Renovating a lawn

Leif

I'm thinking about killing, rotovating and reseeding a lawn, as it is so bad: couch grass, weeds, mainly moss. I manually cleared and dug a weedy area at the end, about 70 m2, and reseeded, and it looks better. But I can't imagine doing the whole lot manually, it is maybe 400 m2 in total.

So, some questions:

Will rotovators work on stony soil? The soil is very flinty, most 1-2", some up to 6". Is this a problem?

Can a rotovator damage rainwater drains? When digging a bed, I came across a buried earthenware pipe. It took water from the guttering downpipe, perhaps to a soakaway under the lawn. There will be others.

The lawn extends to many shrubs: flowering quince, hedge (laurel, hazel, Forsythia, privet), Wiegela. Should I rotovate close to the hedge/shrubs, or will that destroy the roots, and cause serious damage?

Leif

Does no-one here use a rotovator/tiller?

forgotmyname

Leif wrote: »

Does no-one here use a rotovator/tiller?

Not if you have couch grass and other weeds it seems. Every root you chop up = 2 weeds+ instead of one.

A rotovator can damage drains. Especially plastic ones. If your quick you may stop before it breaks, But if you think thats a tough bit and push on it will give way.

If in doubt about drains you must check 1st.

The roots of your plants may get destroyed if you go too close to their root system.

How big an area are you looking at doing? Do the centre with the rotovator and do the edges by hand if you must use one.

I think it would be best to do it before and during the frosts. Rotovate the frosts kill the roots you unearthed.
Then repeat several times.

But will it cope with the frozen soil?

Leif

The idea is to glyphosate the lawn first, which will kill the couch grass. It does indeed grow from small root fragments, as I've seen in the veg bed. I don't think I will kill the hedge by rotovating close to it, just weaken it a bit, my concern is the level of damage, but it looks like I can use the tiller to loosen the top inch or two, and shred the dead grass, leaving deeper roots alone.

My soil is not frozen. I was digging and raking the veg beds today, and removing some field bindweed.

Drains are a pain, they are earthenware.

I checked out the Honda FG110, it looks like it will do the job, even in stony soil.

forgotmyname

I was thinking in you rotovate during the frosty nights it may help kill the weed roots.

Going close to the edges with roots is not just a matter of will it kill the hedge/bush whatever but when will happen when it catches a length of root
that rips out and wraps around the blades or spindle.

Leif

forgotmyname wrote: »

Going close to the edges with roots is not just a matter of will it kill the hedge/bush whatever but when will happen when it catches a length of root
that rips out and wraps around the blades or spindle.

Have you had trouble with roots and a rotovator/tiller?

mikey_D

I did my lawn last year, I hired a turf cutter to completely remove the top turf which I skipped, then lighty rotivated the top, adding lots of sharp sand for drainage and then covered with an inch of fresh top soil and then seeded, the lawn looked great after six week and I am really pleaesed with it. It was alot of work, it took me over two weeks to complete but was worth it.

Leif

mikey_D wrote: »

I did my lawn last year, I hired a turf cutter to completely remove the top turf which I skipped, then lighty rotivated the top, adding lots of sharp sand for drainage and then covered with an inch of fresh top soil and then seeded, the lawn looked great after six week and I am really pleaesed with it. It was alot of work, it took me over two weeks to complete but was worth it.

Thanks. I was wondering about doing it that way. I have a lot of weeds, bindweed which goes down several meters, and Bird's Foot Trefoil, the roots of which are thick, and go down quite deep.

Why did you not kill the lawn then dig it in? I assume you hired a skip to take away the turf.

How much sand did you put down? I am thinking of putting down sharp sand to improve drainage.

mikey_D

I did spray the whole area with Glysosulphate, I had a major issue with ground elder, which continued with the new lawn but touch wood is now eradicated.

I used alot of sharp sand the area I re-seeded was 160ft x 40ft.

After removing the dead top turf, I covered the bear earth in about 1/2 inch of sharp sand, and then rotivated the top 3 inch of soil. I did this 3 times over a couple of days allowing the soil to dry out so I could break it down quite fine. All stones were removed and fresh top soil spread over the top to create a level base before it was re-seeded.

Since then I have a garden lawn company come in once every 2-3 months who feed and weed it and the lawn is immaculate, there are a few uneven bits which I will sort this spring, and with me attacking the ground elder in the flower beds with Glysosulphate and weedol max, and the weed killer the lawn company uses touch wood it has been banished.

Leif

Thanks Mikey_D. Cripes, that is a lot of sand. I will do as you, but rotovate the dead turf into the soil, the organic matter will surely help.

Leif

I had a brain wave today. The local brewery gives away spent hops, so I'm going to spread an inch of hops on the front lawn, to both kill the grass and add organic matter. Then I will spread an inch of sharp sand, rotovate the ground, leave for weeds to germinate, kill weeds, and sow grass seed.

Anyone see any problems? Anyone done this? I think I prefer this to the use of glyphosate, as the hops will feed the new grass, and there is no risk of damage to existing plants.