Creating a 2-acre lawn

St1mpMeister

Newb questions here so please bear with me :)

I have 7 acres of land. It was formerly used entirely for forestry but the trees have been removed and stumps/potholes remain. It's not fantastic soil, can mainly be used for forestry or... grass (which leads me to the idea I have for 2 acres on it).

At the moment the land is wild and full of overgrown wild grasses (1m high) and baby trees, on top of the un-even stumpy surface.

What I would like to do is convert 2 acres to plain grass lawn.

What are the steps involved in this?

From what I gather I first need to clear the wild growth, then dig up all the stumps, then do I need to do anything else before I start laying grass seed?

Should I do this before Autumn?

St1mpMeister

Also, there is a mud road leading up to the section that is similarly overgrown... the road is shared with a sibling so we'll work together later to build it up, but in the meantime I'd like to be able to get a vehicle up the road in order to regularly trim the grass once it's laid.

Is a tractor the only option here to traverse an overgrown rocky road (1m high grasses) with a grass trimmer attachment, or would a lawn cutter with big wheels be an option (say we hire someone to trim back the road as a once off)?

This sounds like a big job.

Practically I would expect long grass on the lane or on rough ground to be cut with a petrol strimmer.

If the ground is as rough as you describe I doubt a lawnmower or tractor would cut it.

If you want a lawn from a magazine you will probably have to spray weedkiller and prepare the soil.

Two acres will take a lot of mowing, what do you hope to use it for?

St1mpMeister

Plan is really just to have it as a recreational space for anything. Camping, bbq, playing football.. enjoying the immense views (it's the highest point on the land). I want a treeless section here, and then can use the other 5 acres for trees or leave it wild till I decide what to do with it.

Regular mowing is fine and something I'm prepared for.

Tractor's are fine going up the road as they were driven up with the trees were being removed originally.

So is this the right order of things?

• Strim back the high grasses from the road leading up to the field
• On the 2 acres, dig up all the stumps and cut back the grasses (I'll be using them to build a border along the edge)
• Spray weedkiller
• Prepare soil
• Lay down grass seed

?

Wondering if summer is the best time to do this, or wait till grasses die down? But will potentially be wetter later.

Roughly how much would I be looking at to clear a 2 acre section of land of pine tree stumps? Assume they are spaced around 4m apart.

It's in the west of Ireland too, if that makes a difference.

2smiggy

get an excavator in there to clear off the scrub. then dig up the stumps or use a stump grinder. get a few loads of stone for the roadway after it is cleared off.

if the soil is not pure muck altogether, level it out , spray it off, then set grass seeds. 2 acres is a big lawn to be maintaining thou. you could be back on asking what to do with 2 acres of lawn

2smiggy

also some stumps are a lot larger than others !!

St1mpMeister

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119322389#Comment_119322389

ah I've a few ideas what to do with it.. re-enacting the run in The Sound of Music is one ;)

St1mpMeister

Is this the right time of year to be doing the stump removal, or wait till Autumn?

cjpm

2 acres is about 8 times bigger than the average lawn in rural Ireland

St1mpMeister

It's the size of a football pitch, which is the sort of space I'm looking at

Have a few ideas on what to do with it later.. for now it's just to be cleared and maintained similar to a pitch

MakersMark

A 2 acre lawn is effectively an expensive to maintain grass desert.

It might be an idea to leave dome nature friendly features and cut down on your future maintainence requirements.

wildwillow

Now is a good time to do the preparation, and I would use big machinery to achieve a good level surface. Make the lane user friendly for a tractor as you may find you will develop it as a meadow rather than a lawn.

It is a huge project and will require lots of ongoing work but go for it. You can always change your mind and do something less intensive.

Wait till autumn to plant grass seed. Depending on where you are you could have no rain for weeks and seed won’t germinate.

I’m intrigued about your plans for using it and hope you keep us updated. Future music festival?

St1mpMeister

I have lots of ideas, but I suppose what initially made me think of it is that you rarely get any wide open treeless park spaces in the area as you do in St Annes or Phoenix Park in Dublin.

Hell I could make a running track... develop it into a campsite... make a small section for pitch and putt... a superb stargazing area.

When all the trees are removed it will have a superb 360 view of the valley around.

