My lawn which is approx. 60x40 is made up out of probably 70-80% couch grass, I think now that the previous tenant must have sowed it!
I thought about using weedkiller but there is such a lot I'm not sure if this is the best option. I also thought about rotavating it but fear it will make it worse.
Any suggestions or am I really limited?
A quick google shows that there is no selective herbicide for this grass. That's true of many undesirable grasses. So, as long as the soil is OK, I would wait until last week in Aug, then kill of the whole lawn with glyphosate (roundup). Wait a week to
10 days and any spots that don't look dead, retreat. After another week, mow it short, then rake up the debris. You should be able to rent an over-seeder, which is a gas powered machine that cuts grooves in the soil and drops seed. Re-seed it with a high quality seed that is appropriate for the area. Apply starter fertilizer and keep it constantly wet/damp for a couple weeks. Don't need to flood it, just keep the top of the soil damp. That may require watering several times a day for 15 mins, depending on the weather. Once the grass is a couple inches high, you can back off on the watering. Water it once a day, but for longer. Gradually taper off the watering until after 6 weeks or so, you're watering every 3rd day, again that also depends on the weather.If you see any other undesirable grass, the trick is to either dig it out or kill it before it spreads and gets out of control.
I think nuking the lawn is the only way!
Once it's good and dead, am I freely able to rake it up?
Notify a drug company :-)
Make sure you use the right product. You want Roundup (glyphosate is the generic). I'd use it at about 4%. Depending on the temps, etc should be dead in 10 days or so. If necessary, hit any remaining spots again. Mow it short, rake it up. You can reseed a week after applying it.
If you use some extended herbicide, then you could be screwed for 6 months.
I bought 3.6ltr of Glyphosate from B&Q quite cheap and seems to have done the job. Needs a some more treatment in places but its done well.
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