Tree roots

Daisydisaster

Hello all

we recently bought a fixer-upper of a house and are in the throws of tackling the garden - according to the neighbours the garden hasn’t been seriously tackled in almost 15 year - reflected in the state of it! 

We’ve felled a lot of trees and are rescuing what we can but the “lawn” is covered in thick roots - the lawn doesn’t exist anymore - it’s practically just weeds! 

So - other than removing the large surface roots and following the root traces so that we can sew a lawn from scratch - how deep would you recommend we went to clear roots? We’re probably down about 20cm at the moment. Stumps have been treated with eco plugs.

progress pics attached! 

Daisydisaster

I should have also added that ivy was rampant! If it’s severed from the main root will it die or can the trailings self root? 

Daisydisaster

I think the woodland seems to have reclaimed the garden 😂 - it’s south facing and that pic was taken mid August! We back on to a protected site so we’ll never have building behind us thankfully! It’s a shame we’ve had to clear as much as we have but it was the only way to get to grips with whats there.

It’s extremely mature ivy and we’re doing our best but will be a battle for a while! 

We’ve discovered lovely features so far and have some short term plans - (seed the lawn, we’ve dug some borders and plan on planting a hornbeam hedge) but will be an uphill struggle! 

Tree wise it was yew, silver birch, a large rhododendron, beech - we’ve saved a blackcurrant, some holly and a few plants that need some tlc!  

Our neighbours are forever grateful they have light coming into their garden again

robairdmacraignil

Do you really need a lawn?

If you really want a lawn could you just get the roll out lawn turf for a smaller area that you could level off with some topsoil rather than digging up all those roots?

Daisydisaster

We’ve got 2 small children so lawn is kind of necessary - there was a lawn at some point but just years of neglect have left it a mess! We’re down the root digging route now - thankfully about half way through!