New house, first garden and it's a mess of weeds - please help!!

Posts

• Fairygirl Posts: 55,117

  May 2022

  Hi @michael.l.saulqNMtqjFj. I wouldn't waste time faffing with trying to clear that by hand. Apply a good weedkiller to the whole area, and wait for it to take effect. 
  Then remove anything left on top, and work away at forking/digging over the soil, and getting the area level. If you need to add more soil, you can do that, and gradually get it all to a decent state by raking and firming and filling in any dips etc. Usually best to wait around four to six weeks after using a product to ensure it's not still in the soil and would affect seed or turf. 
  Once you've done that, you can turf it or seed it depending on your budget. Turfing is obviously quicker, but you'd need to wait a while before using it, so that it gets properly established and knits together well. 
  I think the little slope either side of the steps would be better used as a border though, so you'd need to put in an edging of some kind. Your decision though. The fence on the right, and the steps, need a bit of work too,  and that's all better done before sorting the grass. 

  It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
  
  
  
  I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...

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• Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889

  May 2022

  Welcome to the Forum. 
  
  A bit of hard work now will pay dividends in future.
  I'm afraid you're going to have millions of dandelion seeds in the ground so it'll be a battle to pull them out as they appear.

  Devon.

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• Simone_in_Wiltshire Posts: 1,073

  May 2022

  @michael.l.saulqNMtqjFj What I did with my garden and the same condition was I took the spade and removed the soil spade deep. Removing that cost me 500, but it was worth the effort. As Alan T. says, if you do it right, no weeds for 7 years. 

  
  

  I ♥ my garden.

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• seacrows Posts: 234

  May 2022 edited May 2022

  Ooh, a project! First, hard landscaping. Something needs to be holding back that bank of earth, so brickwork, railway sleepers, stone walling or something solid that will prevent mud washing from high ground up to your house. Then steps. Do you want a bit of hardstanding up at the top, for a shed/storage or for a sunny spot to sit?
  
  Levelling out the top bit. It looks to go up towards the left, and down towards the house. While you can grow a lawn on a gradient, IMO it looks better as a flat green. Lots of digging, raking, using a spirit level and probably swearing. The good news is this will remove a lot of the weeds. The bad news is it's hard work. And then trampling down - all that dug over soil now needs to be firmed down, else anything will struggle to grow without decent contact with the soil beneath. Best done by throwing a welly party - invite a few people with wellies and walk around and around while chatting, drinking and snacking.
  
  Your soil doesn't look great, so I'd recommend chucking down some sand, both to improve draining and to help grass get established. I've never grown a lawn over fabric or a mulch, I don't know how that'd work.
  
  Oh yes, and Right Now go out and pick all those yellow dandelions. Or take the heads off by swishing a stick of something similar. In a couple of weeks each of those flowers will turn into a seed head, and there will be billions of little dandelion seeds for next year.
  
  Hope some of this is useful. Please let us know how it progresses.

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• Dovefromabove Posts: 88,147

  May 2022

  Be careful … don’t use any old building sand … soft sand will set like concrete 😱. You need a coarse gritty sand to improve soil. 

  
  Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• Busy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043

  May 2022

  I would do what @Fairygirl said. Then, when at the digging stage, I would dig in some compost as well. It helps soil texture, improves clay and bulks up sand making it more moisture retentive.
  

  Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.

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• gilla.walmsley Posts: 339

  May 2022

  As a novice gardener and the previous owner of two houses with very similar condition gardens (one was brambles in stead of weeds) I can empathise! For the weed killer you could hire a lawn man to come and do it for approx £20 - he would have a backpack spray thing so you wouldn't need to do it yourself by hand. He can come back a couple of times a year to treat it (the grass doesn't get harmed). Then as Fairygirl says it's just about digging it all over. I paid someone to do it for me and lay turf at the same time - I can't remember exactly how much it cost about 8 years ago but it wasn't ridiculously expensive (was a hard job for him though!). I would definitely take the opportunity to add in some compost or sharp sand - you will be grateful for it later. Bulk bags ordered online are what you'd need, and remember to factor in that they only drop to your front doorstep on a pallet so you have to transport. Probably obvious to everyone else, but things I've learnt along the way!
  
  The only final thing to add is with a new turf you really have to water it quite a lot for the first couple of months. In my previous place I had an upstairs flat and no outside tap, so the daily rigging up of a hose to the upstairs kitchen window was a palava! 
  
  The slopes look like they're crying out to be a rockery type bed 

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• WAMS Posts: 1,960

  May 2022

  It's really not that bad.
  

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• JennyJ Posts: 10,576

  May 2022

  The problem with removing a layer of topsoil is that you might be left with only subsoil, or at best a thinner layer of topsoil, so you'd have to replace it. It's like throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

  The slope looks potentially tricky. It would probably pay dividends if you could afford to get someone in to build proper retaining walls and steps. Splitting it into two terraces might look better from the house.
  

  Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  

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• Fairygirl Posts: 55,117

  May 2022

  Even trying to dig that by hand from the start would be difficult, unless there was a load of people all doing it at the same time. All those dandelions would need deadheaded, or it'll be a case of clearing a few metres, only to find a load of seeds back in there. 
  Another option worth considering is- put a decent edging down that right hand side, and probably across the width just at the top of the steps, then strim or mow everything. If the site is fairly level [the back left looks a bit iffy] then put a thick layer or two of landscape fabric down and a few tons of topsoil to a depth of around 4 to 6 inches. That's plenty for grass. I did my back lawn on less than that.
  Prep it all correctly - ie firm and rake etc, then sow the seed. Keep watered unless there's plenty of regular rain. 
  Bob's yer auntie. 
  
  Of course - it largely depends on budget, and time - as with many things in a house or garden. 

  It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
  
  
  
  I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...

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