Help on what to do with my garden please :)

loopyanna

Moved into our first house in December, the inside is perfect, all newly renovated but the garden is somewhat... er.... well it's in need of some TLC. i've never been one for gardening so i don't really know where to start and would be very grateful for any advice and tips you might be able to offer.

It's only a small garden front a back, mainly grassed which is how i would like to keep it. The problem is that the grass is not currently covering all of the soil if that makes sense. There are patches where the grass is very thick, patches where it has been overcome by weeds and patches where it is just soil.... the other problem is that the ground is not smooth. As you walk along it you are lucky not to break an ankle it's full of soooo many pits and troughs!

What i want is to flatten both area of grass of and get a nice even coating of grass on those areas but not sure where to start!

Any advice really appreciated

Anna.

Rummer

Not really sure the best way to flatten the ground, if it has defined pits in it could you add additional soil to those areas? As for the grass you have two main options, for a quick solution you could buy turf for those areas with no grass or you could put down grass seed and wait a bit longer.

ERICS_MUM

In view of the lumps and bumps, I would suggest getting rid of the grass, levelling the soil underneath and then lay new turf. Personally I would get someone in to do this (I have neither the muscle nor the patience!), but lots of people I know have done it themselves.

Good luck!


Linda xx

loopyanna

Thank you for the replies, fomr you both

Budget is tight so I was hoping to do what I can myself. I like the idea of getting rid of the grass that is there (it is so weed infested that I don't know if I would be able to get rid of the weeds) and replating grass seed.

Would I need to get a spade and literally "skim" the grass away from the soil or is there a better way??

Thanks

Anna

ixwood

ERICS_MUM wrote: »

In view of the lumps and bumps, I would suggest getting rid of the grass, levelling the soil underneath and then lay new turf. Personally I would get someone in to do this (I have neither the muscle nor the patience!), but lots of people I know have done it themselves.

Good luck!

Linda xx

That's a lot of extra money/work. The proper way to level a lawn is to lower the bumps and raise the dips and then over sow grass seed. There's no need to start again, google it for a guide.

ixwood

To get rid of most weeds, just mow once a week.

These days, weedy lawns are encouraged, as they're much better for wildlife than the sterile "green dessert" look still favoured by old people who think it's a competition.

If someone brought out new plants that flowered profusely like buttercups, dandelions, daisies and clover, fed bees and wildlife and needed no care or attention, they'd be very popular.

loopyanna

Thanks Ixwood, i'll get googling that! I see your point with the weeds, but it's almost a lawn just of weeds in patches! I'd like at least the majority of the covering to be grass!

Thanks

Anna

fimonkey

Hi Anna,

Be prepared for it to take time.. I had a lawn like yours - I filled in the dips with soil taken from the bumps and stomped it down hard with my boots. .. I put grass seeds on the bare bits and the birds ate it all! ... I just kept persevering as I like the birds, and three years later the bare bits have grass!

To smother the big weeds on the lawn I put pots of flowers over them (deprived them of light) .. when I moved the pots the ground underneath was bare but the grass came back really quickly and the weed much less so (ketp down by strimming anyhow)

It was a real hit and miss kinda thing, but I wanted an easy natural look not the golf course look. Now Ihave a lawn of grass, with weeds that flower and attract the insects... lovely!

loopyanna

Hi Fimonkey,

Yes, that's just what i want. Not a bowling green, just something that i'm not quite so ashamed of!!

I know it will take time, although i do wish there was a quick fix. I don't think that we will have the bird problem though - as we don't seem to have any where we live. It's very odd actually. At our old house we had hundreds of them, all different breeds and several feeders, a bird bath, fat balls etc, i really liked to watch them from the window. I put two feeders out at the new house when we moved in in December and they haven't been touched. Not a sausage. I had some bread on the lawn which i ended up having to take off and put in the bin as that wasn't eaten either.... as i said, it's odd. So that should be one less problem to overcome at least!

Thanks

Anna

FatVonD

There is a product on the market (available from garden centres) that I think is called Weed'n'feed. It has a weed killer which will kill broad-leafed plants (ie your weeds), without killing the grass and, as the name suggests, will hopefully promote healthy growth of the grass you have!

loopyanna

Oooh thanks FatVonD... That sounds like a good plan for the front garden which is in better condition than the back. I think some of that stuff and a bit of grass seed and the front should be good