weeds & shrubs-how to convert to lawn?

I moved into a house last year and am now getting to work on the garden. The house had been owned by an older couple who had v. little grass in the garden and instead the whole garden was taken up by shrubs. I have kids so grass is what I'm looking for.

In the back I dug up the shrubs and planted grass. Grass came up beautifully but soon two kinds of shrubs started to come back and recolinate. So I dug up selectively trying to get to the roots of those shrubs. The roots go down over 30cm and are thick- I got out my measuring tape last night! I don't think I can dig up the whole garden to over 30cm. Someone told me of a rotivator - how deep do those go because it seems I need to get down deep. My husband is convinced that if we keep mowing the grass that the shrubs will eventually die out. What should I do??????? HELP needed!

Secondly, in the front garden the lawn was taken over by clover. So I put down a feed and weed (phostrogen). It's gone black as expected but the box doesn't say what to do next! Should I rake it, dig it? Will I need to re-seed grass? What do I do now?!!!

This is my first time having a garden and its a steep learning curve!

would have saved yourself a lot of work had you actually sprayed the shrubs before ripping them out....then the stuff would have been takedn into the roots by the plant itself and it would have died totally! Too late for that now...i would suggest for the rest of this summer to see if frequent mowing will kill the shrubs in the back. You'll kill yourself from digging.

With the front....the blackness, if its dead moss yo ushould rake it out....you may need to apply more grass seed if many bare patches.

by the way, did anyone take the shrubs from you...established shrubs can be very expensive to buy!

I'd love to simply spray the bloody shrubs but all the weedkillers warn not to use on area you intend to grass. They say can only use on established grass (area that has grass for more than 6 months). Or is there another product that will actually kill the remaining shrubs (the ones that keep reappearing) without meaning that I have to look at barren ground for 6 - 9 months?

One thing I don't doubt you on is that I will kill myself if I have to dig it all up again!!!

ledgend99 - regarding the backgarden where I ripped out the shrubs, seeded grass and now have shrubs growing back - do you think that if I dig about 10 cm down and spray part of the root that I'll be able to cover it over with earth and thne plant grass seeds again without spoiling the area for 6 mths? As I said before all the weedkillers I could see say that you can't they act like weeds).


Same in the front where I applied feedandweed over the clover area - if I rake out the clover (when dead - incidently I sprayed it on Monday and it's all black now so is it ready for raking out?!) and put new grass seed down will the grass take as supposedly you're only to put weednfeed on established grass.

Think I need a tutorial. I've been reading other posts and am picking things up but am starting from zero knowledge!

wel, what I have done before is to kill everything with leaves before starting...so anything that gets touched will die...roots and all. Spraying stuff into roots is no good...most of those sprays are desined to be absorbed by leaves...i think the roots might have take it in.
If the place is literally covered in shrubs and you have feck all grass left, then spray with roundup...it promises to kill everythign green, but gets deactivated when touxching the soil so it will not 'kill' the earth.

What would help you greatly is a trip to a proper local garden centre at a very quiet time for some advice. They usually are very helpful...go at like 10 on a monday morning when they quiet so you can explain the situation.

Thnks Legend99 - think I should get myself to a garden centre for a full explanation of what I've done wrong so far and how to stop myself!!

One last little query - if I apply roundup to kill the shrubs will I be able to plant grass immediately ( or in a matter of weeks) or will I have to wait months?

Tks and I'll stop hasseling you now!

Generally as i recall with roundup, you spary, then you might leave for maybe 2 weeks to reassure yourself that its going ok, then you should be able to do what you want.
in theory AFAIK because its only damaging to green foliage and not to the ground, it should be safe to work on the area with 24 hours.

This is of course NOT the case with Pathclear and other such total weed control sprays. They work by killing the ground for upto 6 months. Products like pathclear literally kill the plant overnight but also kill the soil. Roundup has the impression of working far slower but has the benefit of not harming the soil.

If the roundup doesn't work, babydays could always use babyoil, eh legend99

I had ivy growing up a tree and was told to put salt on the root to kill it. This worked. This shrub sounds like bamboo or something similar, perhaps bring a sample to the garden centre with you.

Grazon 90 is great stuff for nettles and briars - its more of an agricultural product and maybe useful to those of ye with an acre or more who wont have everything in lawn.

Its also dear at about €50 a bottle but you get over a hundred litres of spray from that - about 60ml to 10ltr (I've a few acres of not very cultivated stuff to control to improve the grazing - want briars on the ditch, not all over the shop!!)

Get a stone raker if a new lawn, maybe plant hire do them, I got a landscaper but the machine is a 'walk-after' jobbie so not unfeasible for a 'lay man' to have a go with. Picking stones otherwise is a joke. Looking forward to tonights rain to get them seeds going.

Grade/No. 2 lawn seed at €80 for 25kg (ouch!), 10-10-20 only about €13 though.