How much sun does it get? If you have a lawn remember it may not grow well if it doesn't get enough sun, as we discovered after trying to keep a lawn going in a small east facing plot, we have just have artificial grass, but made the borders bigger so the 'lawn' is no maintenace and the kids can play on it endlessly, but I have my borders to play in! As topbird said myself included, we'd all be frantically tyriong to fill every available inch with plants
Any recommendations on which weedkillers to use? Would I need to cut the existing 'grass' first or wait until after the weedkillers do their job?
The lawn doesn't get much sun. The third section nearest the photo hardly gets any sun, the middle and far end gets slightly more though the fence on the right hide side blocks the sun on that part as well.
I'd have a "seating area" as big as you like, in the sunniest part of the garden with a path leading to it and planting in the rest of the garden.
Contrast coming home from work and taking a cuppa , a beer of a glass of wine and sitting in the garden admiring it , or being at work thinking " When I get home, I've got to get the lawnmower out for that tiny bit of grass before I can do anything else"
Your choice, your garden, but enjoy it whatever you do.
Weed killer - SBK kills all but grass. A standard weed and feed lawn application would probably work. Use a grass seed for shady areas if you are worried about light but if grass is growing already I think you should be ok. Very easy to over complicate it. If you want it perfect get a turf stripper, lay a couple of tonnes of topsoil and turf it. I've repaired lawn that was sat under a tarpaulin and 10 tonne of gravel for a year, quick rake, seed it, water it, and mow. you wouldn't know where it was now.
A seating area sounds good but at this moment in time, it'll probably be beyond me both in terms of cost and amount of effort and time...thanks for the idea though hostafan
So it just looks like just a attempt at a repair first and see how it goes!
Can I ask the couple of questions again that weren't answered above?
1, Do I need to cut the grass before using the weedkillers or would it not make any difference?
2, So once the weedkiller has done it's job, I would need to pull out and dispose the dead weeds. For the rest of the grass do I just rake the lawn? Do I need to do anything else at this stage before adding topsoil to level it out?
Sorry - no you don't need to cut the grass before applying weedkiller and once they die you don't need to dig them out. To be honest if you cut every week - it will improve anyway.
I would make either side some large borders with tall plants and have a lawn winding pathway to elongate and draw your eye to the distance. your local garden centre will give good advice
buy a soil testing kit to test your soil type
I agree about the dandelions I'd get all weeds out before turning over or returfing.
I'm thinking hosta's idea good, a lawn is a lot of work, especially if it doesn't get much sun, I was forever trying to patch it up/aerate it/add drainage, before I just gave up, now I can enjoy the space, as I have a lot more success with border and pot plants than I ever had with a lawn, if that's what you want do give it a go but it's definitely not a low maintenance plan!
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How much sun does it get? If you have a lawn remember it may not grow well if it doesn't get enough sun, as we discovered after trying to keep a lawn going in a small east facing plot, we have just have artificial grass, but made the borders bigger so the 'lawn' is no maintenace and the kids can play on it endlessly, but I have my borders to play in! As topbird said myself included, we'd all be frantically tyriong to fill every available inch with plants
Easy life sounds good lol.
Any recommendations on which weedkillers to use? Would I need to cut the existing 'grass' first or wait until after the weedkillers do their job?
The lawn doesn't get much sun. The third section nearest the photo hardly gets any sun, the middle and far end gets slightly more though the fence on the right hide side blocks the sun on that part as well.
I'd have a "seating area" as big as you like, in the sunniest part of the garden with a path leading to it and planting in the rest of the garden.
Contrast coming home from work and taking a cuppa , a beer of a glass of wine and sitting in the garden admiring it , or being at work thinking " When I get home, I've got to get the lawnmower out for that tiny bit of grass before I can do anything else"
Your choice, your garden, but enjoy it whatever you do.
Weed killer - SBK kills all but grass. A standard weed and feed lawn application would probably work. Use a grass seed for shady areas if you are worried about light but if grass is growing already I think you should be ok. Very easy to over complicate it. If you want it perfect get a turf stripper, lay a couple of tonnes of topsoil and turf it. I've repaired lawn that was sat under a tarpaulin and 10 tonne of gravel for a year, quick rake, seed it, water it, and mow. you wouldn't know where it was now.
A seating area sounds good but at this moment in time, it'll probably be beyond me both in terms of cost and amount of effort and time...thanks for the idea though hostafan
So it just looks like just a attempt at a repair first and see how it goes!
Can I ask the couple of questions again that weren't answered above?
1, Do I need to cut the grass before using the weedkillers or would it not make any difference?
2, So once the weedkiller has done it's job, I would need to pull out and dispose the dead weeds. For the rest of the grass do I just rake the lawn? Do I need to do anything else at this stage before adding topsoil to level it out?
you could use timber edging, a weed membrane and pea shingle over it to create a sitting area. Dead cheap.
Sorry - no you don't need to cut the grass before applying weedkiller and once they die you don't need to dig them out. To be honest if you cut every week - it will improve anyway.
I think I'm going to stick with the simple lawn as a starter as tempting as your idea is, Hostafan.
I might get more adventurous if that works out OK!
OK, I'll get some weedkiller and start the process. I'll get some photos up if I see any progress, with further questions no doubt.
Thanks all for the advice so far.
I would make either side some large borders with tall plants and have a lawn winding pathway to elongate and draw your eye to the distance. your local garden centre will give good advice
buy a soil testing kit to test your soil type
I agree about the dandelions I'd get all weeds out before turning over or returfing.
Good luck.
I'm thinking hosta's idea good, a lawn is a lot of work, especially if it doesn't get much sun, I was forever trying to patch it up/aerate it/add drainage, before I just gave up, now I can enjoy the space, as I have a lot more success with border and pot plants than I ever had with a lawn, if that's what you want do give it a go but it's definitely not a low maintenance plan!