Lawn in very bad state - how to get ready for reseeding?

[DavidSWP]

Hi all,

In our new house we have a back garden of about 55 m2 in a very poor state. The grass is very long and thick and there are quite a few weeds. It is also quite bumpy but I think that's more to do with the long grass being clumped together.

Anyway, I was going to get the lot returfed and had a guy come and look at it who sprayed the whole lawn with a herbicide and then went away asking me to call him in 2 weeks. 4 weeks later all the grass was yellow and dead but the weeds were relatively untouched. In the meantime my company is starting to make people redundant so I don't want to splash out too much cash anymore and now want a cheaper option. Access to the back garden is also very limited so the quote was quite high to account for that and reseeding strikes me as the better option now.

So my question is - what's the best way to get this ready for reseeding - I have now 55m2 of long thick dead grass and patches of weeds? I've removed most of the dead grass from part of it but its very difficult to get it all out. Should I just dig it over well, rake it level and stamp it down or is there a better way?

 

[Mw Roofline]

This need to be in the gardening thread.

I'm no expert but if it were me id remove all the grass and weeds, rake the soil flat and finish level with some new top soil then seed it.

Seed takes blimmin ages though, turf is instant!

 

[joe-90]

All you needed to do was use weed 'n' feed and get the lawn mower out.

 

[DavidSWP]

Sorry, please can someone move to gardening forum? I thought I'd posted there sorry!!

 

[r896neo]

Ideally you would strip the old turf, rotovate the lot and level. Then add a few tons of new soil and or grit to return to the old levels and help get a good seed bed.

If access is very bad you can simply rotovate the old turf into the ground. Its cheaper as you don't have to pay for a skip but its a pain as you have to rake it till your arms fall off to break up the clods and rake out the dead grass. Its a compromise and more difficult but may be better for you.

You would still need a couple of tons of screened soil to level the finished surface and also be prepared for little bits of settlement as old turf buried dies and rots this should be pretty minor and can be dealt with by some light top dressing

 

[WalksWithTurkeys]

Get a 5l sprayer and some glyphosate from ebay, and kill the weeds. Assuming drainage is okay, hire a rotavator, and turn over the soil. Don't use a mini one. Tread down, and rake to level. It might be too late now to seed, so wait for weeds to appear, and spray again. In the autumn, sow seed. Next spring, spray broadleaf herbicide, not glyphosate!

You'll be amazed at how much weed grass and weeds appear.

If your soil is very heavy, you might want to spread sharp sand, before rotovating.

 

[munchingB]

use a mower. use a strimmer if your grass is too bumpy for a mower then use a lawn fertiliser and a lawn weed killer and then over seed your lawn in the autumn. or put yourself through a poo load of work, a summer of mud and a lawn that will more than likely catch just as many weeds as you stared with.

did you actually ask someone to come and kill your grass then or was that an undesired result? i'd say that that person didnt know what they were doing otherwise they would have used a selective compound weedkiller a and not something 'all killing' like glyphosate. do you have any before pics?

if i were you i would call a lawn specialist to draw up a plan to rejuvenate your poor lawn.

 

[Fordy81]

I'm no expert gardener and I don't doubt the effectiveness of glyphosate in the previously mentioned solutions, but at least educate yourself about it first and then you decide if you still want to use it.

http://www.gmfreeze.org/why-freeze/risky-look-glyphosate/

There are recent studies showing new mothers with higher rates of the stuff in their breast milk than is allowed to be in tap water.

 

[DavidSWP]

Hi,

Thanks for all your advice. The person who came and killed the grass and weeds was from a returfing company and was going to return after 2 weeks to cut out the turf, add topsoil and then new turf. However I don't think he really fancied the job due to poor access and I've also thought better of paying £600 for it.

I've raked off most of the old dead grass now although its impossible to remove all of it. I'm going to look for a 2nd hand rotorvator on internet auction sites, do the job, resell it and then as suggested probably plant the seed in autumn as someone suggested. Hopefully the existing roots and grass will have rotted down by then so shouldn't have as much of a problem with it becoming bumpy later. I think I'll have to spray it a couple of times between then and now to keep the weeds away. I have a 5 litre refill of weedol - not sure if thats glyphosphate or not.