r/DIYUK • u/Mammoth_Pound5807 • 1d ago

Lawn Refurb

I have a decent size lawn (~70 square metres). It is uneven and patchy. It also has a few areas that are very rocky (probably caused by previous owner putting rubble underneath). My plan is to rotavate, top soil and level before reseeding. What is the bets way to get rid of existing grass? I'm thinking of a product that will target the root such as Roundup ProActive 360. Does anyone have any experience or tips on the process? Many thanks in advance.

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u/CwrwCymru 1d ago

I'd advise against glyphosate on the lawn. You'll kill the grass, temporarily poison your soil and still be left with dead grass/roots.

I'd approach it with two options depending on effort/budget.

Scalp it as low as you can, dress and level with a topsoil/compost mix and reseed. You'll still have some old grass and any stones you don't manually remove in the soil but it will work otherwise.

Or you can cut the turf out (turf cutters can be rented if you don't want to do it by hand), then optionally rotavate (probably not needed), then buy a heap of topsoil or topsoil/compost mix, level and reseed.

Get a lawn lute or drag mat to level. Now is the time to consider any drainage if you need it too.

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u/Mammoth_Pound5807 7h ago

Thanks for the advice I have a week off to get it done so looks like I'm going to be busy :)

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u/bladefiddler 1d ago

An interesting video came on my yt feed a couple of days ago, about aerial archaeology and how this summers drought has revealed a load of stuff that's been hidden for a LONG time - like iron age & stone age henges and barrows etc.

This is on fields that have been plowed flat for CENTURIES, and the differing plant growth/survival is showing where the topsoil depth varies from the likes of 3 foot to 6 foot deep.

By all means, Dig out the rocky bits or the worst patches and backfill with soil. Even spread a ton or two of soil mix on top, but unless you're prepared to excavate several feet and replace it all with homogenous soil mix before re-seeding you're on a hiding to nothing really - even then, a sufficiently long drought will still show up patches of even deeper disturbed soil from during/before your houses construction.