Lawn help

Looking for some advice about my lawn. I've been working away from home for the last 2 years and haven't really been able to attend to the lawn. Now that I'm back I'd like to start getting it sorted.

Previously I built some decking and now I've removed it in order to install composite decking and a larger slabbed area. I've also installed a bark border around the garden as I hated the way the grass grew up against the fence/wall. There is an odd shaped corner which I've just placed some sleepers in to put a small 2 tier raised bed in which will be named Thor's corner after our bunny who passed in November.

Overview pictures:












My issues are as follows:

1) The border is nice and straight but there are these weeds and clumps of grass which grow right on the edge, do I need to put a metal/wood separator along the edge to stop this?

2) At some point, the garden as overtaken by these weeds:



What are they and how do I kill them? They cover the whole garden, see pictures above.

3) These have popped up in the last year, not sure what they are either:



4) The grass is very mossy, drainage issue possibly? See pictures above. The makeup is heavy clay which was dressed with sharp sand by the house builder which has been rotovated and compost and topsoil added in and then seeded back in 2017. One of the above pictures shows the lay of the land.

After the decking and slabs are done I was thinking about completely killing the grass and having turf laid. How will my weed issue effect that?

 

I would start again personally it in extremely poor condition and isn't worth saving ( you can go down that root if you wish just ask ), kill the lot with weedkiller this will sort out the existing lawn but the moss will have to be raked out or rotavated in poor drainage can cause moss .

 

Happy with that to be honest @Perki

I've just bought 2l of gallup from amazon.

I still need to know what that weed is in point 2 though, when I first seeded the garden there were no weeds, then after about a year and a bit the whole garden was consumed by this weed.

I plan to install drainage anyway so will do this once the once the grass/weeds are dead.

 

The two weeds you've pictured are buttercup top and a willowherb no problem for weedkiller. The willowherb can be hand weeded it's that easy to get rid if.

 

The main question is will you be able to get turf at the moment as round here every supplier has closed their gates and the turf growers will grind to a halt. You don’t want a mess for the summer if you can’t get the work completed.
If it were me before you go ahead and spray with that product which is not the correct product for what you want I would look at what you want this summer.
normally even though it looks bad I would personally hit the grass with the old weed and feeds at the moment and see how the restrictions during this virus pan out.
You need and iron based weed and feed and then lightly scarify it after 2 weeks and 1 week later hit it again with a weed and feed. Might not be quite correct but you need to force the grass into growth.

 

@Liz the pot so what is the correct product?

I'm happy either way at the moment but I suppose I could still lay the drainage in it's present state and try the weed and feed while I'm working on the decking/paving.

 

you want a domestic product and not that one as it’s not meant for the professional market. 2l is a huge amount for what is a small area.

while I can’t stop you using it I would strongly recommend you follow the advice on the label.

most weed and feeds do the same job, look for ones like evergreen that can be matched with their spreaders which is handy if you don’t know how to calibrate a spreader.

If you are talking about drainage I took it you were going to do the lawn which is a complete rip up job.

 

Crazy isn't it. Am I alone in thinking that Agrigem Ltd (hopefully I have it right that they are the makers?) are morally bankrupt in naming their product "Gallup Home & Garden" ... what possible use does it have in the Home? but of course it sounds "nice and cozy" for the amateur gardener to buy use ... not withstanding that the "Usage rate" is for "Boom Sprayer Rate 4L per Hectare" ... A tractor mounted boom sprayer would do all the gardens in the row in one pass!

And WTF are Amazon doing selling that to individuals? The product carries a commercial warning, not an amateur one

"Upon purchasing this product you and/or the end users are responsibile (sic!) for ensuring that these products are used in line with industry Approved Codes of Practice. All operators must be trained and certificated in using and applying any Ministry Approved Professional Product (MAPP). "

Anyway, this is not a lawn weedkiller, it will kill everything it touches (but maybe that was the intention ...)

 

Anyone can purchase professional herbicides,it’s the end user that needs to be trained. The reason is companies or estate properties, sport industry, farms and so on can order it and the end user who’s trained can use it.
A product can be called anything and Amazon sell anything including items that are clearly not described correctly.

full details can be found here. These are the manufacturers of this herbicide.

Amenity

notice the ingredients on the MSDS and the hazards that are involved. There is also the dosage and cover rates for knapsack use.

 

Yes, that is the intention.

 

Is that right? (I'm just surprised, that's all). If I try to buy professional lawn chemicals, from normal "sports grounds and golf course suppliers" they won't sell to me without proof that I am "competent", which is probably what made me think that there was an onus on the Seller (similar to selling knives and so on). Those suppliers might just have higher moral standards than the law actually requires though ... and "other vendors" (see above ) lower morals ...

 

I’ve never been asked, if however you went to my local one they have an uncanny way to work out what’s going on right down to top handled chainsaws and I’ve seen some chancers try.

Who has to have a Pesticide Spraying Certificate - Are you legal - goodbye Grandfather Rights - NFU have FAQ - Newlands Training

of course a company have the right to ask but I’ve not come across any yet.

 

My weekend townie summer guests always want to help in the garden (I wish they wouldn't, takes weeks to put right what they mess up in a weekend ...) and first on their list is using a chainsaw to chop something down. All that stuff is locked much further away than normal as soon as I know they are coming !!

 

Thanks for your help so far. You'll be happy to know that the amazon order for gallup was cancelled as it was taking too long.

I'm concentrating on the decking and my car restoration until c19 restrictions are over.

I have ordered some weed and feed for the front and rear but again, it's been weeks and still not arrived.

I do have a potential issue with the front grass though, I got a new blade for my Mountfield hp185 and cut the front grass. It's left weird lighter patches as per the pictures.



Does anyone know what could be wrong? Looking at getting an electric scarifier to go over it but it seems that when the grass is longer it's not as pale.