Killing lawn to start over?

Naf

We've found that our front lawn is awful, some patches are just brown, some getting bare and most of the grass now consists of stems growing along the ground. In addition its quite lumpy & bumpy.
My plan was going to be to dig over the whole top layer, burying the existing grass to start over; but I've had the suggestions of either using vinegar to kill the current grass, or covering up the whole thing with plastic and leaving it to 'sweat' for a few weeks.
Anyone have any recommendations?

Del_Astra

Hi Naf

Some similar threads have been kicking around recently:

This isn't the one I am thinking off, but its about creating a new lawn so might be of use to you.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4250323

A couple of posters have done the same / similar and some good advice in those threads, I need to pop out now so don't have the time to search for the threads and can't recall who, but it was a fairly regular poster that killed existing grass and re-seeded. I will find the thread when I get back later on today.

floss2

We had something similar on our lottie last year, a rather sad patch of unwanted grass taking up need space.

What DH did was cut one half into sods and lay them on top of the other half, grass to grass, and then cover it with thick black plastic. We left it for 12 months, and have just dug it all over to find lovely wormy soil which has been shared out across the other beds and also made into a lovely large new bed.

This method works and gives a very good result, but it does take 12 months.

Del_Astra

This is the thread I was thinking about, started by Sothernsun and Leif done similar to what you are wanting to do.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4530207

marleyboy

I hired a Rotavator and rotavated the lawn in order to start from scratch. It was back breaking work but worth it in the end.

Naf

marleyboy wrote: »

I hired a Rotavator and rotavated the lawn in order to start from scratch. It was back breaking work but worth it in the end.

From what I have read, this is likely to seed more grass & promote weeds.

I'll have a better look through the suggested threads a little later, thanks.

wallbash

I had mine professionally killed , grass went brown over a couple of weeks , then it was rotavated.

Linda32

I saw this thread this morning and was thinking along the lines of weedkiller. Grass is hard to kill.

I am thinking of a city park near us which has a bonfire every year and as always it rains, the grass ends up a sludgy mess. Come the spring time its perfect again.

Leif

Definitely do not rotavate without first killing the grass. I applied glyphosate 2 weeks ago, and the grass looks vary sickly, although a few patches of couch grass seem to be surviving, and thistles and other weeds are only now showing pale signs at the centre.

I bought a sprayer from the garden centre, and glyphosate from ebay, much cheaper than locally.

The problem with using sheeting to kill grass is that couch grass can survive for months, the roots carry on growing.

Naf

Linda32 wrote: »

I saw this thread this morning and was thinking along the lines of weedkiller. Grass is hard to kill.

I am thinking of a city park near us which has a bonfire every year and as always it rains, the grass ends up a sludgy mess. Come the spring time its perfect again.

You from Carlisle & thinking of Bitts park perchance?


I'll have a look at that chemical from eBay. Apply that, plenty of water and then cover with plastic for a couple of months should do it, right?

cyclonebri1

Leif wrote: »

Definitely do not rotavate without first killing the grass. I applied glyphosate 2 weeks ago, and the grass looks vary sickly, although a few patches of couch grass seem to be surviving, and thistles and other weeds are only now showing pale signs at the centre.

I bought a sprayer from the garden centre, and glyphosate from ebay, much cheaper than locally.

The problem with using sheeting to kill grass is that couch grass can survive for months, the roots carry on growing.

Leif, are you using the Rosate product?

What dilution ratio have you settled on, I seem to have lost the very detailed instructions from mine.