The lawn thread

chipperhead · 26 Mar 2014 at 21:03

Thought I'd start a lawn thread for folks to post their progress, advice, questions, answers, pictures etc.

Now is a good time of year to start thinking about lawn maintenance with the warmer spring weather just around the corner.
Firstly have a good tidy getting rid of all the leaves and winter debris, you can give it a cut but do it on a dry day and make it a high cut and never take more than a 1/3 off the total length.

I really neglected mine last year but I plan to bring it back to it's former glory, this is how it looked after a good tidy and cut.
As you can see the moss has really taken hold this winter.

I used an electric lawn rake yesterday and today applied Iron Sulphate, this picture was taken straight after applying the iron, I'll post another in a couple of days to see the effects and the darkening of the grass.

Today I've ordered seed, top dressing, spring/summer and autumn winter fertilizer.
I also managed to get a cheap scarifier over the winter months so in a few weeks when the grass is actively growing I'm going to fertilize with low nitrogen, then scarify it quite aggressively followed by top dressing and finally overseed.

I'll update with pictures as I progress.

SDK^ · 26 Mar 2014 at 22:05

I've been tendering to my lawn this week - it was pretty bad !!
We moved into the house last June and the lawn was approx 90% moss with the rest being weeds and poor grass. The lawn size is approx 11m x 10m.

This is how it looked last year - From a distance it doesn't look too bad but all the green was pure moss.

So, last week I applied some moss treatment which turned it all a nice black/brown colour. I attempted to rake up the moss (top left) but it was going to be too much work as it was thick.

This week I hired a petrol scarifier to remove all of the moss down to the soil. This was much harder than I was expecting with 9 large garden tip bags full of the stuff !!

Tomorrow I have grass seed and feed arriving which I'm going to apply on Saturday morning, just as the warmer weather kicks in again.

I've also spent a few days cutting back the trees, bushes and shrubs to reduce the jungle.

I'll post some more photos as it takes off

Werewolf · 26 Mar 2014 at 23:25

I don't think we've got a lawn at the moment, I think what we've got is a nice green, or possibly a nice moss...

I really need to go out with the scarifier and the moss killer/lawn feed, but never the time or energy :/ (too many other higher priority things to do these days).

SDK^ · 27 Mar 2014 at 07:46

Werewolf said:
but never the time or energy :/ (too many other higher priority things to do these days).

I understand exactly what you mean. Gardening just takes up so much time and energy and it's a never ending task. Whatever you cut back just grows back in 3-4 months :mad:

We have a son and both work full time so I booked a week holiday off work to do the above. I would much rather have spent that time on a beach somewhere

chipperhead · 27 Mar 2014 at 08:51

SDK^, you wasn't exaggerating when you said it was 90% moss, you had nothing left after scarifying.

Kemik · 27 Mar 2014 at 09:51

I've just moved into a new build so guessing everything about my lawn is awful. Picking up a mower this weekend to give it a clip and reading up on the best way to get it in tip top condition!

Also trying to think of the best layout. It's a simply rectangle so I'm thinking a half shed near the tap for a mower, etc, then seating at the opposite end and a spot on the other side of the BBQ. Summer is coming after all

Cuchulain · 27 Mar 2014 at 09:59

I've 3 lawns which I lawn sanded and scarified (by hand!) last year, nearly killed me but they came up a treat. Unfortunately we're moving next month and the rear garden is all turfed, 4 times the size and nearly all moss

I think I'll be paying someone to deal with it this time.

Participant · 27 Mar 2014 at 10:11

Watching this thread with interest. This is our front lawn, it's pretty much 100% moss and a nightmare.

I really want to tackle it, but stories of it taking a week of hard labour are sort of putting me off

.

It's not level either, as the previous idiots "removed a flower bed" by simply digging out the plants and chucking grass seed in it.

chipperhead · 30 Mar 2014 at 21:27

Participant said:
Watching this thread with interest. This is our front lawn, it's pretty much 100% moss and a nightmare.

I really want to tackle it, but stories of it taking a week of hard labour are sort of putting me off .

It's not level either, as the previous idiots "removed a flower bed" by simply digging out the plants and chucking grass seed in it.

It's really not hard labour at all to get rid of moss, you need something with Iron Sulphate in so lawn sand or a fertilizer with Fe on the label.
After this, ideally follow it up with some seed to fill in were the moss was and thicken the density of grass up. Otherwise you can be left with big gaps for weeds to grow into.

