Lawn - How best to remove Clover, Buttercup etc.

Hi,
To give a bit of background, garden was seeded about 10 months ago by builder. It is a smallish garden in a housing estate. The land before the builders came in and built a load of houses would have had sheep grazing on it but then it would have been compacted and mixed in with whatever builder rubble etc.

Grass area of garden is small, maybe 4.3m across and maybe 7/8m in length.

Since last September/October there is an awful lot of clover(variations) creeping buttercup, meadow buttercup having taken over a good portion of the garden.

While I know some maye say the above is nice to have, with such a small garden I would prefer a more grassy look.

Is there anything I can add to the lawn or spray on the above which may kill them off?

There was a big patch of clover I took out earlier this morning but it then leaves a sparse patch in the lawn, see pic.

Thanks

 

With a young lawn it would be better to pull it up and re- seed it.
But someone else might know different, if it's small i wouldn't bother with a lawn, I'd just have plants with a path.
Was the ground prepared before sowing?

 

In terms of preparation before sowing, I know they(builders staff) raked it and removed any large stones but not sure if they added anything else to the soil to improve it, I doubt it very much to be honest.

Not sure if I want to go down the route of reseeding the lawn seeing as it was only seeded 10 months ago or less, I also dont want to go down the route of getting completely new soil in either as for the size of the garden, the cost & the fact we may move from here in a few years I am not sure we will get the full benefits.

Pic of garden earlier today.

 

Unless you really want a stripey green lawn I'd not worry to much about the clover and the buttercup.
Get some feed and weed from the garden centre or the DIY store, apply following the instructions.
When you come to mow I'd set the mower to give you about 2" of grass.
The longer grass will cover up some of the clover and buttercup, also it will allow the grass to better compete.
You might want to get some grass seed to patch any bare areas that appear.
Remember you are not planning on being there very long.

 

Thank you.

Will feed and weed help with the clover & buttercup?

I have some seed from last September, it is open in a box, will that be fine to use a few months later for any bare patches? Should I put any topsoil or anything else down with the seed if filling a bare patch.

 

Grass seed doesn’t keep well. I’d get some fresh for this season. When you spread it on the patches started a smaller amount in the rest of the grass around … this’ll help blend in any slight colour difference in the old and new grass.

 

I wouldn't want creeping buttercups in a lawn that size - mine's smaller and they take over too quickly unless you pull them all the time, which I do.
We had them in our horse grazing field, which hadn't been managed for decades, and we had to spray every year. That field looked better than my lawn!!

 

We gave up having a "lawn" decades ago. We allow the wildflowers in and this encourages the insects. We cut it back not as many as others do. This will not go against having pristine lawns, but we don't worry about having a wild "lawn".

 

I'm going to put some thyme in my back lawn, which is fast turning into a moss and white clover lawn. We used to leave a strip a couple of foot wide in the front, but it ended up as a big knot of couchgrass, so I made borders instead.

 

May not be recommended by some, though I've used it many times on thistles without noticing any detriment to the grass, try spraying the offending weeds with 'Water Displacement' aerosol, specifically formula no. 40. AKA WD40. A quick squirt on the centre of the weed, there's no need to spray the leaves etc., will do the trick. In a couple of days the thistles turned black and they wither, surrounding grass was fine. Wouldn't use it though if there's a chance of the grass being grazed.

Edited to say; only use a little (few drops) at a time, don't try to do the whole lot in one go. It is a poison.

 

I wonder if WD40 would work for ground elder? I've got some growing from under a wall so I can't pull it or dig it, bloody stuff.

 

Get down, trace back the roots and dig it out.... It's cheap to do so.