We have at last now cleared all the roots, surplus soil etc from our garden where we chopped down several large trees last autumn. The plan is to put most of it to lawn and the cheapest way would obviously be to seed the area. Unfortunately, I think there'll be lots of weed seeds in there (including common vetch, creeping buttercup, bittercress, cleavers and other nasties). I am worried that the weeds would just come through and probably take over any grass. OK, the annuals can be mowed out eventually, but what about the creeping buttercups?
We are going to price out buying turf but would like to avoid the expense. Has anybody had experience how successful grass seed on weed-contaminated ground would be? By the way, the area is very open and sunny, south facing, on fairly heavy but fertile soil.
We already have a wild grassy area and enough vegetable beds at the house, as well as the allotment.
Lawn - turf or seed?
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oldherbaceous
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Dear Monika, i would go for turf if you can, i have seen a lot of dissapointments with seed.
You might be pleasantly surprised what good value turf can be, and seed isn't cheap.
If you do go for seed you might be better off waiting till all the weeds start growing, then spray the lot off, but you still have to get a fine seedbed, try and stop the birds eating it and you will be up against the elements for germination.
One benefit of seed is, you can pick what type of grass you want.
I take it you will be laying the turves yourselves.
You might be pleasantly surprised what good value turf can be, and seed isn't cheap.
If you do go for seed you might be better off waiting till all the weeds start growing, then spray the lot off, but you still have to get a fine seedbed, try and stop the birds eating it and you will be up against the elements for germination.
One benefit of seed is, you can pick what type of grass you want.
I take it you will be laying the turves yourselves.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.
There's no fool like an old fool.
There's no fool like an old fool.
does it matter if weeds grow? they will be cut off every time the grass is mown, weeds will grow up through turf anyway. i would use seed, and see what comes up, anything really nasty like thistles can aways be spot srayed latter... or the whole patch could be sprayed with a broadleaf weedkiller latter which wont effect the grass. personally i like seeing a bit of variety in the lawn a few wild flowers are much more interesting than an expanse of pure grass.
I agree with Richard P; using seed should be fine.
The grass should grow quicker than the weeds, and should soon overtake them.
We had our overgrown front garden (with trees and weeds) cleared last spring, and it is now a nice green lawn - even though there is the odd weed or so.
Once the grass grows, mowing the grass regularly should help to discourage the weeds from growing. I sprayed any strong troublesome weeds (like thistle) - which helps to kill them - though my spray affected a little of the grass too - so I got a brown patch - but that soon grew over with nice new grass.
Though, what OH says is right if you don't want any weeds at all appearing.
Kranser.
The grass should grow quicker than the weeds, and should soon overtake them.
We had our overgrown front garden (with trees and weeds) cleared last spring, and it is now a nice green lawn - even though there is the odd weed or so.
Once the grass grows, mowing the grass regularly should help to discourage the weeds from growing. I sprayed any strong troublesome weeds (like thistle) - which helps to kill them - though my spray affected a little of the grass too - so I got a brown patch - but that soon grew over with nice new grass.
Though, what OH says is right if you don't want any weeds at all appearing.
Kranser.
Hello, OH, Richard and Kranser, that's been very helpful. My husband was definitely going for seed, not least because of the cost, but I was a bit doubtful about the long term success of that. But your comments have put my mind at rest. We would be laying the turf ourselves, OH, but just the material cost and transport would be well over £200, so we are likely to go for seed. At least it's near the house and we can water the area well and, hopefully, protect the seed against birds eating it.
We'll then have to keep a close eye on the weeds and eradicate them before they take hold.
We'll then have to keep a close eye on the weeds and eradicate them before they take hold.
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oldherbaceous
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Dear Monika, i probably have got used to working for people that want everything straight away. 
I'm sure you will both make a first class job of your new lawn.
I'm sure you will both make a first class job of your new lawn.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.
There's no fool like an old fool.
There's no fool like an old fool.
Hi Monika,
To me it would be seed every time. Any weeds soon disappear when you mow continually. It really depends on whether you want a bowling green or a lawn like most others in the country. The odd weed or dozen!
JB.
To me it would be seed every time. Any weeds soon disappear when you mow continually. It really depends on whether you want a bowling green or a lawn like most others in the country. The odd weed or dozen!
