Starting to do our garden, where do we start?

Hi, our garden is still a building site. My father in law went around it roughly, missing probably 1/5 of an acre with a tractor and scraper at the back. Now we have grass growing up in places, with weeds etc... Its a mess. The thing is, we can't afford kerbing so we are going to have to do the grass now and leave the kerbing whichy my OH is not keen on, he thinks we should wait but that would mean not doing it until next year, and even then I don't know if we will have a few grand to do the edging around the place. Is it ok to do it without the kerbing and also, would you recommend we just get a rotivator, rotivate the entire area and go from there removing stones. Just that rotivator man said we need to lift out the stones on the surface first before he can do anything?

if you want to lay a lawn I'd be leaving it for the minute anyway, Better chance in the Autumn of the seed growing.
Best to get a quote from a landscaper and perhaps pick his brians in the mean time.

Thanks jmrc, I think I will just rotivate it now, pick stones out etc and lay the seeds at the end of July. pop in the kerbing whenever, deal with it then. It is just annoying as I can't buy one plant or hedging and we are really out in the open, really want to get the privacy of trees etc on their way.

U will be wasting your money putting down seed in this heat. It wont germinate until sep time.
However there is nothing stopping you laying out the shapes of your flowerbeds. Use rope or a long hose. You can plant your shrubs and trees now. Just make sure that you soak those plants a lot before planting. and with this heat you'll have to water them every day until established.
Regarding rotatvating, if you hit a stone/rock you'll damage the roravator or/+ could hurt yourself.
Id spend these few months taking out those rocks, and getting a tan while doing it !

Hey there,we are at this stage too, got kerbs delivered last weekand weed killed the entire place, i rekon its best to put kerb down first as you can finish your lawn into it, the kerbs cost us €3 each got 150 of them, got a quote from local landscaper to put the lawn in €2,950 so we have put the kerbs in ourselve and are now going to give the lawn a go ourselves too.

Hi, thanks for your reponses, will take your advice emnc and take out all stones out first, rotivate it, say August, then plant the seed then, would september be ok to plant the seed? I was in a hurry as I thought it had to be the summer months but would late autumn be ok?

Jollyman, I agree with you doing it yourself, landscapers are way too dear for a job that you can do with no real experience. Can I ask, do you have to weed killer the lawn first and if so, how long before you sow the grass seeds and also, if you could or pm me, where did you get your kerbs, that is a great price, we were quoted €4.10 a kerb! Thanks for your help with this.

Hi abbica, the landscaper said have to wait three weeks after spraying for the weeds to be fully rotten for the rotavator to go through them, have a small bit more shaping to dur tracks machine driver is coming back for a day to tidy the place and diturb the topsoil as it has settled a lot since last year, goin to get him to rake it too, he has a rake attachement for the tracks!

PM sent

April and September are the ideal months for sowing the lawn. And with the warm temps we are having Im sure October will also be fine.

Definitly put down weed killer. Theres is nothing worse than seeing new lawn seed being choked out by weeds. I'd wait the month after that to put down the lawn seed. Round up is very strong and would leave the ground totally weed free. But rem If you've planted any of those trees/shrubs, keep well away from them with the weed-killer.

Wish you well

I got my garden done there two weeks ago...the grass is just coming up now. We got the garden dug up approx 1/2 acre, 15 loads of top soil brought off and it was rotivted and seeded for 2k. I taught it was pretty good. I didn't put the curbs down...can't afford it now but looking at it now i'm not sure I want to, the landscaper angles the lawns down and they look quiet well!
I plan to put down a cream/ivory coloured stone on the driveway so i think it will go ok without curbing! Well hopefully!

Consider keeping a sunny part of the garden as a vegetable patch. I didn't and really regret it now.

That's a good idea Rois, my parents have a veg garden and it's great, they have potatoes, cabbage, lettuce and other veg too the lettuce is lovely...only thing I've tasted so far!

Hi Aisling, I am with you, I wouldnt be pushed on kerbing. I think it might be nice without it but the only problem being that it might not work. I like the idea of the gradual drop to the pebbles, we want beige like yourself. It is a gamble though, as we are just rotivating the soil that is there already, not buying any top soil. Anyway, I will get there eventually.
God, just rang up another company there for concrete kerbing, waying up the options still, for the 3ft kerb, €9.50 each, I was like, oh, right, see you! Feic sake! If I say it once, i will say it again, " recession my a*se"!