, then I'd be tempted to get a local farmer with a topper to give it a cut (and bale if possible). The first time you do it you'll have a lot of leavings, if the farmer will bale/remove all the better. Otherwise its a cumbersome job of raking and putting the leavings to compost. Buy a couple of Faithful wooden rakes and invite friends with promise of beer..its sweaty work! Leavings can be dragged along the ground on a value tarp.

After the first cut regular mowing will clear most weeds except rosette formers and leavings can be left to rot in. This should give an acceptable lawned surface for most purposes but for a "beautiful" paddock then Wookey's solution is probably better. My own view is that grassland with rides/paths cut through is infinitely more interesting and easier to manage, especially if the farmer is willing to cut the meadow for free annually in exchange for the hay/silage

foreign_correspondent

weedkiller then rotivate... preferably with a tractor, if you know someone with one (would not take very long at all) level it off, then grass seed or turf.. seed is cheaper, turf is faster!

Charco_2

Dont know much about this but when I bought my last house, the garden around it was a nightmare... weeds etc up to my bellybutton! I started to hack away at it and to pour weed killer but it took forever. A gardener my brother used (really just an old man of 70 who cut the lawn for about £8 but would turn his hand to almost anything) said not to bother with all that and he went at it with a strimmer cutting everything down as far as it could go then sowed grass seed. Lots and lots of grass seed. He said the grass would mostly out-compete the weeds in search of nutrients and space - which it did!
The lawn was practically perfect after that!

Good luck! (I'm probably the least experienced gardener type in here!)

ISIOTB

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

weedkiller then rotivate... preferably with a tractor, if you know someone with one (would not take very long at all) level it off, then grass seed or turf.. seed is cheaper, turf is faster!

Thanks. Do you know a cheap place for weedkiller and how much of it I would need?

Levelling it off is the key I think because its so uneven, I might see if a gardener has the necessary roller or whatever they would use.

Do you think £500 for clearing, levelling and seeding is a realistic budget for one acre??

Ken68

Yes I agree with Charco...as long as the land is constantly mowed, the grass will take over. But you gotta get it level first.
I once made level several asparagus beds, by filling the hollows with the humps.
A roller won't do your field, you need a jcb or tractor with a blade, and even then the ground will subside later , unless you get right under the humps.
My last allotment was levelled by a farmer using a powered harrow.Weedkiller wouldn't be necessary. He wanted to know which end of the allotment I wanted the debris/rocks/larger clumps. Yellow pages perhaps or Groundworkers.