Scarifying the lawn.. photies included :)

Winston · 22 Apr 2015 at 21:53

Iron sulphate is the best solution

funkyphantom · 22 Apr 2015 at 21:54

better known as lawn sand

Winston · 22 Apr 2015 at 21:58

Not as far as I'm aware? Lawn sand may contain iron sulphate
You can buy pure iron sulphate that you dilute with water and apply using a sprayer, kills the moss off within hours

funkyphantom · 22 Apr 2015 at 22:02

Here ya go. https://www.pitchcare.com/shop/high-iron-products-1/lawn-sand.html
The ammonia will give your lawn a good boost of nitrogen too, which will help it to recover after you've ripped the pants out of it.

NickK · 28 Apr 2015 at 12:31

So today.. the grass seed is starting to germinate and grow, however the random hot/cold weather is making the seed slower to get started. Hopefully in the next few weeks it will get into the mood!

koolpc · 28 Apr 2015 at 18:49

Looks better with the moss!

NickK · 28 Apr 2015 at 20:49

koolpc said:
Looks better with the moss!

Hehe.. it is growing a little slowly but.. with the cold nights isn't not great progress

NickK · 29 Apr 2015 at 16:33

Grass seed is now starting to sprout nicely.. helped by the large amount of rain over the last few days I suspect!

koolpc · 29 Apr 2015 at 19:46

Lovely!!

NickK · 5 May 2015 at 08:11

Today.. it's loving the rain and sun we've been having.

NickK · 13 May 2015 at 16:10

First haircut today.. still have patches but as these had not even sprouted, I'll have to give them special attention.

Lovely thick lawn, no moss.

If anyone's interested, the seed I used was B&Q's:
Verve - quick start lawn seed - everywhere else
Verve - shady lawn seed under the far bush/trees

Stretch · 15 May 2015 at 15:23

boxman2000 said:
I've decided I like moss, not worth the effort to me!

I've come to the same colnclution. However, the moss is so dense, I can barely mow the lawn any more.

norm · 16 May 2015 at 22:45

Wouldn't turf have been a more time/cost-effective solution given the small area?

NickK · 17 May 2015 at 09:05

norm said:
Wouldn't turf have been a more time/cost-effective solution given the small area?

Not sure on that - when I looked the size/cost of roles really came out more expensive.

Considering a 400m2 bag of grass seed is not that expensive <£50. Good turf seemed more expensive, for example £2.35m2. The area is 6x6m=36m2, 36*2.35+vat = just under £100. 400m2 grass seed is £35.

So all in, it's still cheaper (given a % germination failure rate) and given I have time at the moment (between jobs) it means I can look after it.
In terms of weeds etc - the deep scarifying and raking etc seems to have removed them for the time being.

funkyphantom · 18 May 2015 at 08:16

One of the things that most people forget is the reason why moss is there in the first place. Is your lawn subject to shade and damp especially during winter? If so try to improve drainage and remove the shade. If that isn't possible you've done great, but you will probably ned to repeat in years to come. I would still recommend lawn sand every year. It will keep the moss at bay, and also give your lawn a nice little boost of nitrogen.
What grass is in that cheap seed you've bought from B+Q?

NickK · 18 May 2015 at 08:28

funkyphantom said:
One of the things that most people forget is the reason why moss is there in the first place. Is your lawn subject to shade and damp especially during winter? If so try to improve drainage and remove the shade. If that isn't possible you've done great, but you will probably ned to repeat in years to come. I would still recommend lawn sand every year. It will keep the moss at bay, and also give your lawn a nice little boost of nitrogen.
What grass is in that cheap seed you've bought from B+Q?

It's something we'll be doing - we have our eye on reshaping the borders - usually it spreads from the borders in (last time I raked it out). What's odd is that the whole lot is sat on sand. That telescope pier goes down a meter and it's builders sand all the way down after the initial 30cm of top soil. Probably the location - we have a river nearby and a broke (with a ford) nearer still.

I assume it's a mixture.. the lawn is already looking like it needs another cut (but it's wet so not today).

funkyphantom · 18 May 2015 at 08:52

Yeah I'd have thought Perrenial Rye grass. Which is great if you want a hard wearing lawn. The leaves in the older grass plant gets very thick and dense, it grows extremely quick, and you will be forever cutting it. If you want more of an ornamental lawn start looking to introduce some fescue in there. Try not to buy from Diy stores you will be paying more than what you need to. Google the Pitchcare website they sell seed, and although it's not the cheapest place to buy from it'll be cheaper than B+Q. Also seed is subject to NO VAT.

NickK · 18 May 2015 at 09:02

Interesting.. that would explain the speed of growth and the harder wearing it is, the better - it gets a lot of traffic - especially around the telescope pier and up to the top where the BBQ is. I was also thinking the faster it grows, the faster it will extract water - making it little dryer - although this doesn't help for winter, it should help reduce the length of growing season for moss too.

The slabs will need relaying at some point - my thinking is sinking a set of 1 inch plastic pipes across the lawn, under the new stonework and down to the drain (surface water drain not waste). That would allow the water to drain out under mavity. It will also allow me to put in an overflow drain too for the pond.

funkyphantom · 18 May 2015 at 09:04

Cool, if hard wearing is what you want then you've chosen the right grass seed.