Levelling can be a bit more hardwork, if it's only an inch or 2 you can gradually add more soil into the surface of the lawn to work the levels up, this is called topdressing but must be done gradually and not covering the full height of the leaf.
Alternatively, you're looking at slicing the turf and lifting or peeling then adding soil underneath then replacing, this can get labour intensive and time consuming.

Participant · 30 Mar 2014 at 21:41

Thanks for that. Good tips.

Presumably I'd need to scarify afterwards, rather than simply just sprinkle FeSO4 on it? If so, what would I need to buy or rent to achieve this?

WillyNelson · 31 Mar 2014 at 11:15

My back lawn is in a right state at the moment. It wasn't too bad last year, though it's always been a bit up & down, but the wet winter and what looks like a lot of worm activity has brought up a lot of earth/mud on the surface and it's looking quite patchy.

I might just aerate it and rake/brush in some sand & seed mix to make it okish for the summer and then re-turf totally come the autumn after we've finished the hard landscaping.

Jono · 31 Mar 2014 at 11:58

is it worth trying to scarify before putting moss killer down? Is it too early to do the latter?

bazzabear · 31 Mar 2014 at 12:19

The long and crappy winter has meant that our back lawn hasn't stood up very well to the dogs at all. The previous two years it had a few bits lacking grass, but was generally fine - but this year there's probably a quarter of it with no grass at all.

Think I'm going to just get it re-turfed.

bazzabear · 31 Mar 2014 at 12:20

Forgot to add - might be putting the house on sale this year, so can't really afford to wait for seed to grow in.

chipperhead · 31 Mar 2014 at 12:27

Jono said:
is it worth trying to scarify before putting moss killer down? Is it too early to do the latter?

There's 2 schools of thought on this scarify then moss killer or the other way round.
Some say scarifying first can spread the moss spores to the rest of the garden so apply a moss killer first then after a couple of weeks scarify.

To be honest I've tried both ways and they are both very effective.

Ideally it's maybe still a few weeks a bit too early, I suppose it depends whereabouts in the UK you live as well as obviously this can have a huge difference in temperatures.

This is how mines looking now, scarifying got rid of most of the moss and thatch and the Iron finished the rest off but it's looking very thin.
It'll soon thicken up though with a bit of work.

Mr Jones · 31 Mar 2014 at 12:28

Jono said:
is it worth trying to scarify before putting moss killer down? Is it too early to do the latter?

I had weed / moss killer all over my lawn 2 weeks before I raked out all the dead brown moss by hand.

Wasn't too had work, but my lawn is only 30m2. Was harder work digging a border, laying weed sheets and covering it all with 14 bags of stones from B&Q.

Now to wait a few weeks for new grass to grow. Bring on the Summer!

chipperhead · 31 Mar 2014 at 12:30

bazzabear said:
Forgot to add - might be putting the house on sale this year, so can't really afford to wait for seed to grow in.

If you plan on selling and have dogs I'd probably just returf aswell, it'll give it that instant look of a quality lawn.
Quite a bit of work involved though getting the lawn ready for turfing.

HeX · 31 Mar 2014 at 14:51

bazzabear said:
The long and crappy winter has meant that our back lawn hasn't stood up very well to the dogs at all. The previous two years it had a few bits lacking grass, but was generally fine - but this year there's probably a quarter of it with no grass at all.

Same with our lawn, except exchange dogs for kids. With it being damp and muddy our back lawn is now more akin to a rugby pitch. =/

Loads of bare ground and patchy grass. I'm going to have to get some seed down.

ttaskmaster · 31 Mar 2014 at 17:21

bazzabear said:
The long and crappy winter has meant that our back lawn hasn't stood up very well to the dogs at all.

Ours was never amazing to start with, but one dog has actually worn a very muddy circle into ours, while the other has dug halfway through to Australia!!
I think it's going to cost a few hundred to properly turf our back lawn and even then, I expect the dogs will rip it to shreds anyway...

Mr.Pink · 31 Mar 2014 at 20:29

Spent the day raking, scarifying and raking some more. My effort a few weeks back wasn't ruthless enough, and i still had loads of thatch to remove.

Have put a second application of Ferrous Sulphate to finish and will over seed and top dress by the end of the week, although trying to keep the kids off it over the Easter holidays might be a challenge.

Will up some pics soon.