2015 Lawn thread

[muncher]

wjwren said:

have just bought this to keep the birds off, gives a high pitched noise out. Keeps foxes birds mice etc off.

They're bloody annoying, someone around the corner from us must have one of these and I can hear it every time I walk past. It would drive me mad if I lived next to them.

[muncher]

The bowls club next door have been scarifying yesterday and today, quite heavily with a beast of a machine, it's a bit different to a lawn (cut to 6mm) but I guess it shows it can be down all year round and the lawn still used.

[Timmy40]

OK to avoid any noise nuisance I'll carry on with my current solution which is sneaking around the perimeter armed with a silenced air rile and wearing a full army surplus camouflage suit. Problem is the rabbits seem to have got wise to me and are varying the times they conduct their hole digging forays.

[salgar]

Timmy40 said:

OK to avoid any noise nuisance I'll carry on with my current solution which is sneaking around the perimeter armed with a silenced air rile and wearing a full army surplus camouflage suit. Problem is the rabbits seem to have got wise to me and are varying the times they conduct their hole digging forays.

I'm having a friend round with an air rifle in a couple of weeks, can't come too soon. My lawn looks like pointe du hoc, saw 8 rabbits out there the other day!

[timmy40]

salgar said:

Timmy40 said:

OK to avoid any noise nuisance I'll carry on with my current solution which is sneaking around the perimeter armed with a silenced air rile and wearing a full army surplus camouflage suit. Problem is the rabbits seem to have got wise to me and are varying the times they conduct their hole digging forays.

I'm having a friend round with an air rifle in a couple of weeks, can't come too soon. My lawn looks like pointe du hoc, saw 8 rabbits out there the other day!

I'm actually considering putting some rabbit netting around the perimeter, apparently the trick is to have about 30cm of it flat on the ground facing outwards, then say 60cm vertical height. They try and burrow under the fence but do it up close and hit wire, but apparently don't have the brains to try from a bit further back.

As you say the flipping things do loads of damage. Almost as bad as moles!

[Max M4X WW]

muncher said:

wjwren said:

have just bought this to keep the birds off, gives a high pitched noise out. Keeps foxes birds mice etc off.

They're bloody annoying, someone around the corner from us must have one of these and I can hear it every time I walk past. It would drive me mad if I lived next to them.

Agreed!

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

wjwren said:

any advice on over seeding? I killed part of my grass the other month from applying too much weed and feed. It hasnt come back and looks dead. Shall i use a spade and take the top layer off the grass to rake it, cut it short and then seed it? If I do this do i need to apply soil on top of the seed?
thanks

Slightly depends how big the area is!

If it's a relatively small area, personally I'd grub out the dead grass using one of those three-pronged hand tools. This will leave you with bare soil that has been roughed up, perfect for overseeding. If it's a larger area you might be able to achieve a similar effect using a stout metal rake. Don't forget to scatter some seed beyond the immediate area that needs seeding, so that the new grass blends into the old somewhat. In fact, if you can afford to buy enough seed to overseed the whole lot then so much the better.

It's not the ideal time to reseed, because you will need to water meticulously 2 or 3 times every day unless it rains. It's crucial that the emerging embryo plants don't dry out after they've started germinating, or they'll die and there's no way they'll recover. You will also need to put a quarter-inch layer of something on top of the seed to help keep moisture close to the seed - compost will do, or mix with some top-soil and sand, and perhaps a little bit of Fish Blood & Bone fertiliser to give the emerging seedlings some 'oomph'.

If you can lightly water it at least twice a day there's no reason why your seed shouldn't germinate nicely - the warm temperature will help. An electronic water timer connected to a sprinkler would be great. Otherwise leave it until September, when you can get away with only watering once a day.

[Skii]

Ma and Pa's lawn up in Cheshire, its a full time job for both of them but looks great in the Summer.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipN6DRNCiWiByZ...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/33wjpsTG72axh0vC...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6Tlw4v0AR-uUH7RN...

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipP43wH5tNLbk_...

[bazza white]

New house and whilst a decent size lawn (190sqm) its growing everything. Stuff I didn't even know existed in lawn is growing.is it to late to do anything about it or ........

[bazza white]

The front is in full bloom to

[RichB]

bazza white said:

...is it to late to do anything about it or ...

No, you can cut it at any time.

[bazza white]

RichB said:

o, you can cut it at any time.

There are only a few tufts to cut that's as high as they rest gets. Everything else the strimmer will take care off next week.

[rufusgti]

Can I ask, is it too late in the season to feed my lawn. It's looks like it could do with a little help. I do spray the miracle grow lawn feed sprinkler thing. I'm not convinced how good it is.
Is there anything else I can use in June.

[Craikeybaby]

You can certainly feed the lawn in June, I usually do mine in April, July and September.

[popeyewhite]

rufusgti said:

Can I ask, is it too late in the season to feed my lawn. It's looks like it could do with a little help. I do spray the miracle grow lawn feed sprinkler thing. I'm not convinced how good it is.
Is there anything else I can use in June.

As long as it's growing you can feed it.

Scotts is a good basic lawn fertiliser, I'd advise you purchase a rotary spreader.

http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/scotts-law...

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Yep, Scotts Lawn Builder is what I use. You can buy it slightly cheaper from Amazon in 400 sq.m bags. The one PopeyeWhite linked to is the feed-only one, which carries virtually no risk of scorching and is what I use; I believe they do also make versions with weedkiller and/or moss killer, but I prefer the safety of the feed-only product.

Oh, and they also make an Autumn version, which I use from late August onwards.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

bazza white said:

The front is in full bloom to

I don't normally suggest "weed and feed" products, but I reckon that's exactly what your lawn could do with, because it looks like it would benefit from feeding in addition to the obvious weed issue.

I'd try this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scotts-Lawn-Builder-Food-C... Or perhaps you could get a smaller pack depending on the size of your lawns. Then once you've solved your weed problem you could switch to the feed-only version of the product.

[F3RNY7]

Hi guys

Having found a chap in my area who offers a "man with a rotavator" service, I've decided to completely start my front and back lawn from scratch.

So the existing lawns will be rotavated over and have the existing lawn cleared away/dug over - just wondering if you could give me some good tips on what to do next to prepare the ground ready for seeding in (I guess) late Aug / early Sep?

They're only small gardens so hopefully once the hard work of the rotavating is done, nothing is going to be TOO onerous to do by hand on my own.

Also because we want some curves in the lawn, I presume it's best to define the shape of the lawn we want, then get some edging in place and then seed only up to that edging? I.E. as opposed to seeding the entire thing and then having to cut away curved edges?

Sorry if these are stupid questions, all a bit new to me this!

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

F3RNY7 said:

Also because we want some curves in the lawn, I presume it's best to define the shape of the lawn we want, then get some edging in place and then seed only up to that edging? I.E. as opposed to seeding the entire thing and then having to cut away curved edges?

Can't offer much advice on starting from scratch, having never done it myself - although I often wonder if that's exactly what I should have done 5 years ago!

I would indeed define the shape of the lawn first, then seed up to the boundary. You could experiment with shapes by laying out a hosepipe to simulate the edge and move it around until you're happy.

[F3RNY7]

Thanks Mike, that's a good idea!

After rotavating will it be necessary to put topsoil down? Or does the fact that a lawn was growing there previously mean that its ok to just seed over the existing soil once the current turf is rotavated and removed?