2015 Lawn thread

[Smartboy]

After this a few weeks ago...

Smartboy said:

All, I'm after a bit of advice.

After moving into our new place in winter, I thought I'd start trying to improve the lawns which had been clearly neglected.

I scarified in early April and then put down some fertilizer/moss killer... this:


I used a push-along applicator and set it to be around the 35g per sq m application rate.

It was difficult to see which areas I had already gone over so after 3 weeks, I've got problems with yellow sections where I didn't put any product. This is noticable as I applied the fertilizer in line with the hedge at the side, but mow the grass at about 45 degrees...

Anyway, to get rid of the yellow strips, would it be Ok to do a 2nd application of the product over the entire lawn again, or should I just hand-sprinkle product on the yellow bits?

The criss-cross of yellow strips and mowing stripes:

Closer view:

...I sprinkled more of the same product on the bits I missed, left it 10 days and it now looks like this:





Still lots of room for improvement, but at least it doesn't look quite as silly now!

[Philemon]

That's an amazing result! Well done for being patient. Good lawn feed that and not cheap either.

[Patch1875]

Philemon said:

That's an amazing result! Well done for being patient. Good lawn feed that and not cheap either.

Never found anything better that Everris.

[Smartboy]

I'll be knocking down the spread-rate by 50% on my push-along drop-spreader and doing 2 runs of the lawn in the autumn, the 2nd run at 90 degrees to the first, to avoid missing bits like I did this time!

Perhaps I should have spent more than the £20 I spent on the drop-spreader and invested in one of those broadcast spreaders with a spinning disc that fires out product for more even distribution? Oh well, I'll continue as planned this season and see what happens next spring.

This is the first time I've had a large lawn worth investing in, so still learning!

[S11Steve]

I'm watching this thread with envy. I've recently (3 weeks) moved into a house that has laid empty for nearly 5 years, and the garden hasn't been touched in that time. After a lot of chainsaw, skip, mower and shredder action this is what I've been left with. There will be a garage built at the side of the house where it's current;y barren soil and root balls at the moment.

Any suggestions, offers of help or JCB donations gratefully accepted...



[url]

|http://thumbsnap.com/RK5ru7uj[/url]

[Condi]

S11Steve said:

I'm watching this thread with envy. I've recently (3 weeks) moved into a house that has laid empty for nearly 5 years, and the garden hasn't been touched in that time. After a lot of chainsaw, skip, mower and shredder action this is what I've been left with. There will be a garage built at the side of the house where it's current;y barren soil and root balls at the moment.

Mine looked vaguely similar, but I forgot to take pictures. Although it had been lived in, there was no effort made with the garden.

There are 2 ways of going about it- throw loads of money at it and have it done in no time, or throw loads of time at it and have it done with little cash. Because Im tight, Im using the long time/low cost option. Nature has solutions to all the problems, if you're prepared to work with it. Roots etc will all rot down, or can be removed with a mattock. The grass will be fine if you moss kill, scarify and reseed. The only thing outside help is needed for is the tree removal, and thats because its a lot of trips to the tip otherwise. Quite good fun though, and a nice feeling when you turn something which looks like that into a nice garden.

[S11Steve]

The garden had a budget of £500 when we moved in, mainly in skip and shredder hire. The kitchen, flooring, boiler, windows, bathroom and blinds took up the rest of the budget, so I will be on the time and elbow grease rather than money option as well.

A friend of a friend does stump grinding, so I'm trying to get a mates of mates rate as we have a lot of stumps to remove.

I may well be into the 2016 and 2017 lawn threads as well with this one!

[S11Steve]

And I have now ordered a mattock to add to the tool collection. It looks viciously therapeutic.

[Salgar]

I've just moved into my new house and finally got to have a look at the lawn, there is a small garden with a lawn and flowers and then a bigger field. The small garden when it is mowed, looks very green, however we haven't had our mower delivered yet and it's been about 3 weeks which has showed it's true self. I would say the 'lawn' is about 30-40% clover, with a sprinkling of every other weed type there is. What would people recommend as a course of action? My idea was to:

Rake with the metal tine lawn rake that I bought
Mow when I hopefully get my mower next week
Spray a weeder everywhere (Which weeder should I use for clover + everything else)
Then hopefully in a few weeks there should be some bare patches where the clover is gone?

