Lawn laying, brambles issue

[Grantyy]

Hi,
A good while back our garden was really overgrown for a year or two but now we have young children we have been attempting to get on top of it without having a great deal of gardening knowledge.
There has always been a rose bush at the bottom of the garden, I originally thought this had got out of control but I've been told that the problem is brambles? not seen any berries mind?
Images supplied are from around 2 years ago before my 1st (of 2) was born.

I originally dug them all up by the roots (Hard work) and sieved the stones out of the soil and it looked ready for a lawn but the brambles started to grow back all over, so I then used SBK brushwood killer at the end of last summer which seemed to work but again the brambles persist albeit in a lesser quantity growing from around the rose bush at the back of the garden so I have resprayed them a few weeks back and if needed will do so again end of august.
The strangest thing is i'm not sure where they even came from, I've lived here 16 years and only had the problem for 2-3 years.


The things i'm unsure of is will this method (spraying SBK every time they appear) eventually stop them altogether or is there more I can be doing and is it wise to wait until I'm sure they are gone before laying a lawn?
Would a newly laid lawn help with the process if I were to keep on top of any further issues with the brambles?
Also Is there a preference of buying rolls to lay a lawn or grass seed?
The grass which grows at the minute is thick and not very nice looking, does this happen when grass is allowed to grow too long regularly?

All help/advice is greatly appreciated as we'd hoped to have the garden ready this summer but in truth I'm a little lost, I feel as though these things are gonna keep on appearing atm though the SBK definitely seems to kill them after a couple of weeks or so, just not sure if the reappearance is the gradual decline or if it will be ongoing?

Thanks

 

[r896neo]

Dont be afraid to sow or turf a lawn now. sbk is a selective (check your specific product but most woody weedkillers are) meaning they can be sprayed on grass and will kill weeds but not harm the grass.

Brambles will regrow from even a small fragment of root but repeated mowing will quickly kill them off, and if not use your selective weedkiller.

 

[endecotp]

Just keep pulling them up.

"where did thry come from?" - out of a bird's bottom!

Personally I'd probably wait until they are under control before turfing, but maybe that's not necessary.

 

[lms78]

I was in your situation this time last year, and thanks mainly to the advice of r896neo, have seen good results.

I dug out the roots a few times and was always disheartened by the number which grew back very quickly. I was worried that if I seeded the lawn too early, I'd end up with loads of brambles coming through.

Basically, in the end I decided to bite the bullet and seed the lawn, on the advice of r896neo that I could then get on top of any weeds and brambles by feeding with 4 in 1 in the spring and regular mowing.

I still have some weeds and the brambles do still try and grow, but if you mow regularly, they don't get big enough to look too bad and they do seem to be becoming less frequent.

I seeded mine in late September, which seemed to be the widely recommended time to do it, but if r896neo says its ok to do it now, then I'd go with what he says.

I used seed and would highly recommend this option. I heard something saying its 10% of the work (after you have done the prep which is the same for whichever method) and 10% of the cost. I think thats about right. I used about twice as much seed as the instructions recommend, and a lawn of approx 100 square metres cost me about £45.

 

[Nigel_Cro]

Definitely stop digging - all you are doing is fragmenting the roots creating more plants every time you dig. Clear once so you can either seed or turf and then mow, mow and mow again. Every time you mow you will reduce the new bramble shoots and eventually, over a couple of years, they will all have gone.

Been there, done that got holes in most of my T shirts.