Garden a mess, and a big thank you

anna.bloom

Firstly want to say thank you for everyones advice, for helping me through a first time house renovation which turned out to be a nightmare.

House nearly finished, but now seeking action against our surveyor who missed asbestos, damp, lead piping and a leaking roof! A nightmare.

But my question now, is that we have no money left to do the garden.

Its hard ground, with very sparse grass. It looks like a reasonable lawn from a distance. but up close its uneven and the ground is hard.

We just want a comfortable tidy lawn for our one year old.

Do I
1. Rotavate, then use grass seed.
2. Dont rotavate, and use top soil and grass seed.
3. Dont rotavate and use top soil and turf.

The cost of top soil and turf is £220, which i dont think is too bad.

And how many inches of top soil is needed? and does it matter if we put it on to hard ground?

I was going to hire a rotavator but the hire shop said, only use it if you can put a garden fork into the ground, and we cant.

Thank you so much for your replies.

Anna

Tucker

Hard ground?

Is it not just bone dry given the lack of rain we have had?

My first and cheapest option would be to water it thoroughly. Then depending on it's condition:

Roll it to even it.
Fork it all over
look at using some weed and feed if there are lots of weeds, moss or clover.
Try a top dressing with some fresh seed, rake it to even it out and keep it moist.

Most gardens can be repaired, improved and salvaged. My garden was devoid of grass the other winter after the chickens ate every last blade. I got it back to full life with a bit of work.

If it fails for some reason, then spend the cash on removing the top layer and new turf etc....

Very little cost, just a bit of elbow grease.

Nile

Hello anna.bloom

I'll move your thread to the 'Greenfingered' board, where the gardening experts will see it.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Regards

Nile