New lawn

juliegreen1933

hi, really struggling with our new lawn. We sowed the seed about 4 weeks ago as we had prepped the ground ready and took the risk of not waiting until autumn. 
‘Now the weeds have taken over completely, maybe 1 foot high thistles have appeared almost overnight with the warmth and damp conditions. 
‘what should I do? Realise too soon for weed killer, I do have a weeding tool but it’s a big area to tackle and I don’t want to risk disturbing what grass is coming through. 
‘Any thoughts gratefully received thank you 

glasgowdan

I'd walk over it and pull out the worst of the weeds. Sow more seed, cover with builders debris netting for 7-10 days and water on any dry days. 

Joy*

I would put a hand fork in to loosen the roots and pull them out.  It might look daunting but the time spent actually removing the weeds will pay dividends later. I had 4,000 square meters of meadow so I do know how you feel! I used to dream about thistles but with determination I got rid of them- probably thousands of the blighters. You will have to be careful not to leave holes as you will want a level lawn when you are finished. Any bare bits can be sprinkled with a little extra seed.

Greg4

Always best to fallow the site for a few weeks  before sowing grass seed to allow weed seeds to germinate so they can be hoed off before sowing the grass seed. I had a similar problem last autumn, in the end I killed off all and re turfed instead at Easter, lawn looks amazing now.

juliegreen1933

Joy* said:

I would put a hand fork in to loosen the roots and pull them out.  It might look daunting but the time spent actually removing the weeds will pay dividends later. I had 4,000 square meters of meadow so I do know how you feel! I used to dream about thistles but with determination I got rid of them- probably thousands of the blighters. You will have to be careful not to leave holes as you will want a level lawn when you are finished. Any bare bits can be sprinkled with a little extra seed.

We’ve got 2 acres in total and the previous owners were not gardeners’. I’m pleased you’ve broken the back of yours :-) and I agree it’s the thistles that are the tough ones, the roots go so deep. We did tackle it last night with strimmer, weeder and mower, 🙈 thinking we had nothing to lose! It looks better than it did and the grass seed is now grass and hopefully has more chance of thriving!
I now I need to spend small sessions of time getting the thistles out at the root, and reseeding I think. 
‘Thank you so much for reaching out to me with empathy - julie 

juliegreen1933

Greg4 said:

Always best to fallow the site for a few weeks  before sowing grass seed to allow weed seeds to germinate so they can be hoed off before sowing the grass seed. I had a similar problem last autumn, in the end I killed off all and re turfed instead at Easter, lawn looks amazing now.

Hi Greg - we did let another area ‘fallow’ but with so much going on we took our eye off the ball and it’s now overgrown, so back to square one! Guess it’s all a learning curve and we will get there. 
‘Happy you’ve got an amazing lawn now - it really makes a big difference to the garden a lush green area to offset planting - thank you for taking time to help me - J 

juliegreen1933

glasgowdan said:

I'd walk over it and pull out the worst of the weeds. Sow more seed, cover with builders debris netting for 7-10 days and water on any dry days. 

We are beyond walking over it, with hindsight we should have done that 3-4 weeks ago when the weeds were small but didn’t want to walk on the seed until it germinated, bad decision. We’ve cut the weeds back now, so we can now see the woods for the trees, ie grass and thistle roots. Now we have to start getting the thistles out at the roots, rake over the soil and reseed any bald areas. Easy 🙈 thank you for replying _ J