Does anyone know anything about gardening?

🤣

This is what I feared (i.e. more work than I was hoping to do) but as the consensus seems to be big dog and small lawn are just not compatible, anyone have any thoughts on alternatives? I def don't want astroturf, but I don't really think I want any of the obvious alternatives either.... gravel/paving/woodchip etc doesn't really appeal.

Seriously. On the box I bought when I did my lawn, which is now plush, were great instructions.
That thing is dead and needs seeds or turf if lazy/rich.

Yep, I get that. As I said, I have bought seeds and have outlined the instructions as I understand them from the seed people. I am asking the lufguss gardening experts if this seems sensible/whether anyone has anything to add or advise. Which people have done.

Replace squirrels with cats that sit on the back fence and yep, this sounds familiar. What are you planning on replacing your lawn with?

@owl
Turfing isn't a bad idea if you get it down before you go away and someone can water it. You still would have a job doing all of the above prep before you lay it though.

Oh, I glossed over that bit! Oops.

What I did.

Took off all current grass.
Forked it up all over.
Level with a rake
Throw seed about
Fork a bit to bury seed
Rake
Stomp down
Water and keep off lawn
Wait patiently.

Edit: don't worry about weeds. They'll sod off if you cut it. And they'll appear anyway!

You've got a kid coming, keep it as a lawn. It has it's limitations, but given the dog everything else is a worse choice.

Right now, it just needs a good seeing to and more sunlight.

If you want a tip: to airate(sp?) a small to medium size lawn, you're best off using a drill and long drill bit.

Idk if I'm on ignore, but watch that dudes videos. He's some type of law maintenance guy.

Various things, there’s going to be a path down the garden (which there isn’t today), a pergola, a few planted sections, some fruit trees and a gravel section at the bottom.

I mean, this was my thinking before the general advice that you can't have a lawn and a big dog (at least in a small garden). I think I'll probably do what I can to prep before going away and throw a load of seed down, and if that doesn't work will have to look at turfing options when we're back. At least most of the prep is applicable for both.

Ha, absolutely not on ignore, and will def watch the lawn videos this evening. Thanks for the tips and recommendations, just trying to parse the various bits.

This is really helpful, thank you. I have seeds, fork and rakes. Might see about easy local hire options for rotovator but should probably just get on with it and do best I can with tools available.

This sounds lovely.

No need to rotivate. Just fork it over, a fork spike deep. I did a lawn that is about 10 times the size of that with a fork, good workout.

No worries 😊

What I found interesting* was he clearly has pro tools for work, but for his house seems to use rakes and strips of wood with bricks as weights. Which is a nice contrast to most YT videos which have $10k of power tools or 20yrs experience of hand tools as a prerequisite.

*in the relative sense

Do you mean properly turn over, breaking up clumps, pick out all weeds/existing grass and roots etc? I did that for the raised beds section (maybe 25% of the total lawn area) and it was a good workout for me. If I want to get this done in the time remaining, hiring a machine to do some of it for me seems like a wise move - remembering that you are a globally successful endurance athlete in your physical prime and I am a sedentary office drone at least 10 years older than you, I'm not sure our ideas of 'a good workout' will closely align 🤣

massive puppy?
M or F?
Dog urine not universally recommended as a lawn fertiliser.
Puppy > dog +child = (show) lawn in 10 years?

deerhound x lurcher, male, currently 32kgs at 8 months. As of our most recent scan the child is also male and estimated at 350grams. I'm no good at maths so not following your equation I'm afraid.

I need to remove a stump from my front lawn; size 12 birkenstock for scale, I drilled a load of holes last spring to kill it off, which worked. Any tips for removal? I dont really want to buy a big axe becuase I know i'll never use it again.

£150+ a day to rent

Need some beers and a few mates to bring their tools...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3mMInn8jXo

You could try using a normal spade but there's a good chance you'll break it, so you might as well spend £20 on a mattock

https://bulldoghandtools.co.uk/bulldog-cutting-grubbing-mattock-handle-cm5set

Don't put it through your foot, or put your back out, or you'll wish you just left the stump alone

Yup lift and turn.
Could have done it in the couple hours of these posts!
;)

yeah I was thinking about one of those small mattocks, good for digging round it