Soldato
- Joined
- 7 Feb 2004
- Posts
- 3,072
A couple of years ago an elderly friend of mine gave me a lawn aerator and scarifier, I didn't even know what they were for but decided to make an effort , find out how to use them and try and get my grass as good as I could, here's a guide as to what I've done.
Firstly this is how it looked, I wasn't really interested in lawn care but would happily give it a cut every now and then.
This is the scarifier he gave me, this has metal tines that rotate and can be set to high were it will act as a rake or can be lowered which will rip out all the dead and dying grass, which is called thatch and also moss, I haven't got a photo of the after effects of using this but it brought several bin bags worth of moss and grass up but left the lawn looking in a sorry muddy state.
Quick to the internet! I thought I've killed my lawn but after reading up realised that this is what does happen and now the grass can grow back resulting in a healthier lawn. I do this twice a year, once in spring, once in Autumn.
My Scarifier.
Next the aerator, this is a cylinder with solid spikes on, these put thousands of holes into the ground and improve the air circulation amongst the roots, it also breaks up the soil easing compaction so the roots can grow easier.
It's a bit of a back breaking, laborious task and from what I've read should ideally be done once a month, I do it every once every few months.
The Aerator.
Time to kill those weeds, again in spring and autumn which are the main times for lawn care, I apply a selective weedkiller. This is different to your round-up type killers which nuke everything, I apply this over the entire lawn and it does exactly what it says on the tin, I mean plastic bottle.
Weedkiller.
For the first time last Autumn I applied 1 Ton of top dressing to the grass, this was a mix of 80% sand and 20% soil, this is done to improve the properties of the rootzone (were the grass roots are) and to level the lawn by filling in small dips.
I firstly roughly worked out were each bag was going by strategically placing them all over the lawn.
Next using a wide stiff sweeping brush I worked the top dressing into the grass, making sure I didn't cover the blades of the grass as this would kill it.
After doing a bit more research I decided my soil was fairly compacted and clayey too, so a spot of hollow tine aeration wouldn't go amiss, I sourced a cheap one from the Bay. This is another form of aeration like above but removes cores of soil from the ground. This is a better form of aeration but with only 3 tines takes ages to do the entire lawn. After this is done you can sweep sharp sand onto your lawn, some of which will end up in the holes and will improve drainage, I just left the holes open though to improve compaction and get some air into the roots.
A hollow tine aerator.
A spot of fertilizer never goes amiss so I purchased two types, one for Autumn and Winter and another type for Spring and Summer. You need two different types of fertilizer as in cold weather you are looking at making the grass hardier and the roots stronger, in the warmer months you want lush green grass. Apply the summer one in winter and you'd have to keep cutting it right through winter.
To apply the fertilizer I bought a drop spreader, this is a great way to distribute it evenly over the entire lawn, if you were to put too much in one area it will kill the grass.
Another use for the drop spreader is for seed, this spring after I had performed my spring lawn maintenance I overseeded the entire lawn. There's many different types of grass seed which come in blends of various types. I decided to get a blend for bowling greens, normally these aren't very hard wearing but seeing as it would be incorporated into the existing hard wearing grass I thought this would be fine. The blend I chose contained Fescues and Bent grasses, if you want to cut your grass short like a bowling or putting green, these are the what's needed.
We're getting there now and the lawn is starting to look really good but still had a bit of moss in so I purchased some Soluble Iron, this kills any moss and also makes the grass a lovely shade of deep green. I bought 20kg's which will be enough to last me about 25 years
but when you buy it like this it's fairly cheap infact buying this, the seed and fertilizer direct from turfcare sites online for commercial use works out loads cheaper than buying from your DIY stores. and garden centres.
You have to be really careful when preparing and spraying Soluble Iron as it stains everything it touches.
To spray the iron onto the grass and to also spray the weedkiller I bought a Knapsack sprayer. The grass greens up within a few hours after applying, if you apply to much it can turn the grass very dark.
After all the hard work I thought I'd treat myself to a quality cylinder mower, these are the best type of mower to get a really fine finish to your lawn, I bought a second hand ex council one, it weighs an absolute tonne but leaves a lovely finish with those all important stripes.
And that's were I'm at with it now, my next job will be some lawn edging which I'll hopefully get down in the next few weeks, and it needs more levelling to stop the lawnmower scalping in a few areas.
