Help with our Lawn

Jenka

We have recently moved into a barn conversion.  Unfortunately, when the garden was seeded, the ground was not levelled off first and there are many  dips.  It was also full of thistles and after getting rid of them we are left with hollows where they were.  The lawn is also patchy and contains many clumps of rye grass as well as yellow grass.  We have considered clearing the ground entirely and starting again with turf, but this is out of the question because of the cost.  We did try re-seeding many of the bare patches last year, but were not very successful (in spite of following the directions!).  What do we do?  Should we aerate and fertilize it?  Please tell me how we can improve this terrible lawn.

Borderline

Without seeing the area, it's hard to decide what is best. But, judging by what you describe, the idea of seeding patches will only work if the rest of your lawn is even and uniform.

It is probably best to dig over the whole area and remove all the tap rooted weeds. Wait for a period of a month, and do the same thing again. Repeat the digging again adding in bags of topsoil and then raking over to create a flat area. Seed over the area and keep area watered into the summer.

glasgowdan

I would get a heavy dressing of soil raked over it all after applying a weed killer to select the broad leafed weeds. 

10kg per m2. Then overseed the lot again