Garden Help for DIY novices

zef88

I've recently bought my first home and the garden has not been well maintained.

The lawn is very uneven (i.e. not flat and level) and has lots of weeds. There are paving stones between the house and lawn which are raised (I think due to weeds growing underneath them?) I'm pretty sure the patio stones have not been put down on concrete.

I'm not sure what to do with the lawn either: put on topsoil and seed to try and level it out, rot ovate then put on seed, or re-turf (but could be expense), lawn is roughly 10 by 10 feet.

I think I could pick up the stones and relay them to even out?


I was hoping to get some advice on what would be my best options and roughly how much I should expect to pay someone to help with the lawn?

Any advice much appreciated

wallbash

10 x10 ft lawn is on the small size, so ideal for a DIY job.
Kill it all off, then depending how fit you are , needs a good dig over.
Level and then top dress, level again . If you are really happy with the result, treat yourself to an instant lawn , turf it .

Blue264

I spent much of my spare time last summer doing this with my own garden, when I was reclaiming the top section that had become over run with nettles and weeds.

The best advice I found, and the most entertaining, was from youtube videos. My favourite ones are by Greg the gardener, an Aussie gardener who explains all the basic jobs.

http://www.youtube.com/user/gregthegardener

The best bit of advice I got from his videos was to decant weedkiller into a screw top jar (poundshop stuff will do), clearly mark the jar, and everytime you find, cut or pull a weed out, paint it with weedkiller straight away. Weeds can begin to regenerate within a couple of hours if left untreated.

A year later, none of the weeds I'd battled with have returned.

Nile

Hi, we move threads if we think they’ll get more help elsewhere (please read the forum rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

I've moved your thread from the 'In my home' board to the 'Greenfingered' board, where it is better suited.

I_have_spoken

New turf would be £10 to £15 per sq m laid if you used a landscaper, for such a tiny lawn as OP has well worth it for the instant effect.