Please help me with my garden (pic - embarrassing one!)

[GardenNightmare]

I have no idea about gardening. Moved in to a new place a while back and have no idea where to start. Weather is starting to get nice and the garden is unusable! The grass is dead in areas, has plastic mesh underneath it which is supposed to be awful for the environment. Hundreds of sycamore seedlings everywhere. How would you even start to fix this?

You just need to mow it for now. Then once it is down relook at it.

@TERFragetteCity can I strim it? It's so tiny and we don't currently have a mower... can buy one if it's essential but no idea where we would keep it!

Pull out the sycamore seedlings and any weeds, making sure you remove the whole root. Put them in green bin. Mow the grass. I would rip out the mesh and either add topsoil or returf.

@MikeUniformMike to rip out the mesh would be to rip up the whole garden. Once I've done this I'll probably plant grass as can't afford turf. Would I need to churn the soil somehow beforehand? As you can all tell I have no clue what I'm doing!!

It really needs mowing otherwise you could just spread the self seeding weeds further. A basic mower with grass box would be fine, ideally with a couple of heights.

can I strim it?

Yes if you have a strimmer.

Have you bought this house or is it rented?

If you now it, it will deal with all the sycamore seedlings. Can you borrow a mower from friends/ neighbours?

@TERFragetteCity it's bought. He garden was a mess when we bought it. I'm currently 20 weeks pregnant and want to sort it out. Had a difficult 20 weeks with sickness but now I feel better I would love to be able to sit in the garden and have it nice before baby arrives

Yes, you can strim it. You'll obviously need to rake up as you go but it won't take too long. Once it's cut back, it'll at least be useable and you'll be able to see what needs doing. Tbh, as it's not a big garden and you don't seem made keen on gardening, if you have the budget at some point, astro turf it. Problem solved!

Strim the grass down.

Is that area of concrete flat? If so perhaps put a table & chairs there, maybe an umbrella?

Get some large pots, fill with cheap plants like geraniums, petunias, go to school fairs, fetes for cheap cuttings. Keep the pots in groups for impact.

Then you can use the garden & meanwhile plan what you are going to do more permanently.

Rip the mesh out, borrow a spade and give it a good dig over. Then seed, but you would benefit from something to stop the birds eating the seed. You will need a mower long term if you want it to look tidy, stripping will just look a bit like you have slashed it all down. A mower could live in one of those garden boxes/small plastic sentry boxes you see in garden centres if finances allow.

@educatingarti don't you need to pull them out at the root?

There's no point putting grass seeds in. If you can see the mesh, that means it needs more topsoil. Our garden is the same. The wet winter washed all the soil away and now I can see the mesh everywhere. See if you can get hold of a flymo (so that it doesn't get caught in the mesh), give it a mow and it'll look much better. What do you want, flower beds, a play area or just a lawn?

Hi

Don't need to @ me - I am already here.

Personally, I'd strim/mow whatever. Then rip the plastic up and out, level the soil remaining, and sow some grass seed in any bare patches. Strimming should get rid of the tree saplings, but if not then pull them up before you sow the grass seed. Sow the seed, water in and keep it moist until the grass comes up. You will then have a usable space.

Agree with previous poster that if you strim now that will deal with the sycamore seedlings. They will burn and shrivel in the sun without need for chemicals, which you don’t want to use when pregnant or with a baby soon crawling about as they take a long time to break down in the soil. Don’t compost the weed heads but put them into green refuse.
A sun lounger from Ikea plus one of their lovely outfldoor tables for about 30 quid each would do make good use of that paved square.

You can sow grass seeds on soil without digging. Turf isn't very environmentally friendly. If you're on a budget, you can get topsoil from freecycle/freegle ads. You might want to use a roller if you're after a smooth lawn. Your garden looks like a blank canvas so you could have fun creating a garden you like.

Sorry Terf. I'm new here! Will stop @ing

That sounds like a pretty good plan. I don't like the idea of having mesh underneath the lawn. Not good for dogs either (apparently). I feel like it's going to be a huge job...

What do you want in your garden? Do you just want somewhere to sit or do you like the idea of gardening? Want flowers? To attract bees? Butterflies? To grow veg? Herbs? Medicinal plants? Fruit?

Don't be embarrassed. It's a lovely blank canvas.

Thanks mike !

It's so tiny but would love a beautiful (low maintenance) garden to sit in

showofhands my neighbour made a sarcastic comment to me about it, her garden is pristine. I am embarrassed!

I would like it to be low maintenance as we have a baby on the way and I have no clue re gardening!

It's a job to do in dry weather, and you don't have to do it all at once.

Agree with mowing/strimming so you can see whats what. Nice that you have the bit of brick wall on the left. I would try and make that a bit of a feature. Is that a small shed at the end?
I'd be tempted to paint all the fences the same colour and maybe paint the shed something contrasting. Maybe put a few more slabs down to make a bigger patio. Then buy some pots for a bit of colour.
Altho it's small I'm sure you can make it nice. Maybe skip lawn completely and do interesting rocks, etc. I'd look on Pinterest for inspiration.

Not good for dogs either (apparently). I feel like it's going to be a huge job...

Have you got dogs?

@TERFragetteCity we are getting one very soon and my mum who is here a lot has two!

Ps maybe ask the neighbour for help, advice and cuttings