Digging up old lawn.

[davemar]

I need to tackle the old lawn in my new house. The grass hadn't been cut for a couple of years and while it looks surprisingly tidy from a distance, it actually resembles Donald Trump's hair after he's decided to go Rasta. I had a go with the strimmer but it is very thick and all flattened down. The ground underneath also feels very lumpy. So I'm going to dig it all up and start again.

I'm thinking of hiring a rotavator, but am wondering whether I can just get stuck in with the grass as it is, or do I need to kill the grass back a bit?

It seems the lawn is pretty much only grass at the moment and free of other weeds, so I'm not too worried about churning up weed seeds.

Also would a rotovator get through normal doors in a house (I've got no external access to the back garden)?

 

[Deleted2797112]

Depending on what you intend doing with the area (i.e. new lawn?), a turf stripper might be a better option.

 

[Jackrae]

I'd suggest a dose of paraquat or whatever first to completely kill all growth before rotovating. That way you know that what grows is your new stuff and not old rubbish. However for a quick fix i'd suggest turf (decent quality -not the cr4p that your local hardware store sells) rather than grass seed - which can take a year to look half decent. As to the door size , well how long is a piece of string

 

[davemar]

I'm going to relay a new lawn, so turf was my preferred choice; though I'll probably add a couple of small plots for growing things. I've also got small children so don't want down anything too toxic to kill off the grass.

I suppose the doors are the normal 70cm width.

 

[wrathkeg]

i would have thought the hire shop would have been able to tell you how wide it would be.

if you are having to get it through the house, you might also take into account how heavy they are (=very) and how long once you add the length of the handles. i would have thought you would need a lot of room to get it through the house, or be very lucky with the position of doors.

 

[Deleted2797112]

In that case, I wouldn't rotovate - that will just make an already lumpy surface lumpier. You'll get a better result removing the existing grass rather than turning it in.

Paraquat is nasty stuff and was banned years ago. Glyphosate is pretty much the only herbicide still available for amateur use - widely available in products like Roundup. However, it works best when the grass is growing strongly as it's systemic. At this time of year, the grass is pretty much still dormant.

 

[dhutch]

We turf cut ours, than rotovated, then levaled with a long board and much time and walking over it to compact it, then seeded it, covering in flease to accelerate growth and keep the birds off, water when required.

We where only doing around 1/3 of the lawn area, so where not too concered about the time to regrown as we jsut used the other lawn, it was also a fairly large area, in terms of turf cost.

The old turf was rolled up and buried in the vegtable garden, with the spoil from the hole being put onto the lawn in place of the removed turf, and used for non-root crops.


Daniel

 

[kbdiy]

I'd favour the turf cutter option too. I used one a few years ago and it avoids disturbing the ground underneath too much so you're just left with fine-tuning the levels and raking to a fine tilth ready to turf again.

 

[davemar]

I had a bit more of a go with the strimmer to thin out the really thick stuff, and ended up revealing a paved path that was completely buried by the grass! Good job I didn't get stuck in with the rotavator on that.

The turf cutter looks good, but they seem quite expensive to hire.

 

[Deleted2797112]

National Tool Hire appears to do them from £33/day.

http://www.nationaltoolhireshops.co.uk/product/turf-cutter-petrol-for-hire/

A sharp spade will do the job just as well.

 

[r896neo]

90% of lawns suffer from over compaction and this is why rotovating is very beneficial to new lawns. its more work but you;ll get a better result.