Worse lawn ever...where to start?

Hi,

First post so please be gentle :WINK1:

We have just moved into a property [renting] which has a garden but in it's current state most of it's not really usable or very attractive. Mainly it's the state of the lawn area. Three distinct problems;

1. On a slope
2. Extremely uneven
3. Patches everywhere

The previous occupier kept chickens I'm led to believe and they have certainly left their mark with all the nesting holes every where! It appears as though over time there have been bits of turf laid down willy nilly to cover the worst area's. We want a usable garden for the children so mainly want the area as grass. I had considered decking a eight foot area at the top to be level and allow them to have a swimming pool there but what to do with the rest?

So, my questions so far are;

1. How do I level out all the lumps and bumps?
2. How do I go about repairing the area's that need repairing?

Is it a lost cause trying to rectify the damage meaning we should consider stripping the lawn right back levelling the soil [although it will still be sloping] and re-turfing?

Pics below showing the extent of slope and damage;






Thanks for reading

 

It's not so bad, and won't cost you much

first thing is to mow it

then use a garden fork and aerate (place the fork into the ground and make holes at regular intervals)

use a rake and rake the grass to remove dead grass etc

get some seed and sprinkle the seed on the bare patches .... cover with a thin layer of topsoil and water well

add some lawn fertilizer ... scotts lawn feed will be ok

once the grass is approx 3 inches high, mow again but only remove the top inch

3 weeks and you will be smiling

and should be ok till spring

 

I don't think the photo's do justice to how uneven the land is! Mowing it ends up scalping many areas.

How do I deal with levelling it without ripping up all the grass?

 

mow it first and mow it short ... then aerate and rake out all the dead grass as per my previous post .... add topsoil in the dips ... level it with a rake as best you can ... add the seed to the areas where you have had to fill aswell as where there are bare patches .... add a bit more topsoil to cover the seed and then use a roller if you have one ....

add the lawn fertilizer ... water well (and if it does not rain, water twice a week in the late afternoon/early evening) and wait till the grass is 3 inches high before mowing ...

then cut the top 1 inch but make sure you have a decent mower with sharp blades

 

I appreciate the advice thus far but think I'm gonna go down the root of reseeding the whole area. I really can't begin to describe how bad the area is in respect of the lumps, bumps, dips, different types of grass and not to mention all the thistles that are growing!

We shall make a start next year ready to sow late summer as time is not really available at present to start, let alone finish such a large job!

 

Take it from me, my "lawn" was worse.

I dug the lot over, and reseeded. Now I have a lawn I'm happy with, but with the unforeseen problem that it is anything but even.

You say time is short right now, so don't start it. It will get worse before it gets better, so if you can't make swift progress it will grind you down.

In the meantime, I'd go with Dim's advice of mowing it short. It seems hard to believe, but it will look better for it. If you have the time and money, I'd get some sharp sand and spread it over some of the dips. A lawn looks worse with bare soil in it than with sand (sand gives it a 'beachy' feel). Don't fill the dips completely with sand though, because when you get time, you'll need to raise it a bit further with compost.

If you do later decide to blitz the lot, the only real advice I can offer is to not rush it. Get it level, and let it settle before seeding. If you get it level and then seed it straight away (like I did) then the soil will sink at different rates and you'll end up with lumps and bumps again.

Mine is fixable. I am going to top dress the dips in a couple of weeks, and then again in spring, and reseed any patches I accidentally kill in the process. I'll probably have to repeat the process several times over the next few years until its right. That means time and expense that I could have avoided by taking a few extra days in the first place to get it properly level and settled.

 

I'm have been busy with a 4 new build homes and have seeded ... some advice if you are staring your lawn from scratch:

hire a rotivator and work the soil at least 4-6 inches deep .... level it off as best you can and use a garden roller filled with water to level

when ordering topsoil, bear in mind that the likelyhood of weeds in the topsoil will be very high .... add the topsoil to the garden, and leave it for 3 weeks .... then glyphosate whatever weeds come up and wait 2 weeks for the weedkiller to take effect

seed the lawn, add a thin layer of topsoil or compost such as john innes #3 over the seed and keep wet/moist for 2 weeks (water at night)

no need to add fertilizer at this stage (I normally add a lawn fertilizer after the 1st cut)

the 4 gardens I am busy with have been seeded, (finished the last one on friday) but I was rushed to finish the jobs ... the above advice is what I would have liked to have done

 

Thanks guys!

It will have to wait clueless as time and funds don't really permit. We are lucky in the respect that we have bit at the top which is in good condition and perfectly serviceable for us to sit out on for the time being! I am also leaving it for next year as I'll be able to plan better by way of booking time off work to get done what I need to do and make the preparation perfect [or as close to] so we can admire what we have achieved afterwards

 

that doesn't sound too bad and will not cost you an arm and a leg, first mow the lawn and the rake off the dead/cut grass off of it then using an aerator aerate and over-seed the lawn add some fertilizer and your done! now water it daily and mow at-least once a month if you don't have a mower or an aerator rent one, the construction equipment rental company at the Home Depot has mowers and aerators that you can rent.