New House, Old Lawn

All,

We've recently moved into a new house, which is great, but whilst the front lawn is fine, just in need of a re seed and borders dug, the back is a mess.

Its covered in doc, clover, long grass, nettle and a massive patch of bramble, we have low council wire fencing on 2 sides and a burn mark 8 ft in diameter right in the middle of the lawn (if you can call it that) where the previous tennants burnt their sheds before they were evicted.

Before anyone asks, this is a council property which we are probably going to buy in the long term so we've got no problem with spending the cash on it over the next few years.

Bearing in mind this is our first garden..........Where the hell do I start?

You don't say how large your garden is, but if not too large I think I would probably dig it over, removing as many weeds as you can, then re-turf or sow grass seed.  If you want flower beds this would be the best time to work out where they could go - before you regrow the lawn that is.   A bit of work, I know, but worth it in the long run.

I suggest a small investment in a book called "the Lawn Expert" it is part of the Dr Hessayon series, readily available and around the £7.99 mark last time I looked. No you won't become an expert groundsperson, but it will tell you all you need to know with pictures, diagrams and text which is not too technical.

good luck