[HMC]

Hello gardeners,
I've just joined this site and am hooked already! I don't know the first thing about gardening but have just bought a house with a small garden and am planning what to do with it, starting with the lawn. I've read some threads here already on planting a lawn from seed and how to identify your soil type, both extremely useful and easy to follow.
However, my query is this and I'll try to be brief. My garden is flat, measures approx. 25ft x 25ft. A 9x11 shed is being removed this weekend but leaves behind its concrete base which will be dug up shortly. Half the garden has grass which hasn't been touched since May and is long and flattened with some weeds. There are other patches which don't have grass at all, just spindly weeds! Should I get the whole lot dug up, topsoiled and re-seeded or just do this for the parts with no existing grass and aim to salvage the overgrown grass?
Sorry this is longwinded but hope someone can advise me.
Best wishes.
HMC

[crosseyedsheep]

It really depends on what the soil is like, if there is an even layer of topsoil and the bare patches are due to lack of seeding then just roughen the surface with a rake and re seed. If the bare areas are due to clay (sub soil) on the surface then you'll have to dig out at least these areas and replace with topsoil.

The weeds may just be tillage weeds which may not grow again once cut and the grass gets established. I'd try the quickest easiest approach first and see what happens, if it doesn't work out then you're probably better off spraying the whole thing with roundup and digging or rotavating the whole area etc etc.
_________________
Xeyedsheep

[volga]