My goodness, what a difference already. You must have worked very hard.
It's difficult doing it all on your own so do please keep us updated so we can offer encouragement and advice (from those who know what they're talking about - not me ). Do keep the photos too so you can look back in the future and see how well you've done.
1) be ruthless in pulling any seed heads off so you don't get any more of the blighters - this is very quick if you're limited for time.
2) if you've got more time, pull them up by the root rather than weedkilling or chopping down or they may come back.
3) some of them have deep roots / ones which snap when you pull them - these WILL come back, so you'll need to dig them out, but chopping them down will have weakened them and you may get a few months before that happens.
I've successfully cleared the garden of all but a few stragglers over a couple of years, so it's doable!
Lawn -
1) probably worth raking (one of the spring-tined rakes if you have one) to get up the cuttings and to get all the dead grass out of the lawn - this will free up the remaining healthy grass, allowing it to grow more strongly. Be prepared for bald patches and for the grass to look a state, but it's the crucial first step in getting to a nice green thing!
2) Water it in the evening for a few days to give it a boost.
3) If it's looking promising (starting to grow back), it's worth feeding it (I use a slow-release fertilizer which is granules you throw on to the grass and water in.
4) If it's not looking brilliant, you may need to do something more drastic like dig up and re-turf, or re-seed the whole thing; you'll likely need to re-seed areas whatever. A lawn is far more work than most people think (weekly mowing for a start), so you might at that point decide to replace some of it with a patio, a pond, more flower beds etc etc!
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My goodness, what a difference already. You must have worked very hard.
It's difficult doing it all on your own so do please keep us updated so we can offer encouragement and advice (from those who know what they're talking about - not me
). Do keep the photos too so you can look back in the future and see how well you've done.
Crikey - you must've gone at it!
Weeds - I'd say:
1) be ruthless in pulling any seed heads off so you don't get any more of the blighters - this is very quick if you're limited for time.
2) if you've got more time, pull them up by the root rather than weedkilling or chopping down or they may come back.
3) some of them have deep roots / ones which snap when you pull them - these WILL come back, so you'll need to dig them out, but chopping them down will have weakened them and you may get a few months before that happens.
I've successfully cleared the garden of all but a few stragglers over a couple of years, so it's doable!
Lawn -
1) probably worth raking (one of the spring-tined rakes if you have one) to get up the cuttings and to get all the dead grass out of the lawn - this will free up the remaining healthy grass, allowing it to grow more strongly. Be prepared for bald patches and for the grass to look a state, but it's the crucial first step in getting to a nice green thing!
2) Water it in the evening for a few days to give it a boost.
3) If it's looking promising (starting to grow back), it's worth feeding it (I use a slow-release fertilizer which is granules you throw on to the grass and water in.
4) If it's not looking brilliant, you may need to do something more drastic like dig up and re-turf, or re-seed the whole thing; you'll likely need to re-seed areas whatever. A lawn is far more work than most people think (weekly mowing for a start), so you might at that point decide to replace some of it with a patio, a pond, more flower beds etc etc!
Good luck; hope helps!
Last edited: 05 August 2016 10:12:20