What should I do then?

[jagnet]

It's really getting a bit too close to summer to be doing any major lawn renovation. If you get rid of that much clover it's going to leave a lot of bare patches and overseeding now is going to require a lot of irrigating throughout the summer.

I'd just concentrate on cutting, feeding and light aerating with a fork, solid tine roller or sarel roller. Come August / September you can then attack the clover and weeds, scarify, hollow tine, top dress and overseed.

Clover isn't such a bad weed to suffer over the summer. Other weeds such as dandelion, plantain etc can be tackled with a spot spray using a selective weed killer such as Verdone or Resolva.

[ManFromDelmonte]

I wish I had a lawn.

[C.A.R.]

I'm replying to this thread on recommendation following my playhouse thread revealing how terrible the lawn is.

We rent property privately so I begrudge spending vast amounts of money on prettifying things, but have spent a lot of time in the garden lately and plan to be in this property for the next 5 years or so, so it makes sense to work at improving the lawn.

It's quite sizeable - the fence is about 30 meters from the house and the lawn stretches the full length of the garden. It's not really been looked after for a long time (if ever) and is incredibly un-even and full of weeds. There are patches missing, yellowed and just general tattyness.

Pictures below (excuse 2yr old) showing current state. Would appreciate any advice on the first steps towards creating something presentable whilst bearing in mind the constant use of the garden by my little family;


More weed than grass!!




Error 404: lawn not found

[illmonkey]

Taken just now. Sun doesn't get all of the garden unfortunately.

Just mowed and watering due to heat today.

[Max M4X WW]

So the broom, after watering works..

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Lawn's looking lovely!

And your stick is looking happy as well.

[jagnet]

Max M4X WW said:

So the broom, after watering works..

Well that's visibly improved now that the grass nearer the fence has filled in Keeping the extra length to the grass when cutting is definitely helping it cope with the shade. That grass looks nice and healthy.

illmonkey said:

Taken just now. Sun doesn't get all of the garden unfortunately.

Just mowed and watering due to heat today.

Where possible it's better to water early in the morning rather than late in the day. Overnight dampness in the grass and warm weather can lead to problems with disease such as red thread.

Like the lawn above, mowing the grass on a high cut will help it better cope with shady conditions and when over seeding choose a shade tolerant seed mix.

If you haven't done so recently, a light aeration with a fork will help the water get down into the rootzone. The areas of dry grass look quite patchy which I would say is either down to cutting off too much at once when mowing or problems with soil compaction.

[illmonkey]

Thanks for the advise. I'm out the door before 7 everyday, so evening it is. I can fork it, also needs a seed top up.

The dog using it as a toilet doesn't help! So I water every night to dilute it, he's only at home in the evenings.

Suggestions for a 'shady' seed?

[jagnet]

C.A.R. said:

Pictures below (excuse 2yr old) showing current state. Would appreciate any advice on the first steps towards creating something presentable whilst bearing in mind the constant use of the garden by my little family;


More weed than grass!!

Fortunately lawn care needn't be that expensive. Unfortunately it's a bit late in the year to really be tackling the issues in a big way, so for now feed the lawn, lightly aerate with a garden fork or solid tine roller and mow regularly on a fairly high cut. That will at least give the grass that is there the best chance.

Alternatively, you could treat the whole lawn with a selective weedkiller then over seed the worst areas with clover which will germinate more easily in adverse conditions and give you a nice green space, and the bees will thank you if you let it flower. It can easily be killed off in the autumn. It may be worth putting down some grass seed with it, the clover may help protect it as it germinates and it may take with less irrigation than grass seed on bare soil alone would do. Clover blends with grass really well, and often what looks like immaculate lawns from a distance can be full of the stuff.

In fact, a clover / utility grass mix for your situation might not be such a bad thing long term either.

[jagnet]

illmonkey said:

The dog using it as a toilet doesn't help! So I water every night to dilute it, he's only at home in the evenings.

small risk of red thread versus guarantee of brown patches from the dog, yep I'd be watering it then too.

[CoolHands]

Max M4X WW said:

So the broom, after watering works..

At some point you could replace those paving slabs with something nice, it would help the overall look of the garden IMO. They just look too flat, straight & boring - a bit like something you see in a corporate environment rather than a home garden.