new lawn

[r.bartlett]

chaps

our lawn is looking well past it's best. It's pretty obvious the ground has become weed infested and compacted. Given that it's all bumpy uneven and slopes slightly I think it's best to give up and start again

So the area is about 75m2 and the brief would be to lift the slabs to the left and have a concrete path approx 1m wide to the bottom.
kill the existing grass and weeds. roto up the lot and add top soil and mix(?)
Level up flat etc...

it can possibly be seen the beds are lower than the lawn. At present there are wood boards but they are 10 years old and rotted out in places so will need something replaced - suggestions of a more permanent barrier?

Also the overhanging tree has caused the lawn to die directly below it and what can I do to prevent the new lawn going the same way (not my tree to cut down!)
Then would it be better to turf or seed. What do you experts advise and who provides decent turf/seed and how can I be sure I don't get cheap quality??

Untitled

• r.bartlett
• 31 Mar 2013
• 1

TIA

Richard

 

[LeadFarmer]

If your going to the trouble of relaying a lawn, why not reshape it as well to add interest? How about having a sweeping curved lawn which will give you larger borders to plant up, adding a tree on each side of the garden, something like this....?

Less lawn to look after, more interesting to look at with added plants, trees etc?

 

[r.bartlett]

If your going to the trouble of relaying a lawn, why not reshape it as well to add interest? How about having a sweeping curved lawn which will give you larger borders to plant up, adding a tree on each side of the garden, something like this....?

Less lawn to look after, more interesting to look at with added plants, trees etc?

Very kind but not my cup of tea. I am a straight up/down kind of guy and we play garden badminton too

 

[r.bartlett]

anyone got any advise on the do's and dont's

 

[Mursal]

Well if it was me, I'd burn off with Roundup (or equivalent).

Let it die back (2-3 weeks)

Aerate the topsoil

Give it a good hard raking to loosen the topsoil.

Apply a general fertiliser (NPk) with phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in it. Not to much Nitrogen (N). A bag of 18:6:12 or 10:10:20 or the like.

Shake on the lawn seed, using about 150% of the recommended amount, as it all wont take.

Give it a light raking in, just to cover the seed not bury it, and roll.

Water as required

But, that's just me

 

[r.bartlett]

you wouldn't have a hope in hell in using that fork in our soil. Far too stony. I was going to rotovate it as it needs leveling as well...

 

[HERTS P&D]

Rake the lawn with a spring rake, removing any loose stones/moss. Apply Seed & Feed.

Wait a couple of weeks and see what it's like.

All lawns are suffering from our terrible winter/rain.

Your lawn doesn't look that bad.

Andy

 

[kbdiy]

The trouble with rotovating is that it digs quite deep and you are left with a considerable amount of levelling, firming and raking to get back to a decent surface.

Worth trying the renovation suggested first - could save a whole heap of work.

 

[r.bartlett]

to be fair we have spent quite a lot on trying to recover it over the last few years and whilst it looks ok from the bedroom window, close up it's a very tired lawn full of dead patches and more moss than grass...

Plus it needs levelling as my mower gets sea sick when traversing!

so I guess it is getting time to plan the replacement..

 

[kingandy2nd]

If your badminton games are competitive then the running, trampling, turning will damage any new lawn just as quickly.

Perhaps consider 'tough' grass seed for the new lawn.