2015 Lawn thread

[Craikeybaby]

I need some advice on how to start looking after my lawn which has been left uncut for about a month. The plan was to cut it the day before I went on holiday, but the bloody mower had ran out of petrol. It was long two and a half weeks ago, so it is going to be a jungle now.

I was going to cut it on the highest setting (only one up from my usual cutting height), but when should the next cut be? Will it be worth giving it an autumn feed?

[jagnet]

wseed said:

Thanks once more. you really are the lawn guru.

I gave it a high cut over the weekend and it's less obvious already.

I'm not sure that I've ever been called a guru before. Glad to hear that it's already blending in

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

... I mow my lawn boustrophedonically.

Every day's a school day

Now to find ways to casually slip that into everyday conversation.

Craikeybaby said:

I need some advice on how to start looking after my lawn which has been left uncut for about a month. The plan was to cut it the day before I went on holiday, but the bloody mower had ran out of petrol. It was long two and a half weeks ago, so it is going to be a jungle now.

I was going to cut it on the highest setting (only one up from my usual cutting height), but when should the next cut be? Will it be worth giving it an autumn feed?

Give it two or three days after the first cut to recover before dropping it down a notch and cutting again. I assume that you have a rotary mower rather than a cylinder one?

In the absence of soil test results to the contrary, it's worth giving it a low nitrogen autumn feed to provide it with enough P and K going into the winter without encouraging excess top growth from too much N at the expense of root development. K is easily leached from the soil, especially sandy soils, and whilst P is much more stable it's not always available to the grass.

An autumn feed with iron is often used to deter moss and green up the grass, however too much iron or using it on young grasses can be damaging.

[Craikeybaby]

Yes, it is a rotary mower, a cut as soon as I get back, followed by another one at the weekend sounds like a good plan. Hopefully the weather stays dry enough for an Autumn feed.

[jagnet]

At least the rotary mower makes dealing with it easier once it's got a little on the long side.

[_bryan_]

Thought I better give an update...

So here's how we started :



After glysophate and scarifying :



Then, rotovated down about 6 inches all over, levelled and rolled to get a starting point for the edging bricks :



I dug footings down about 8 inches all around the edge but forgot to take picrures! So the next picture is of the bricks all down and gaps infilled:



After that I raked all the compacted soil and re-levelled perfectly to the height of the bricks. Then it was the final hurdle of re-seeding and throwing down some started fertiliser, again forgot to take pictures, so here we are 15days after seeding:



The patchy part closest to us only sees sunlight for the first couple of hours of the day and has been quite slow to germinate.

I had an absolute disaster on the day of seeding. About 4 hours after putting it down it poured with torrential rain for about two days. I genuinely thought I'd have to redo it all but decided to give it a few days and wait and see whilst biting my nails. I have a few patchy parts that I'll hopefully be able to rectify with some overseeding in the spring, but other than that I'm pretty happy.

Just the decking to sort in the top corner now, lots of plans for that but it's going to have to wait until next year.

Couple of questions for the lawn experts...

Is there anything I need to do now that might help the establishment?

Should I bother giving it a cut at all once it gets some more growth, or just leave until Spring?

[RichB]

_bryan_ said:

Admirable work there but as a gardener I have to ask why you've only left a measly 9" gap between the grass and the fence. You won't be able to plant anything in there yet the basic idea of a lawn is as a foil to the planting. Seems such a shame to go to all that trouble and not at least leave a meter all round in which you can actually do some gardening. Surely plants are better to look at than a fence? All IMO of course...

[_bryan_]

I honestly don't have enough time on my hands to do proper gardening lol...There'll be a couple more rose bushes going in and a couple of other small shrubs, then weed control covering with some decorative aggregate on top. All mainly due to me absolutely hating weeding. Low maintenance is the name of the game, the only maintenance I want to be doing is with the lawn!

Oh and the gap is 13" just to be pedantic ;-)

Edited by _bryan_ on Tuesday 6th October 20:10

[RichB]

Understand, however even a nice rose bush (and you need odd numbers so best go for 3 or 5 of the same variety) need a metre of soil to set them off, not 13"

[jagnet]

_bryan_ said:

Is there anything I need to do now that might help the establishment?

Should I bother giving it a cut at all once it gets some more growth, or just leave until Spring?

That's coming on nicely. Just keep it watered, but not too much and once it gets to 1.5 to 2 inches in height give it a roll if you can (if your mower has a roller, that's ideal) a couple of days beforehand and then cut it just to take the tops off. You can then gradually lower the cutting height to the recommended winter height for your grass mix.

You definitely want to be cutting before spring to encourage the grass to tiller, which will thicken the sward.

[RichB]

p.s. a nice shot of my lawn, setting off the other planting in the garden

[_bryan_]

jagnet said:

That's coming on nicely. Just keep it watered, but not too much and once it gets to 1.5 to 2 inches in height give it a roll if you can (if your mower has a roller, that's ideal) a couple of days beforehand and then cut it just to take the tops off. You can then gradually lower the cutting height to the recommended winter height for your grass mix.

You definitely want to be cutting before spring to encourage the grass to tiller, which will thicken the sward.

Thanks Jag.

The only roller I have is a heavy one, I'm guessing that won't really be suitable?

I have some patches that are slower to germinate, should I wait until they are up to 2" too or just cut it once the majority is at that height?

I better get sharpening the blade tomorrow then!

[jagnet]

Yep, avoid using a heavy roller. In fact if it's one of those old ironcrete rollers, relegate it to decorative purposes as there's no situation on an established lawn where a heavy roller should be used as you'll just end up severely compacting the soil and destroying its structure.

It's far from essential to roll it before cutting, so don't worry if you can't. Cut when most of the lawn is that height - the slower patches will cope fine even if they're some way behind, just tread gently on them.

[jagnet]

RichB said:

p.s. a nice shot of my lawn, setting off the other planting in the garden

That does look lovely, even if the lawn could be bigger

[RichB]

jagnet said:

RichB said:

p.s. a nice shot of my lawn, setting off the other planting in the garden

That does look lovely, even if the lawn could be bigger

I know, in the early years my wife kept digging it up to plant yet more trees, borders and features. I dug my heels in at a 7m circle but it makes looking after it easier. In fairness she's an avid RHS member and picks up lots of ideas from Wisley. I can't complain.

[Craikeybaby]

Craikeybaby said:

I need some advice on how to start looking after my lawn which has been left uncut for about a month. The plan was to cut it the day before I went on holiday, but the bloody mower had ran out of petrol. It was long two and a half weeks ago, so it is going to be a jungle now.

I was going to cut it on the highest setting (only one up from my usual cutting height), but when should the next cut be? Will it be worth giving it an autumn feed?

I needn't have worried, the mother in law came round earlier this week to mow the lawn before me got back.

Related to this, what is the best treatment for a lawn which has been closely scalped?

Short grass by Lewis Craik, on Flickr

I was also told I should be cutting it shorter to avoid the yellowing underneath, but I thought a longer cut more frequently was better.

[hacksaw]

If I came home from a holiday and my mother in law had done that, I would be looking at extending my patio......

[jagnet]

Good grief, she's properly cropped that

Fortunately, by maintaining a higher cutting height previously your grass will have a good strong root system with plenty of carbohydrates available in reserve to utilise until it can start photosynthesising again.

What you don't want to do at this stage is apply any fertiliser high in nitrogen as that will deplete the roots even more. Leave it to recover of its own accord, which it will do relatively quickly, and in a couple of weeks apply a low N autumn fertiliser so that the grass plants can strengthen their roots and rebuild their carbohydrate reserves.

As for the suggestion that a low cutting height will prevent the yellowing underneath... not really. There will always be some on a healthy domestic non ornamental lawn with a nice thick sward. Yes, the lower the normal height of cut the shorter that will be, but scalping the lawn will still reveal it. But then it's not normally visible, nor a problem, because nobody would be careless enough to scalp the lawn and remove all the green growth that enables the grass to photosynthesise, would they?

Edit: it's also worth noting that sacrificing mothers-in-law to the lawn gods will also speed up recovery. Burning at the stake is preferable as the potassium, phosphorous and magnesium in the ash are all good for developing strong roots and strengthening the turf against stress. Just be aware of it raising the pH too much. Avoid blood letting as blood meal is normally added for its nitrogen content.

Edited by jagnet on Thursday 8th October 00:08

[anonymous-user]

Do i get the award for hardest working lawn "looker afterer"
3 acres of formal lawn?

[Willeh85]

jagnet said:

Edit: it's also worth noting that sacrificing mothers-in-law to the lawn gods will also speed up recovery.

Is it bad that the first time I read that, I read it as Scarifying?

[jagnet]

Bandit said:

Do i get the award for hardest working lawn "looker afterer"
3 acres of formal lawn?

Now that must take up a good few hours each week to get through that lot. It looks a lovely location though, so I shan't feel too much sympathy for you

Willeh85 said:

Is it bad that the first time I read that, I read it as Scarifying?

I'm liking your thinking Make that two tickets to hell, first class please.