Grass Lawn. How to make it nice again ?
- Thread starter Paul11
- Start date
Depends what needs doing, is it full of weeds?
I've bought a house with a small garden, first time I've had a lawn and it was in a right state when I moved in in March. The lawn was over grown and had lots of dead grass amongst it as well as bare patches.
I used Weedol for the weeds, isn't meant to kill the grass.
Mow it, scarify it, aerate it with a hollow tine aerator and the overseed it. I used asda own grass seed, seems to have favourable reviews.
The biggest tip I've learnt is don't let it grow too long then mow it short as that can really harm the lawn. Aim to only cut 1/3 of its length and no more in one go and apparently lawns are healthiest when they're at least an inch long.
The autumn may be better to do all this rather than when it's red hot or you'll need to keep it well watered.
This site is full of great articles too - http://www.lawnsmith.co.uk
I've bought a house with a small garden, first time I've had a lawn and it was in a right state when I moved in in March. The lawn was over grown and had lots of dead grass amongst it as well as bare patches.
I used Weedol for the weeds, isn't meant to kill the grass.
Mow it, scarify it, aerate it with a hollow tine aerator and the overseed it. I used asda own grass seed, seems to have favourable reviews.
The biggest tip I've learnt is don't let it grow too long then mow it short as that can really harm the lawn. Aim to only cut 1/3 of its length and no more in one go and apparently lawns are healthiest when they're at least an inch long.
The autumn may be better to do all this rather than when it's red hot or you'll need to keep it well watered.
This site is full of great articles too - http://www.lawnsmith.co.uk
It's usually best to sort your lawn in spring or autumn. I put some moss killer and fertilizer down in spring, left it a couple weeks then scarified it and over seeded it. It looks pretty good now, especially since I've stopped the dog weeing on it.
For now mow it regularly, and on quite a low setting (work down to it if you dont already mow low).
Come autumn use some Evergreen 4 in 1 or Iron Sulphate based feed/weedkiller.. Follow instructions exactly and err on the side of too little (two much and it kills EVERYTHING). Apply it, wait... Weeds will die, moss will die and grass will grow!! Borrow a scarifier if you can, if not use a thin tithe rake and prepare for some work.. Rake it longways, lifting all the dead stuff out and binning it (DONT compost heap it, moss spores etc). Then do the same again 45 degrees different.. and again, another 45 degrees different.
Now get a fork and aerate the soil, lots of holes. Water it lots. Liberally apply grass seed, then top dress with compost (over the grass seed), water it. Not a light watering but saturate it.. gently though, dont want to wash the seed away. Now walk all over it to compress the compost/seed mix together.
Water daily if the weather doesnt do it for you.
It wont take long to sprout, let it grow a bit (2-3 leaves per seed) then mow it on a high setting. over the next few weeks gradually lower.
You will have missed bits, some wont germinate and some will be eaten by birds.. Especially if its a big area/lots of weeds (when we did our lawn it was over 70% weeds/moss... :EEK: !!), rinse and repeat the seed and compost steps.
Once its growing well stop watering it so often, let it have a week without water (if weather allows), keep an eye, if its hot and starting to dry out/look stressed then do water it BUT you want it to grow good roots to get its water from further down.
Its not rocket science, but can be a pain when it goes wrong.. BIGGEST mistake I made was overusing the weed and feed stuff, killed big patches of grass.
Good luck!
Come autumn use some Evergreen 4 in 1 or Iron Sulphate based feed/weedkiller.. Follow instructions exactly and err on the side of too little (two much and it kills EVERYTHING). Apply it, wait... Weeds will die, moss will die and grass will grow!! Borrow a scarifier if you can, if not use a thin tithe rake and prepare for some work.. Rake it longways, lifting all the dead stuff out and binning it (DONT compost heap it, moss spores etc). Then do the same again 45 degrees different.. and again, another 45 degrees different.
Now get a fork and aerate the soil, lots of holes. Water it lots. Liberally apply grass seed, then top dress with compost (over the grass seed), water it. Not a light watering but saturate it.. gently though, dont want to wash the seed away. Now walk all over it to compress the compost/seed mix together.
Water daily if the weather doesnt do it for you.
It wont take long to sprout, let it grow a bit (2-3 leaves per seed) then mow it on a high setting. over the next few weeks gradually lower.
You will have missed bits, some wont germinate and some will be eaten by birds.. Especially if its a big area/lots of weeds (when we did our lawn it was over 70% weeds/moss... :EEK: !!), rinse and repeat the seed and compost steps.
Once its growing well stop watering it so often, let it have a week without water (if weather allows), keep an eye, if its hot and starting to dry out/look stressed then do water it BUT you want it to grow good roots to get its water from further down.
Its not rocket science, but can be a pain when it goes wrong.. BIGGEST mistake I made was overusing the weed and feed stuff, killed big patches of grass.
Good luck!
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Thats a lot of effort, just astro turf it. 
No problem. Its something I have been through this year.. New house, and the lawn was a mess of moss and weeds. Now its a lovely green lawn!
Once the hard work is done its just a bit of regular maintenance, dealing with weeds and mowing mainly.
I bought the cheapest one from Screwfix, it was about £70 and I had a voucher too. It seems to do the job well enough, although the basket on the back is a waste of time as it fills up so fast.
Thin (springy) tine rake.. Different to a normal rake. Its HARD work as it requires quite a bit of pressure/effort. Ask around, see if any friends or neighbours have a scarifying machine.. Or buy one, use it each year to keep the lawn tip top!