From overgrown bomb site to perfect lawn. Steps needed?

barnstar2077

Hi all,

I am currently in the process of clearing my very, very overgrown garden, but would like to end up with a nice lawn.

I am clearing a lot of ivy, stinging nettles etc, and had to dig out some clumping bamboo (It only took ten hours! :  ) and I still need to remove some small trees and stumps etc, but I am slowly getting there.  I think I got all of the bamboo, but I have mentally prepared myself for the possibility that I may have to dig out a couple of patches in the future.

So really I am after any advice people can give on how to go from my current bomb site to a perfect, flat, weed free lawn?

My plan so far is to remove any remaining stumps and attempt to fill in all of the holes and level the ground this year.  Then regularly strim, to keep the weeds down, and relevel again at the end of the year.  Then in the spring, one final relevel combined with digging out as many roots as possible before putting down seed/new turf.

I feel if I don't give the ground time to settle before relevelling that I will never get it to look good, hence waiting a few months between levelling and not just doing it all this year.

Does this sound like a good plan, or would you do it differently?  Should I use weed killer this year instead of strimming for instance?

Any comments welcome, thank you!

FreeBear

barnstar2077 said: I am clearing a lot of ivy, stinging nettles etc, and had to dig out some clumping bamboo (It only took ten hours! :  ) and I still need to remove some small trees and stumps etc, but I am slowly getting there.  I think I got all of the bamboo, but I have mentally prepared myself for the possibility that I may have to dig out a couple of patches in the future.

The easy way of digging out bamboo - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6441703/getting-rid-of-bambooIf you have got all the rhizomes out, it won't grow back from the fibrous roots. Nettles on the other hand, will be a constant pain, popping up from any small bits of root left in the ground. I'd start spraying the area with a weedkiller, and give it several treatments between now and when ever you get to lay the lawn.

-taff

I'd just advise against having a lawn full stop. They're a pain in the bum to look after properly with weeding, scarifying, reseeding, weeding, ant hills, weeding, daisies etc. You're basically trying to keep a savannah a baby and it's hard work.

barnstar2077

-taff said:

I'd just advise against having a lawn full stop. They're a pain in the bum to look after properly with weeding, scarifying, reseeding, weeding, ant hills, weeding, daisies etc. You're basically trying to keep a savannah a baby and it's hard work.

I already have a couple of patios, and some areas with stone or mulch, so not sure what I would put in the middle of the garden instead?

-taff

what do you want to use the garden for? what is your preferred style of planting? Do you want some fruit trees?Have you got children? It might be worth having a look at some gardening programs to see what could be done, garden rescue is always a good one, just to shake up what you could do. But they do tend to stick a lawn in when they run out of money.

Nobbie1967

-taff said:

I'd just advise against having a lawn full stop. They're a pain in the bum to look after properly with weeding, scarifying, reseeding, weeding, ant hills, weeding, daisies etc. You're basically trying to keep a savannah a baby and it's hard work.

It depends how precious you want to be about your lawn. If you just want a green area, you don’t need to do much other than mow it. That’s all local parks get and they look fine to me, plus you can leave them longer and let the daisies and dandelions flower if you want.

I think the OP approach is good, definitely leave over winter for the rain to settle everything down nicely. Might be worth hiring or borrowing a rotavator to break up the soil a bit and get some of the weed roots out this year. What’s the soil like? Would be a good time to add sharp sand for improved drainage.

barnstar2077

I think I will do my original plan, with the addition of spraying some of the more obvious weeds.

The soil is very good, the garden has been left alone with little maintenance for almost twenty years, so it is very rich.  I could certainly mix some sand in though if that will help. 

Nobbie1967

barnstar2077 said:

I think I will do my original plan, with the addition of spraying some of the more obvious weeds.

The soil is very good, the garden has been left alone with little maintenance for almost twenty years, so it is very rich.  I could certainly mix some sand in thought if that will help. 

As long as it’s not drying into solid lumps like a clay soil it should be fine without. 

twopenny

You might chop up the nettles and soak in water in a bucket for a high nitrogen feed.
That should help halt flowering lawn plants.