Lawn is Ruined.

Hello,

First and foremost thank you for accepting my request to join your forum.

We have very recently moved into a rented property and well, the garden needs some TLC.

We have a 16-month old girl & a family dog - not sure if that matters with any solutions.

Anyway, the grass is overgrown with weed (see pic) and there seems to have been some lawn laid down but some of it has died in patches. The main patch of grass isn’t actually growing (only the weed is!)… so I’m guessing it’s completely dead?

I have attached some pictures to show as pictures speak a thousand words.

Are there any inexpensive, fairly easy DIY solutions to 1) Get the weed removed and 2) Get the grass alive and kicking again?

Thank you.

 

Regular mowing will help your grass. I still see some grass under even the more weed covered bits in the photos. The growing point of grass is at the base of the plant so cutting it with a mower does not set it back very much and it helps make it grow thicker. It does much more damage to the other broader leaved plants growing there. Over time this will help the grass become more dominant but you could also take some of the bigger weed plants out with a trowel to lever out the roots if you have the time. Just grab the top of the weed plant and use the trowel to loosen the root of the weed from the soil while you pull it out. I can't see any in the photos but I tend to leave clover and daisy plants and a few other wild flowers like self heal as they are good for pollinators and are kept in check by mowing and the competition from grass anyway.

Happy gardening!

 

I am not an expert on lawns by any means and have what I describe as short meadow here. I could not in all honesty say our grass is a lawn being predominately clover and moss but the bees love the clover and it is green! From far away it looks not too bad, in reality!
Growing the perfect lawn is up there with the most challenging to achieve in gardening hence the need for a band of green keepers at golf courses.
Your first photo shows a very healthy crop of Ragwort, a ghastly imported plant like Rosebay Willow herb and Japanese Knotweed. It is highly poisonous to most herbivores and a pain in the neck as despite our best efforts we still have it in our field. You can carefully dig it out but even if you leave little bits of root it will regrow so I am told. I would suggest you use a broadleaf weedkiller which will not harm the grass. There are various weed and feed products on the market. It is odd that you have what looks like healthy grass at the edges of the grass. Is this area a lot wetter? Once you have dealt with the broadleaf weeds maybe sprinkle some grass seed on the barest spots and keep the grass watered if the weather is dry. Any time well into Autumn is still time to get grass to germinate altho if you are well north as I am you don’t want to leave it later than about the 2nd week in September.
With a wee girl and dog ( worse if it is a bitch!) going to be on the grass you certainly will need to sow some pretty hard wearing seed. It may be difficult to keep them off the grass too while giving it a chance to germinate. Good luck and personally as long as you can get the area to look green I would not fret too much as small child plus dog does not usually equal lush green lawn!