Uneven weed and Wildflower infested lawn

90Ninety

I am debating ( in my head) the best way to tackle a front lawn of a house I am renting . 

We got a really good price on a big house , the garden however was a bit of an eyesore . The front lawn is literally ridden with low height weeds and wildflower ( I cant always tear them apart ) 

The front lawn is also uneven and bumpy . Simply picking out the weeds one by one would be extremely time consuming as there is literally hundreds 

 

The lawn is approximately 6 X 5 M 

The idea I had in mind was to turn and brake up the surface of the bed with a tiller  and roughly level off the broken up debris/ weeds then then lay down some cardboard and cover with bark chippings .  After this step I was thinking I could wait for the cardboard and bark chippings to break down and the weeds to die  , then add a topsoil/ sand/compost  mixture with grass seed . 

 

I understand this sort of method is known as lasagne gardening but, I have not seen this method used on lawns . 

I just wondered if anyone could advise for or against this method?

90Ninety

We got a good price on the rent - I might add . So cannot really do any drastic  here  ( like patio , stone or brikwork ) 

Dovefromabove

I would just mow it, not too short so you don't scalp the humps and bumps, and keep mowing regularly once a week while it continues to grow ... that will encourage the grass and discourage weeds and use a lawn rake to rake out thatch and moss ... then next spring you can take a look at it, show us a photo or three and we'll see what your options are .. there are several techniques for ironing out the bumps and hollows 

I've created some quite good general purpose lawns from what were considered by some to be horrendous messes, just by regular mowing and removal of any moss.

And some low growing wildflowers in a lawn can be an attraction, and certain are good for pollinators.

There's little point in spending a lot of money to create a perfect lawn for a property where you may not be staying long term.  

Last edited: 24 September 2017 12:08:15

Fairygirl

Hi - I wouldn't rotovate/use a tiller  - it'll simply give you more weeds.

You could make it quicker by using weedkiller now while there's plenty of growth for it to act on. When everything's dead, cover as you describe and wait till spring to remove it (it won't be broken down that quickly) and add the topsoil mix and sow seed. You may need to put in some edging round the grass to contain the extra soil you're putting down. Be careful about the height it's at, or it will make mowing difficult. Remember to level it all, firm, rake lightly and leave to settle etc before sowing

It's too late now for seed to germinate successfully, unless you live somewhere very mild and warm. Grass seed needs temps of around 17 degrees to germinate.