Next job is to do the rest of the garden, I'm just designing it now.
Here's how it's looking now.
Before and after.
Firstly this is how it looked, I wasn't really interested in lawn care but would happily give it a cut every now and then.
This is the scarifier he gave me, this has metal tines that rotate and can be set to high were it will act as a rake or can be lowered which will rip out all the dead and dying grass, which is called thatch and also moss, I haven't got a photo of the after effects of using this but it brought several bin bags worth of moss and grass up but left the lawn looking in a sorry muddy state.
Quick to the internet! I thought I've killed my lawn but after reading up realised that this is what does happen and now the grass can grow back resulting in a healthier lawn. I do this twice a year, once in spring, once in Autumn.
My Scarifier.
Next the aerator, this is a cylinder with solid spikes on, these put thousands of holes into the ground and improve the air circulation amongst the roots, it also breaks up the soil easing compaction so the roots can grow easier.
It's a bit of a back breaking, laborious task and from what I've read should ideally be done once a month, I do it every once every few months.
The Aerator.
Time to kill those weeds, again in spring and autumn which are the main times for lawn care, I apply a selective weedkiller. This is different to your round-up type killers which nuke everything, I apply this over the entire lawn and it does exactly what it says on the tin, I mean plastic bottle.
Weedkiller.
For the first time last Autumn I applied 1 Ton of top dressing to the grass, this was a mix of 80% sand and 20% soil, this is done to improve the properties of the rootzone (were the grass roots are) and to level the lawn by filling in small dips.
I firstly roughly worked out were each bag was going by strategically placing them all over the lawn.
Next using a wide stiff sweeping brush I worked the top dressing into the grass, making sure I didn't cover the blades of the grass as this would kill it.
After doing a bit more research I decided my soil was fairly compacted and clayey too, so a spot of hollow tine aeration wouldn't go amiss, I sourced a cheap one from the Bay. This is another form of aeration like above but removes cores of soil from the ground. This is a better form of aeration but with only 3 tines takes ages to do the entire lawn. After this is done you can sweep sharp sand onto your lawn, some of which will end up in the holes and will improve drainage, I just left the holes open though to improve compaction and get some air into the roots.
A hollow tine aerator.
A spot of fertilizer never goes amiss so I purchased two types, one for Autumn and Winter and another type for Spring and Summer. You need two different types of fertilizer as in cold weather you are looking at making the grass hardier and the roots stronger, in the warmer months you want lush green grass. Apply the summer one in winter and you'd have to keep cutting it right through winter.
To apply the fertilizer I bought a drop spreader, this is a great way to distribute it evenly over the entire lawn, if you were to put too much in one area it will kill the grass.
Another use for the drop spreader is for seed, this spring after I had performed my spring lawn maintenance I overseeded the entire lawn. There's many different types of grass seed which come in blends of various types. I decided to get a blend for bowling greens, normally these aren't very hard wearing but seeing as it would be incorporated into the existing hard wearing grass I thought this would be fine. The blend I chose contained Fescues and Bent grasses, if you want to cut your grass short like a bowling or putting green, these are the what's needed.
We're getting there now and the lawn is starting to look really good but still had a bit of moss in so I purchased some Soluble Iron, this kills any moss and also makes the grass a lovely shade of deep green. I bought 20kg's which will be enough to last me about 25 years
but when you buy it like this it's fairly cheap infact buying this, the seed and fertilizer direct from turfcare sites online for commercial use works out loads cheaper than buying from your DIY stores. and garden centres.You have to be really careful when preparing and spraying Soluble Iron as it stains everything it touches.
To spray the iron onto the grass and to also spray the weedkiller I bought a Knapsack sprayer. The grass greens up within a few hours after applying, if you apply to much it can turn the grass very dark.
After all the hard work I thought I'd treat myself to a quality cylinder mower, these are the best type of mower to get a really fine finish to your lawn, I bought a second hand ex council one, it weighs an absolute tonne but leaves a lovely finish with those all important stripes.
And that's were I'm at with it now, my next job will be some lawn edging which I'll hopefully get down in the next few weeks, and it needs more levelling to stop the lawnmower scalping in a few areas.
Next job is to do the rest of the garden, I'm just designing it now.
Here's how it's looking now.
Before and after.
Last edited:
My lawn currently looks like yours did in this pic:
