Garden upgrade!

[Mattlehat]

Trying to make the garden in our new house look respectable. It's not very big and is North facing.

The previous owners had a large 10ft x 8ft shed on paving slabs in one corner, a small herb garden and a couple of 2ft high x 4ft long x 2ft wide brick plant 'boxes' filled with soil with plants / bushes growing in them.

I have removed all that and I am left with the large paving slabs, some bricks sunk below the ground level, some concrete which I cant remove and a very unlevel surface.

What I want is a small decking area in one corner that gets the last sun, and a new lawn and maybe a couple of small plant areas.

To lay a new lawn do i have to dig up the old one or can it all be churned into the soil?
What do I use to make it level?
Any suggestions on what to do with the cement / brick parts that I can't seem to break up/remove?

Many thanks..

 

[Arthur2shedsJackson]

Personally I would dig up the old lawn, unless it's a good one that just needs some seeding in certain areas?

If it's in a poor state then it's best to get rid of it, so that you clear out as much weed as possible, before you dig the area over, level it and then seed or turf, depending upon how quickly you want results.
Again, personally I'd use good quality turf.

Levelling of the concrete/brick areas - could you pave over them ? or just break up to form a hadcore and then concrete over ?
Just ideas without seeing it.

As regading levelling - You will need a spade, rack and lots of elbow grease.