Just random ideas.. better than just planting more trees again (though granted I'll probably do just that for the other 5 acres)

But the grass cutting would be an enjoyable diversion from the day to day job with lots of fresh air, and hell I could even get one of these to assist https://www.husqvarna.com/ie/robotic-lawn-mowers/automower-435x-awd/

St1mpMeister

Does anyone know roughly how much it would cost to de-stump 2 acres? 3,000? 8,000 ?

minerleague

Just be careful where you bury the stumps as they will rot eventually leaving sunken areas, no idea on cost - 3 days work for 13 -20 tonne excavator, prob tractor and dump trailer needed to move material around also 3.5k ???? pure guess work

ruwithme

I'm wondering here what the petroleum will cost every week or so in a good growing season, suppose "when you've money, you can do what you like"

Donald Trump

When were the trees cut?

brokenangel

The only peace long term would be robotic lawnmower so can you run power to it?

Trying to mow on a tractor in ireland wil be a nightmare, I have just less than an acre and yes the first few years was ok but it soon gets annoying, especially when it’s pissing rain for weeks and when you finally get up to it you need to do two runs at it

amacca

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119324116#Comment_119324116

Could you hire a digger and do yhe work yourself....maybe hire a stump grinder too......digger over a weekend would be a lot less than 3k in my experience.....you fuel it.......

wildwillow

Robot lawnmower will need cleaning very regularly especially when cutting wet grass as wheels and blades get clogged

But a big one will do the job. I have seen a family use three in a very large garden with three grassed areas.

magicbastarder

You're making a rod for your own back. Also

suppose what initially made me think of it is that you rarely get any wide open treeless park spaces in the area as you do in St Annes or Phoenix Park in Dublin.

I don't understand that rationale? Many of the wide open spaces (e.g. the fifteen acres) are not maintained as lawn unless they're for pitches.

_Brian

2 acres of grass lawn just for fun is madness, the price of petrol alone is getting silly for mowers for large areas

A chap with a 13ton digger is the only sensible option of you want it cleared, he will be in planting the rest of forestry anyway, he can advise on the lane too

Is this proper government grant aided forestry at the moment ?? Would you have to repay grants to reclaim as grass ??

Each to their own but I’d be looking at a nice mixed deciduous forest area with walking tracks, seating and maybe a nice large pond. You could mow the walking paths if you have a graw for mowing.

Land that was planted for forestry, generally wouldn't have been the best quality land.

Before embarking on a big spend what is the land around it like?

Well drained, flat?

That robot lawnmower would do about a third of two acres on a charge, I presume you don't have power there and wouldn't be leaving a €5k machine on its own.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119324103#Comment_119324103

Appreciate the vision but a two acre lawn is unnatural in the general scheme of things. Nature inevitably will want to take it back over, so you'll have constant maintenance. Which is fine if you have the money and maybe can hire help like the old estates etc. An option might be to remove stumps, fence and convert to grazing land with a few sheep or goats etc. Wouldn't be as neat as a lawn but more practical?

St1mpMeister

Cheers for the feedback... I'll head back up and map out the area with the drone to be extra sure of the space required. I won't be getting animals on the land, but it is secure enough to leave equipment on (the accessway is shared and used by family).

It might be worth de-stumping the 2 acres, then laying grass in 1 of the acres and wild grass in the other. Or I may continue with the original plan.

The first thing that is definite is that the stumps need to be removed (trees were cut back around 8 years ago?)

Anyway I'll get a few quotes and see what the options are like.😁

2smiggy

just get a good lad with a 13 ton excavator. probably charge €50 an hour or so. a bit of tidying up you will know what you are dealing with, both the land quality and size of the stumps. I would not interested in quoting for anything like that, and anyone who would would put in a very high one without know what is involved. Just get a good reliable driver and pay by the hour !

St1mpMeister

And just to double-check the dates I'm doing this are suitable right?

i.e. do the digging up now in the summer, and laying down seed in Sept/Oct ?

Do I need to get a Worzel Gummidge to keep the birds at bay? 😁

2smiggy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119327330#Comment_119327330

definitely do the digging and tidying up now. If it gets anyway wet in old forestry land, it will be like having an excavator in a bowl of soup

bogman_bass

Also just bare in mind that if you don’t replant that forestry you may have to repay any grants these were paid on it.

