[niceglasses]

Hello

Complete newbie here so sorry if this is an old question. I did try a search.

We have recently taken over an allottment which has been left for 40 plus years. It was completely overgrown with trees which we have had to cut down where allowed. It is a large plot - say two or three times the normal size. We would like to lawn some of it as we won't be able to grow on all of it.
We have had a JCB in to clear it but now we would like to lay some lawn. Some people are saying if we just put turf down the weeds will come up. Should we treat and then grow from seed - less expensive too! We would like to get some use out of it this summer. Any advice greatly appreciated.

[DaveJNeal]

Hey NiceGlasses, welcome.

You can do this
1 Cheaply
2 Quickly
3 Professionally.

now choose any two :-(

Even if you kill the ground, then sow from seed, you'll have weeds coming up, either the perenial ones that your first sweep didn't quite kill, of the annuals which will blow in and take root. Sorry. And the rabbits and badgers, etc will love the nice soft ground you'll prepare with the nice seed buffet.

If you really desperately want to have a lawn this year, you'll need to lay turf. Not knowing the area, you could be looking at a lot of money. And badgers just love new turf. Sorry again.

Personally - I would tackle this bit by bit. I would try and get some old carpet ( the old wool or hessien stuff, not the foam backed one ) from either your local tip or from what ever free recycling website/email you might have operating in your area. This will at least keep the weeds under control whilst you get around to sowing seed or buying turf. then I'd decide on a realistic area that I'd feel comfortable tackling, kill it ( chemicals if needed, by hand better but slower and a lot more painful on the back ) then sow from seed and cover with netting if possible.

Sorry I cant give you any better ( ie, quicker, cheaper, nicer ) alternatives.

best of luck, take piccies so in a couple years time you can go back and see just what a jungle your allotment was :-)

cheers

Dave

[mumofstig]

it sounds as if the land is already cleared, so it should be easy. If deep roots of things like bramble are still in the earth, they will regrow whether you turf or sow seed - so they will need to be tackled first.

After that it's a question of how quickly you want a usable lawn - seed takes quite a while before it looks like a lawn but is a lot cheaper, as you say. Any weeds that grow while the grass is growing will be killed when you eventually get to start mowing it. or if worse comes to worse you can use a 'weed and feed' application - but if you do this you MUST NOT use the trimmings in the allotment compost bin as when you spread it next year it will kill or deform your veggies!

Turf will stop all the annual weeds growing through, but any of those big roots, if you miss them, may manage to grow through.

[Totty]

It's common to want everything done here and now. In reality it's better to take your time. Prepare your ground thoroughly now then seed it well. Let it establish this year. Next spring as the weather warms give it a spray with something called Relay Turf. It will kill EVERYTHING but the grass and is amazing stuff. It is however quite pricey but you get what you pay for. When the lawn is established well at this stage and weed free, nearly all common weeds will have trouble getting in amongst the grass.

Totty