JB.
Last edited by Johnboy on Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Primrose
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Having in the past tried both options, I would opt for turf, despite the additional expense, mainly because seeding means that a whole area of your garden is out of action for a considerable period of time while the seed and is sufficiently strong for it to be mowed and walked on. In some parts of the garden this may not matter, but if you have to walk across that area to get to other parts of the garden such as vegetable patch, it could make life inconvenient. We also found when seeding an area that however hard we tried to remove all the weeks beforehand many of them quickly grew through again as soon as warmer weather arose. However, if I wanted a really immaculate show standard lawn, I'd opt for seed.
Hi Primrose,
If you have to walk across a lawn continually it would suggest that a path of some sorts is needed albeit stepping stone type. Even if you lay turf and continually walk it then it will never stand up to it and you will end up with a scruffy grass come weed affair.
JB.
If you have to walk across a lawn continually it would suggest that a path of some sorts is needed albeit stepping stone type. Even if you lay turf and continually walk it then it will never stand up to it and you will end up with a scruffy grass come weed affair.
JB.
Well, the deed is done - we went for turf eventually and, as our neighbour also opted for turf and we shared the transport cost, it didn't work out to dear. I orderred it from Rolawn on the internet on Monday, on Tuesday they confirmed the delivery day as today, Friday, yesterday they phoned to say it would arrive at 7am today and, sure, enough, it arrived dead on time.
My beloved was doing something else important today (dry stone walling, in fact), so I laid about 45 square metres today, all according to the book, tamping it down, filling the cracks with sandy soil etc etc and then giving it a good soaking and looks great! Another 15 square metres to do tomorrow. Couldn't have chosen better weather for it!
My beloved was doing something else important today (dry stone walling, in fact), so I laid about 45 square metres today, all according to the book, tamping it down, filling the cracks with sandy soil etc etc and then giving it a good soaking and looks great! Another 15 square metres to do tomorrow. Couldn't have chosen better weather for it!
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oldherbaceous
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Dear Monika, you have done well to get that amount done.
Hopefully the 15 square meters won't seem to bad tomorrow.
Hopefully the 15 square meters won't seem to bad tomorrow.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.
There's no fool like an old fool.
There's no fool like an old fool.
Got it all done yesterday, OH, and I must admit it has made a tremendous difference to the garden. The funny thing is, the larger area was in the front of the house (we have a big corner plot) and so many people have stopped and commented over the months since we took out the trees, dug out the roots, levelled the ground, prepared it for turf etc that we now know lots more people in the village than before!
We have still kept our "wild garden" which is just a patch of about 10x10m of grasses, herbaceous flowers, annuals which seed themselves (a bit like Piet Oudolf's style), so that frogs, toads and hedgehogs still have a refuge.
We have still kept our "wild garden" which is just a patch of about 10x10m of grasses, herbaceous flowers, annuals which seed themselves (a bit like Piet Oudolf's style), so that frogs, toads and hedgehogs still have a refuge.
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oldherbaceous
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A good job done then Monika.
I love the sound of your wildlife garden, it does make such a difference to wildlife to have somewhere to hide and feed.
I love the sound of your wildlife garden, it does make such a difference to wildlife to have somewhere to hide and feed.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.
There's no fool like an old fool.
There's no fool like an old fool.
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oldherbaceous
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Dear Monika, was just wondering how the turves were doing, i know you said in another topic that you had had little rain.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.
There's no fool like an old fool.
There's no fool like an old fool.
OH, only just saw your query: the lawn is doing very well. As we haven't had any rain since early April we have watered it regularly by leaving the sprinkler on for 30 minutes in 5 or 6 places. It's had three cuts already and, as the cut grass is very clean without any weed seeds, we have used it to mulch the non-sown parts of the vegetable patch at home.
We have even bought a new mower to deal with it but not a big electric or petrol mower (we already have one of those to mow the Nature Reserve paths), but a small push mower which works like a dream - and it's almost silent, non-smelly and only uses elbow grease!
We have even bought a new mower to deal with it but not a big electric or petrol mower (we already have one of those to mow the Nature Reserve paths), but a small push mower which works like a dream - and it's almost silent, non-smelly and only uses elbow grease!