St1mpMeister

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119342153#Comment_119342153

Will check that. Does it matter that the forestry was planted when it belonged to a different owner and the trees were removed before I got it?

SuperBowserWorld

Maybe plant lots of native Irish deciduous trees there and return it to nature and Irish wildlife. I bet the "forestry" you do have is an evergreen desert. Lawns are ridiculous unless you are a French aristocrat. Anyway that's what I'd do, but none of my **** business ☺️

White Clover

OP, I'm not sure what experience or knowledge you have of soil and grass and their characteristics?

Unless this is top class land or you are planning a professional drainage job and importing of topsoil, you will end up with 2 acres of rushes, moss, and weeds with very little grass.

Gorteen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119324446#Comment_119324446

If it's fenced, a few sheep will eat it down to their hearts content!

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119349909#Comment_119349909

Sheep are a nightmare, they will bust wire and hard to keep alive unless you are a farmer and use to caring for animals.

Would not recommend anyone to buy unless they have experience

St1mpMeister

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119347491#Comment_119347491

It was all grass prior to being planted with trees, so it'll be back to that. It's also at the top of a hill so drainage shouldn't be too much of an issue.

To the other person asking about grants, I checked and no grants were involved.

And yes @SuperBowserWorld ultimate plan is to build a palatial palace ;)

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119354108#Comment_119354108

Enjoy, leave some camping space for the rest of us climate refugees. And plant some native Irish trees to remember the old sod by. ☺️

80sDiesel

Your machine will break down, the weather will taunt you and within a year or two the dream will turn into an expensive nightmare.

Better to create a wildflower meadow interspersed with some native trees, learning and teaching your kids about biodiversity ,flowers,and provide an ideal summer place to enjoy the views.

Late summer and early spring cuts only needed.

Boardnashea

Don't forget a nice big pond to encourage wildlife into the area. Much more productive than lawn and doesn't need as much maintenance.

magicbastarder

i once used a product called miracle gro evergreen no rake on my lawn; apparently it breaks down moss and fertilises the lawn. the instructions say to apply at a rate of 100-150g/sq m.

obviously this is not just standard fertiliser, and you wouldn't be using it (they clearly didn't envisage it being used on that scale), but just for the laugh i calculated that in your case - creating a lawn of nearly one hectare - a single application of the stuff would require one ton of it. and it's only available in 20kg bags, so you'd need 50 at a cost of just over €2,000.

St1mpMeister

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119358105#Comment_119358105

nah that's what the other 5 acres are for... already has trees growing on it in fact, seedlings from the trees that were there before.

As I said before, I'll get the area de-stumped, and soil turned over and then can decide what to do with it, but do want the large wide area.

A couple of ash trees are on the area already so they will be left untouched, so it won't be 100% plain grassland.

St1mpMeister

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119358262#Comment_119358262

€2K every year or a once-off?

If it's a once-off that's an expense that won't be an issue :)

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119342153#Comment_119342153

It's not only that. It was basically made illegal to unilaterally cut down a tree around the time the OP is talking about they were cut. So you have to apply for a licence which would generally not be granted without an obligation to replant that plot (or occasionally, another plot in lieu). Grants or no grants.

St1mpMeister

It might well be longer actually, can't recall. Probably around 2006-8 when they were cut. Other land that isn't mine on the plot has been left unplanted and used for other non-arborous activities, and within view of the roadside (my 2 acres is not viewable unless you trek up past the untouched 5 acres). Solicitor involved in the land exchange also verified there were no restrictions on the use of the land.

St1mpMeister

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsYwOiZBSNM

2 acres isn't really that big 😁

This actually looks a lot like the sort of scrub and surrounding trees we have in the area, and looks a lot like what I'm after.

White Clover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119354108#Comment_119354108

Would it be possible to put up a photo of the surrounding farmland or of the soil profile of your land? Digging a test hole to accurately identify the profile of the ground is always a good starting point.

St1mpMeister

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119359180#Comment_119359180

It's really just as I said, the land isn't great for crops, but is fine for grass and trees. The surrounding farmland is all used by sheep farmers (and actually has the sort of grass I want ironically).

It's shallow soil from what I gather.

SuperBowserWorld

Sounds huge ... great potential...

https://youtu.be/PJlmYh27MHg

St1mpMeister

Maybe 2 acres in Ireland is a different measurement to every other country? 🤣