What next

david75

Yeah I'm gonna cut that back today.

Sowed(it was loads but still doesn't feel like enough)


Raked over


I'll give it a light watering tonight once its cool. And then we wait.

LimerickCity

david75 wrote: »

Yeah I'm gonna cut that back today.

Sowed(it was loads but still doesn't feel like enough)


Raked over


I'll give it a light watering tonight once its cool. And then we wait.

I would seriously look at clearing away the foliage on the left and replacing with some fairly inexpensive bamboo screening and running a little fence along the left hand side.

It would give the garden much cleaner lines plus the screen would make the garden much more of a focus.

david75

Good idea. I'll ask him if he wants that.

LimerickCity

david75 wrote: »

Good idea. I'll ask him if he wants that.

The bamboo is fairly inexpensive and would not eat too much into your 300 bucks

Fair play david it is definitely back breaking work and to do it for an elderly person deserves big credit.

looksee

If you do decide to do the bamboo I would wait a while now the seed is sown until the lawn is established, as it would be quite a job uprooting the shrubs and would make a mess of your work on the lawn. I would not pull up the pyracantha, they are nicely established and with a bit of tying up would make a good boundary.

david75

The border shrubs *own* the whole thing. Roots going every which way.
He doesn't want the bamboo. Thinks it looks tacky. I agree with him. I'll pull these shrubs back and tie them up and let it work for itself.

keltoms05

david75 wrote: »

The border shrubs *own* the whole thing. Roots going every which way.
He doesn't want the bamboo. Thinks it looks tacky. I agree with him. I'll pull these shrubs back and tie them up and let it work for itself.

First of all, fair play!

yeah i agree, think the bamboo looks cheap and as for one random length of timber fencing its not very cohesive to the rest of the garden. As said in a previous post, i wouldn't do anymore with the garden until the lawn is established. When the grass has reached 50mm, cut it to 25mm to encourage tillering of the young grasses. New lawns generally should be used as little as possible in the first growing season.

Also i see some bricks down at the back wall of the garden. If these are the same bricks that are in the wall at the front right of the garden, then perhaps you could build a small wall where the proposed fence was going to go. hope this helps and best of luck!

foxinsox

Great work!

:-)

david75

Thanks.

Should I be watering this every evening? It's been really unusually dry lately.

redser7

Yep, every evening, a quick light sprinkle. Unless there's rain. It's a pain, but why go to all that trouble just to mess it up at the end. It will be worth it.

david75

Cool. I will so that so. Thanks.

wildlifeboy

can you get rid of the ivy on the right?

david75

I can but its not causing a problem. Might be trouble cos it hangs into two neighbours gardens. Why?

looksee

I think it looks fine there. Ivy is often a pest but really, while it might not be good for the wall, its a big enough space for it to look good and probably shelters lots of wildlife.

paddy147

@ David75.

Fair play to you for helping out your elderly neighbour.

I wish you the best of luck with it and hope your neighbour really appreciates all the effort and hard work put into the garden on your part.:)

david75

He does. His daughter came in yesterday and she said she had never seen it like that. Only ever was a jungle of nettles.

Might have screwed up today. Got a big bag of compost 'liberated' from the Phoenix park to sprinkle over it. It'll be more nettles for a while but I'll be watching this like a hawk til next year.

Sulla Felix

Should be ok if it's kept mowed this year to keep them down. I reclaimed a nettle patch last year. Neglected things this spring and when I went back to it, was mainly grass, only maybe a dozen nettles in ten sq m.

dfbemt

Really hope you post some more pics david.

Really inspiring post. Can't wait to see the garden grow and grow

david75

Ah thanks. I will once it's grown. I'm staying off it completely til then. Watering it from my garden. Though I haven't really had to, there've been regularly light sporadic showers the last few days and the top always looks damp, which is good I hope.

Happyman42

LimerickCity wrote: »

The bamboo is fairly inexpensive and would not eat too much into your 300 bucks

Where do you get that bamboo screening?

Great job on the garden OP!

david75

My own snotty little upstart garden

david75

Hey folks
Just an update. My neighbours lawn has started to grow. Sadly it looks mad patchy despite my best efforts. Should I just leave it alone of get more seed down? I haven't been on it at all, just been watering gently during the sunny breaks we've been having.
Here tis

catastrophy

No harm to apply more seed but I wouldn't be overly worried. The mix of seeds may have germinated at different rates or been affected by light, moisture etc. early days yet but it's looking good.

david75

Cool thanks. My mate suggested to gently walk on the grass that has popped up to bend the stems which creates more root action without cutting them. This seems like a bad idea this early. Any thoughts?

catastrophy

I've never heard of that one before. I was always advised the opposite. It's doing fine, it takes a while for a lawn to develope. An apple tree at the bottom of the garden and it will be a lovely quaint little area.

redser7

That looks really good. Dont worry about it being patchy, the seed will germinate at different rates. I definately wouldnt walk over the area. You worked it over before sowing the seed so the soil will be loose. If you tread on it you will compact it. Just leave it be and water in the evenings if it's been hot and dry - like we are expecting it to be from the weekend onwards
You should expect to see a lot of weeds too. Dont worry, that's normal and unavoidable. Just let them come and deal with them later once the lawn is more established and hardy.

redser7

By the way, if you have seed left over there's no harm in chucking it at the bare patches.

david75

Hey
So is this ready to cut do you think? It's 2/3 inches at its tallest and 1 at its shortest. I want to get in and do up those patches too. Figure ill do it after I cut.

Sulla Felix

Yeah, can already see some weeds coming up. Get 'er cut, then get to work on the patches would be my plan.

looksee

Yes, cut on a high setting and make sure the blade(s) is clean and sharp, the young grass is still quite fragile.