The lawn thread

So an update from me, from post 2 http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=26068509&postcount=2

I planted some grass seed on March 27th and have been watering it everyday since.
Today it had it's first cut; there are a few weeds to clear but it's coming along nicely - No more moss !!! :)


From this

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To this

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My back lawn is quite extensive 1/3rd acre) and is in a fairly poor state. Lots of weeds and lots of bald spots. The problem is it used to be a forest and still has a dozen large trees and I don't know what was done to get the grass there but lots of the standard forest under foliage remains. I have removed most of the dandelions but wild strawberries, crab grass and a million different other weeds cover large areas.

Last week I put down a little weed and feed but not sure it will make a big difference given the magnitude of the weed infestation. Probably the best solution is to pay for so,done to return large areas but that is out of budget given the size.

I don't need the lawn to be perfect but would like an improvement. How would I go about doing this? Thinking regular cutting would help but this seems to stimulate the weeds more than the grass. I'm worried too much weed killer will leave the lawn too brown.
 
Similar to the above in that I have a fairly large lawn but doesn't sound quite as bad but would be interested to know where anyone recommends to buy the products from as Im sure there will be a cheaper alternate to the garden centre.
 
D.P. said:
My back lawn is quite extensive 1/3rd acre) and is in a fairly poor state. Lots of weeds and lots of bald spots. The problem is it used to be a forest and still has a dozen large trees and I don't know what was done to get the grass there but lots of the standard forest under foliage remains. I have removed most of the dandelions but wild strawberries, crab grass and a million different other weeds cover large areas.

Last week I put down a little weed and feed but not sure it will make a big difference given the magnitude of the weed infestation. Probably the best solution is to pay for so,done to return large areas but that is out of budget given the size.

I don't need the lawn to be perfect but would like an improvement. How would I go about doing this? Thinking regular cutting would help but this seems to stimulate the weeds more than the grass. I'm worried too much weed killer will leave the lawn too brown.
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Mark M said:
Similar to the above in that I have a fairly large lawn but doesn't sound quite as bad but would be interested to know where anyone recommends to buy the products from as Im sure there will be a cheaper alternate to the garden centre.
Click to expand...

If it was me I'd buy a knapsack sprayer from ebay for about £18 and a selective weedkiller, something like verdone (make sure you get the stuff to dilute not the one in a spray bottle.
If it leaves lots of gaps in the lawn chuck some seed down.

Regular mowing definitely helps to keep it looking good.

I generally use pitchcare.com when buying my products but p&p can be quite a bit, you can probably buy most things from ebay.
 
I had a good walk around of my back lawn today and came to the conclusion it will be hard to transform it quickly so I should relax about it a little and just see if I can make slow improvements. There are large areas that are basically nothing but weeds as well as a lot of uneven areas.
Later this year I will be building a patio and it happens to be in one of the best areas of lawn, so I will move that turf to fill in the bad patches and some of the soil will be used to fill in the holes.

Hopefully just persistence and care will pay off.
 
Everything required has now arrived or been borrowed...time to have at it this weekend!

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- Grass seed
- Scarifier
- Verdone weed killer
- Spray pack
- Hollow tine aerator
- Iron sulphate moss killer / fertiliser
- Lots of soil from my neighbour to fill in the bumps

I'm actually quite excited, bizarrely for me since I generally dislike gardening.
 
Any recommendations for a good lawn feed ? My lawns are looking tired/faded green, I had very little moss after winter as I scarified them last year. I put down some Evergreen 4 in 1 which has helped kill the little moss we had and gave it a growth boost but I expect a better feed is available.
 
Further to the above, I've now done three passes with the electric lawn rake. First two passes in one direction, then I went across the lawn and brought up another wheelie bin's worth. I couldn't quite believe how much moss there was. This was after the first pass:

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Iron sulphate has been down for a couple of days and it's starting to blacken up already:

T3LmktMl.jpg

Also took a pop at the far bed with ground elder in it, as per post #37. You can just see it at the top of this picture:

jxbwihYl.jpg

Pooped now, going to have a beer as a reward.

Next weekend: top dressing to level it out and seeding.

Remains to be seen how good this verdone stuff is...put some roundup down and it's already started working, but nothing yet from the verdone areas.
 
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Werewolf said:
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).
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SDK^ said:
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: :p
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 :D
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Tinders said:
This is why im going to lay the artificial stuff down, far less grief!
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We feel much the same way. We'd love to have a nice lawn for the kids to play on, but there's not the time to tend to it. The problem now is that it's so wild that when we do get to cut it, it's awful under the foot and painful to look at. I'm seriously considering the artificial route too or getting rid of the lawn completely.
 
Magic_x_uk said:
complete opposite for me. I use Verdone extra once every year on both lawns around this time of the year. Do not get any weeds on the lawn once treated for that season. Now on my 3rd year with it, (Same bottle)
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Verdone extra's what I've used. How long did it take for existing growth to die / new growth to stop? It's been a few days now and lots of daisies have popped up.

I adhered to the concentration guidelines, but not necessarily the litres per m^3 to lay down, so if it doesn't work, I've only got myself to blame and I'll try again in a few weeks!
 
Nazbit said:
What do I need to do in order to fix this mess...

I just want a nice lawn!!:mad: Please help :p
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Regular cutting would be the biggest help, it looks like you let it get really long then try and mow it down.
Set your mower at the highest level and cut it regularly then gradually start to reduce it to your desired height.
You should never remove more than a third the height of grass when mowing.
 
Yer that's exactly what happened. I've been recovering from surgery for a long time, during which its only had a few cuts from family helping out.

I had it nice before that.

Will they brown stuff come back?
 
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