Lawn Fertiliser

DEL 707 · 18 Jun 2013 at 23:25

My back and front lawn have seen better days, dry patches, dead patches and weeds everywhere. In some places it's growing like wildfire, in other places there's nothing.

I tried some fertiliser/weed killer from B&Q last year, pretty sure it was Evergreen, made some weeds turn black but that was about it.

Anyone have any recommendations, cheap 1's, I'm not tarmacing the whole thing.

[FnG]magnolia · 18 Jun 2013 at 23:39

Have you tried urinating on it as per kwerk's advice?

DEL 707 · 18 Jun 2013 at 23:44

Among other bodily fluids/secretions, yes.

andy_mk3 · 19 Jun 2013 at 00:33

Our lawn was pretty bad.

I treated it with evergreen. About 2 weeks later most of the lawn was black! Mainly due to all the moss, and some dead weeds.

It's getting better as the weeks go by. I spent ages raking out as much moss as I could, and removing dead weeds. I'll probably seed it once it settles down again to fill the gaps. It's massively better than what it was though. I'll try and get a pic tomorrow after I cut it.

valve90210 · 19 Jun 2013 at 09:32

I'd be very interested to see a pic as the lawn is after you've cut it.

I want to do this to my lawn but fear I've left it too late really, if I do it now it's gonna look terrible through the summer...if it ever arrives!...

How long ago did you use the Evergreen?

kefkef · 19 Jun 2013 at 09:53

Did mine at the start of the year.

Cut lawn.
Evergreen feed/weed.
Wait 2 weeks.
Lawn rake (for £30-40 an electric one saves a lot of sweating and back ache!).
Hollow tine
Top dress with sand/soil dressing.
Reseed with all purpose grass.
Roll lawn to press seed/dressing in.
Wait 3 weeks and cut on a high setting.
Wait 2 weeks and cut on medium setting.
Wait 2 weeks and start cutting normally.
Wait 2 weeks and cut, weed and feed again.

valve90210 · 19 Jun 2013 at 10:28

Looks good, looking forward to autumn/spring for sorting mine out. it needs a lot of levelling out so going to take some time but will be worth the work!!!

I managed to get hold of an electric lawn rake at a bootfair a couple of weeks ago for £10 which I was very pleased with!!!

chrislusty · 19 Jun 2013 at 10:42

Evergreen works wonders, once applied if we havent had any rain for 2days i would water it in, especially if its the seed style. You need to rake the lawn, a lot, removing the dead weeds and moss etc and then apply more evergreen.
I have also found chicken manure pellets work well too.

andy_mk3 · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:38

Cut it today.

It's far from great still. it needs some seed to fill in the gaps now really. But I need an electric rake to get all the moss out properly!

This house was rented out for a couple of years and the tenants ruined it with their dogs plus barely ever cut it.

Nightglow · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:56

andy_mk3 said:
It's far from great still. it needs some seed to fill in the gaps now really. But I need an electric rake to get all the moss out properly!

Hire a petrol Scarifier for the weekend, does a far better job than a electric one.

andy_mk3 · 19 Jun 2013 at 20:00

I might do, I know someone that has an electric one though, so I can borrow that for nout!

Nightglow · 19 Jun 2013 at 20:05

andy_mk3 said:
I might do, I know someone that has an electric one though, so I can borrow that for nout!

One advantage of petrol is the greater sacrifiying depth usually around 25mm to 30mm, plus I find the extra weight of the machine, mine weighs around 50kg or so, stops it bouncing around.

DEL 707 · 19 Jun 2013 at 20:06

Here's some pictures of 1 of the offenders.

I know nothing about gardening, I lived in London with a small concrete garden.
Have I left it too late in the year to do anything about it?

Nightglow · 19 Jun 2013 at 20:24

DEL 707 said:
Have I left it too late in the year to do anything about it?

You can still use EverGreen Complete 4 in 1, feeds lawns, kills weeds, controls moss, should see result in 7 days.

Evergreen Complete 1.75kg spreader cover 50m2 is about a fiver, a 2.8kg box was £8 at Wilkinson's.

DEL 707 · 19 Jun 2013 at 20:40

Just a quick google search shows a 400m2 for £20 from Amazon, I have no idea how much I need...
Is it worth buying the spreader as well?

Nightglow · 19 Jun 2013 at 21:04

50m2 is 538sq ft, & 400m2 is 4305 sq ft football pitch size area, which I reckon is overkill.

Work out approx total area of your grass.

DEL 707 · 19 Jun 2013 at 21:27

Good point, 200m2 seems a good price, compared to 100m2 which is only a few quid cheaper.

What's the expiry date on this stuff, can it be used again next year?

Also need to know about that spreader, how precise do you have to be with this stuff, admittedly, last time I used it, I just winged it.

Nightglow · 19 Jun 2013 at 21:48

No expiry as far as I know, had a box two or three years old, still did it's job.
I kept it in air tight tub to keep it dry, got a handheld Evergreen Handy Spreader cost me about £7, about £10 now, search you will find it cheaper.

http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wc...ay?langId=110&storeId=10151&partNumber=200537

kefkef · 20 Jun 2013 at 13:22

i got one of the walk along spreaders. Very easy to use and it leaves a line with ridged wheels to show you where you have already done, saves overfeeding. As Nightglow says, i usually buy a 10Kg+ bag and just keep it tightly sealed, the last bag lasted me a couple of years.

valve90210 · 20 Jun 2013 at 22:52

I got a walk along drop spreader a couple of weeks ago at a boot fair for £3. Not used it yet but looking forward to doing so when I use the evergreen at some point.