There are loads of these rhizomes quite long and straggly all over the lawn where I raked it - looks a complete mess. Do you just leave them?
Mossy / Weedy / Threadbare Lawn
- Thread starter spluff
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There are loads of these rhizomes quite long and straggly all over the lawn where I raked it - looks a complete mess. Do you just leave them?
Soldato
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If they're thin stringy things that'll be the grass itself - its how its spread. If they're thick and fleshy you've got something else going on...
Weed 'n' feed is the easiest solution for most grass problems make sure its got mosskiller in it as well then scarify afterwards preferably with electric model or better you can hire one if its a one off job if moss is a regular problem it might be worth investing in one.
Moss and clover are typical in damp lawns thats either overshadowed or has poor drainage - you can't do much about the shade other than oversow with shade tolerant grass selection but you can improve drainage get a plug corer that takes out small plugs of turf you then brush in sharp sand or similar. That'll be a once or twice a year job. Good luck!
Weed 'n' feed is the easiest solution for most grass problems make sure its got mosskiller in it as well then scarify afterwards preferably with electric model or better you can hire one if its a one off job if moss is a regular problem it might be worth investing in one.
Moss and clover are typical in damp lawns thats either overshadowed or has poor drainage - you can't do much about the shade other than oversow with shade tolerant grass selection but you can improve drainage get a plug corer that takes out small plugs of turf you then brush in sharp sand or similar. That'll be a once or twice a year job. Good luck!
Soldato
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Rake one day mow the next, most will be chopped off.
Soldato
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You can mow the other grass just put it at a high setting and be careful on the seed patches so you dont scuff them up too much.
To be fair you need to sort the weeds and stuff before sowing seeds. As I say it looks like you might have a lot of thatching which is why the rhizones arent under ground. They are using the thatch as a substrate. When you rake you disturb the thatching allowing the rhizones to be seen, you can mow them to make them shorter but the brown will eventualy dry out and can be raked/scarified away.
It wont really get that much worse by next spring as soon everything will stop growing and go dormant. I dont use chemicals in my garden so would just do it all by hand/machine but if you want you can put the 3in1 stuff down for weeds/moss and stuff.
Once you start to get rid of the moss and weeds it will have bare patches where the weeds and moss were. You will need to reseed that area after that.
Spring might be more benificial for you as you will have more time and a longer spell of good temps to fix things before winter comes again.
I however would start now if it was me. Well it wouldnt be me as I already did it years ago and just have the to do the odd patch of moss now and the odd weed here and there.
Cheers Tony that makes sense and obviously needs remedying for thatch and rhizomes....
If it was you what would you do now (before doing the bulk of it in Spring)?
I was wondering if I dont tackle the moss now its just going to go crazy and multiply everywhere?
But if I do tackle it now I will have loads of patches and then cant put any seeds down as its too cold....
The weeds I guess I wont be able to tackle until spring when they start growing again?
If it was you what would you do now (before doing the bulk of it in Spring)?
I was wondering if I dont tackle the moss now its just going to go crazy and multiply everywhere?
But if I do tackle it now I will have loads of patches and then cant put any seeds down as its too cold....
The weeds I guess I wont be able to tackle until spring when they start growing again?
Soldato
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You are welcome mate. Its always nice to get someones interest in gardening/nature going.
Lets be honest the moss and clover is pretty bad already. Now is a good time to sort out weeds as they arent as fast growing right now but anytime is good. Not winter so much.
It wont get substantially much worse between now and next spring. If I was you (after listening to your worries) I would look to try a patch that cant be seen easily from your garden doors? and maybe put some 3in1 stuff down wait for it to do its magic and then rake it. That will give you an idea of what you will be facing and give you a clearer picture of the project. You still have a bit of time for sowing seed but you must sort the moss and clover first because seeds will not best an established plant (moss, clover).
Personaly if I hadnt done this type of thing before I would do a small area to see what Im looking at. Even if its just a 3x3m plot. Its hard to explain properly anything until you know what you are looking at. Look at the rhizome thing, that was a surprise to you but easily explained and not unexpected. With a small area even if it goes completely wrong you can fix it. Its only soil and seeds after all.
What I think you should do, when you want to. Is put some weed/moss killer down, wait for it to work then rake the hell out of it. Then I would with a garden fork aerate the soil. Roughen up the soil area a bit and spread some fine compost around the area then seeds. The a light rake and more compost.
The compost will break down into the soil and improve it slightly and give the seeds some natural food, a good growing base and shelter for a while. The after about 8 weeks the new grass will be long enough to be cut.
When you cut grass more grass blades shoot up which then eventualy forms a clump of grass. Mow again and more shoots/blades from the same grass plant. A lawn is basicaly lots of single grass plants/blades that get thicker/more plentiful with mowing/pruning.
Im probably explaining it really badly but once you start it will become clearer. As I say only do a small patch to start with. Then if you really make a mess you have a smaller area to fix.
It will be a lot of manual work but the result even if not great will be rewarding eventualy.
Sounds like a plan Tony - but I think you need to wait 4 week after putting 3in1 down. So if I do this weekend it would be too late to seed this year and I would be left with the bare patches which would encourage more moss and weeds over winter until I can do it fully in Spring? Maybe I am just over complicating it but I dont want to waste my time/money and then end up having to do it again haha. The soil here is clay and currently feels very hard.
Soldato
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Yeah I dont know about the 3in1 stuff as I dont and wouldnt use it. Im all chemical free in my garden.
