weeds

[!TTM!HeadUK]

I had literally thousands of dandelion weeds in my lawn, and there were so many they were choking what grass I had left. I decided to dig up all of my back garden and manually removed every damn dandelion weed/root i could find, and I also stacked up all the old bits of turf in one corner of my garden.   I then raked over the whole garden to level it and remove any stones from the dirt, beings even small/little stones will stop grass seed coming through.

I then purchased 8 large boxes of rye grass seed from my local buyology store at £2.99 a box, then scattered 6 boxes of that evenly over the prepared garden/dirt area. I then raked the garden area to make sure most of the seed was covered in dirt, then I lightly sprayed the whole garden area with water.   Any Grass seed that's left scattered on top of the dirt wont grow Billy, plus the birds love to eat it . If you want to prevent birds eating the seed, then lay a fine nylon mesh covering all over the garden. Make sure you then lightly water the garden area every other day. 

It took just over 2 weeks for my new grass to start appearing, and it's only then that you will see the bare area's that require more seed.  I then scattered the last 2 remaining boxes of grass seed over the bare areas, then very gently raked that seed into the dirt.  My newly laid lawn has been down about 2 months now, and to be honest it looks really lush  .

Whatever you do Billy, DONT mow newly seeded grass till its at least 6 inches high otherwise the mower will rip it out. DONT use any weed and feed mixture products on newly sown grass (or grass less than a year old), otherwise the weed product in the box will kill areas of the grass.   I did take some before/during and after photo's of my lawn, and I'll post them here when I get a couple of spare minutes .   

[!TTM!DonPietro 比利]

Jesus rob, good job somebody knows what they're talking about  - seriously taking notes right now because i haven't a clue .  I was actually thinking of digging up the back garden due to there been that many weeds, and starting new with it, shouldn't take too long but im lazy as hell when it comes to gardening, ill dig 3 spots and want a can to refuel lol - thanks for the tips rob, you've probs saved me, now ill rattle this off to the misses (as if i know about it  as you do lol) and browny points for me  cheers mate

[!TTM!HeadUK]

As promised Billy the before/during and after photo's of my garden. A bit of elboy greese works wonders if you can lay off the booze for 5 minutes  .

[!TTM!DonPietro 比利]

wowww look how good it looks!!! that's an incredible transformation, you've given me the inspiration to pull my finger out lol lol  even got the stripes like a football pitch, knew you loved footy mate, i bet you have a goal post up somewhere in there lol .. spot on Rob looks excellent mate, alot better! 1 sec gonna pop outside and take a pic of my weeds the bas**rds need to be named and shamed!!

[!TTM!DonPietro 比利]

Your garden puts mine to shame Rob - Back garden pics, see how many weeds there is? it's mad.. best bet to dig it all up then? if i go around taking each and everyone of them out i might as well of dug the whole thing because it's covered with them lol

http://imgur.com/CRZlq0A
http://imgur.com/ZRNHAPN
http://imgur.com/nrxo3Cf
http://imgur.com/wc0nOYm

Front garden.. which is well, sh*te, every time i try and do something with it i get fedup and leave it alone, half digged it the other week but never did the rest, the muds rock hard lol

http://imgur.com/Gs89mvj
http://imgur.com/8dbM64a
http://imgur.com/PtHlG5i

on a plus note, im happy with how my fences came out 

edit : - bare in mind the front garden used to look like this..... i sorted it, a bit lol that was a few weeks ago before i did the fence and took ' some ' weeds out

http://imgur.com/gqhq7vK

[!TTM!HeadUK]

At this moment in time i'm not letting any of my friends 3 children play ball games on the grass, beings there's still quite a few little bald spots in the lawn which i'm currently re seeding.  I also look after the garden next door beings that house belongs to the same landlord, so the kids are restricted to playing there at the moment .

I have got a badminton net set up in the next garden, but the only post going on my lawn will be the one that keeps the washing line up lol  , The worst part about keeping a newly sown lawn looking good, is digging up any new dandelion weed seeds that get blown onto the lawn via the wind. You have to dig right down and get the root out, otherwise the buggers will grow again  .  Next year I can use weed and feed on the lawn to keep weeds at bay, but for now its a case of getting out a solid kitchen knife and digging the buggers up .

Your rear garden wont need digging up Billy, just buy a few boxes of weed and feed from one of those cheap bargain stores. That will kill off the dandelion plants and other things like moss, and it will also help nourish your grass.  Your garden needs a good watering as well, being the light spots are where your lawn has been starved of water. 

Your front garden wont need hardly any work if you intend putting grass down, just turn it over again and remove any weeds including the roots. Give it a good rake to remove the stones, then scatter grass seed over it. Rake as much as the seed as you can into the earth, then give it a light watering every other day.   

[!TTM!DonPietro 比利]

I am so happy to read that post, was ready to get the spade out this afty and dig it all up which i wasn't looking forward to one bit.. i think i saw something related to weed and feed in bargain buys or home bargains cant remember which one, the other day, I have to pop to town this afty so gonna go get some  and some grass seed!!

I'll get the hose pipe out an give it a good watering, wondered why its gone dark in some places lol i seriously have no idea because ive never had to do this stuff before lol.. so your posts do help mate.

Will post more pics in a couple of weeks showing the improvements 

But yeah, seriously bravo on yours Rob, can see you took your time with it and the end product is excellent, definitely worth persevering with , looks really good, see i like to look at a nice garden, i just dont like doing it lol but worth it in the end 

My luck rob, ill do all this cool stuff and make it look the shiznit and then get told the landlord is flogging the house and i need to bugger off lol
edit : - good idea using a kitchen knife to get down to the roots, better then a bloody hand shovel, rip half ya garden up doing it that way lol

i want a greenhouse and everything one day just gotta learn about it more and would rather do it if i was in a council house / more secure tenancy.

[!TTM!HeadUK]

If the water starved areas of your lawn dont recover Billy, then just scatter grass seed over those areas and rake the seed well into the earth. Dont worry about raking up any of the dead grass, beings the new seed will quickly replace it. Make sure you try and buy RYE grass seed, beings that's very hard wearing and will withstand most weed and seed products after one year.   Beautiful blue clear sky over south wales today, so going to sit on my patio with a can or two this afternoon and watch the grass grow lol  .

[!TTM!DonPietro 比利]

Cheers for the advice rob, gonna go for a gander in a bit just cant seem to make myself move lol  when i first got up i thought ok! bright and early start, so much for that.

Why not mate!! very nice day here as well upto now but gotta go get the bloody bus with the bain  the joy lol