If you are looking for an offical dont do it yet till spring so you can say to the other half I have been recomended by a bloke on the internets not to do it until spring. Here we go.
Do not do it until spring comes round.
Its not like the garden will burn down because of moss and clover. Dont quote me on that as I havent really checked, its just a guess.
Oh clay soil you say? That is another problem all in its self. You had better start researching aerating and composting lawns. (Itll be fine for now)
Associate
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Very useful info in this thread, I have similar problems with my poorly maintained lawn.
Going to have a crack at it this weekend and get some 3 in 1 down and try to take out the moss for a start and then some raking in a few weeks time.
Going to have a crack at it this weekend and get some 3 in 1 down and try to take out the moss for a start and then some raking in a few weeks time.
Soldato
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I'm still not sure i agree with Tony what you are seeing is rhizomes, rhizomes are normally underground and fleshy.
What they look like is a kind of creeping grass, surface ones are stolons.
I wouldn't bother with 3 in 1 yet, as i posted before I found the moss was harder to remove when dead than alive. No matter what, its going to take some effort and will like horrible to start with.
Start slow and work up, no matter what, maintaining a lawn requires some continual effort, doing too much too quickly you will probably burn out and stop.
What they look like is a kind of creeping grass, surface ones are stolons.
I wouldn't bother with 3 in 1 yet, as i posted before I found the moss was harder to remove when dead than alive. No matter what, its going to take some effort and will like horrible to start with.
Start slow and work up, no matter what, maintaining a lawn requires some continual effort, doing too much too quickly you will probably burn out and stop.
Soldato
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Rhizomes/stolons it just semantics really as they are basicaly the same thing and do the same job. But yes stolons would be the right term for those creepers. I did think stolons at first because I have been doing strawberries the last year, but it made me think colons and I knew that couldnt be right.
I agree with everything else though apart from the burn out. For me I think I spent every day and daylight hour for about 2/3 weeks sorting my various grass areas many years ago. But then again I had spent about 6 months hacking and slashing all the other plants and rebuilding the terrace walls and building steps and pathways so had got the itch for gardening by then.
After getting them almost perfect after reseeding and regular maintenance Ive actualy started to let a couple of them go back to more natural with a bit of moss and clover and am thinking about adding buttercups and daisies. I had thought about a wild flower meadow at one stage but as I have dogs and also foxes use my garden for playing about at night it would get ruined fairly quickly.
Soldato
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Ooo a lawn thread!
I've been gradually improving our terrible new-build lawn over the last 5 years and it's doing pretty good now. Well I say "I" am but actually having spent a while trying to do things myself I eventually concluded that it is absolutely backbreaking work doing it manually and in the end the results you get are sometimes not great, so:
1. I have a lawn company visit 5 times a year to put down feed, weedkiller etc. in our medium-sized garden they charge £17 a time...
2. Some (but not all) years in the early spring we get them to also Scarfiy, Aerate, Over-seed and top-dress, which costs about £150ish. It's quite a lot but they have all the proper gear and do a great job; obliterates all the moss and weeds and strengthens up the lawn massively. We initially did this out of desperation because the lawn was getting worse and worse despite our best efforts, but after a couple of years having them do it I think the grass has gotten so thick and strong that we probably won't need to keep doing it every year anymore (just when it needs a refresh)
3. As for the rest of the year the thing I do which I think has really made the biggest difference is this; during the growing season: mow every week (assuming it is dry enough). Doing so really thickens the lawn up because the newest shoots stand the best chance of getting hit by sunlight, and as a bonus compared to mowing every 2-3 weeks like I was doing before mowing every week is so easy - I can do the whole garden in one pass without emptying the mower and the grass is mostly short and super quick to mow; it takes me about 5-10 minutes compared to at least half an hour if I left it longer
I'm a bit worried this year though that there have been such an insane number of crane fly (daddy lonlegs) about; I think it's going to be a terrible year in the spring for leatherjackets so I'm going to throw down a bunch of Nemasys next weekend - really don't want them undoing all the progress we've made!
I've been gradually improving our terrible new-build lawn over the last 5 years and it's doing pretty good now. Well I say "I" am but actually having spent a while trying to do things myself I eventually concluded that it is absolutely backbreaking work doing it manually and in the end the results you get are sometimes not great, so:
1. I have a lawn company visit 5 times a year to put down feed, weedkiller etc. in our medium-sized garden they charge £17 a time...
2. Some (but not all) years in the early spring we get them to also Scarfiy, Aerate, Over-seed and top-dress, which costs about £150ish. It's quite a lot but they have all the proper gear and do a great job; obliterates all the moss and weeds and strengthens up the lawn massively. We initially did this out of desperation because the lawn was getting worse and worse despite our best efforts, but after a couple of years having them do it I think the grass has gotten so thick and strong that we probably won't need to keep doing it every year anymore (just when it needs a refresh)
3. As for the rest of the year the thing I do which I think has really made the biggest difference is this; during the growing season: mow every week (assuming it is dry enough). Doing so really thickens the lawn up because the newest shoots stand the best chance of getting hit by sunlight, and as a bonus compared to mowing every 2-3 weeks like I was doing before mowing every week is so easy - I can do the whole garden in one pass without emptying the mower and the grass is mostly short and super quick to mow; it takes me about 5-10 minutes compared to at least half an hour if I left it longer
I'm a bit worried this year though that there have been such an insane number of crane fly (daddy lonlegs) about; I think it's going to be a terrible year in the spring for leatherjackets so I'm going to throw down a bunch of Nemasys next weekend - really don't want them undoing all the progress we've made!