2015 Lawn thread
Discussion
Patch1875 said:
Well done! But you would have been better hiring a hollow tine aerator would have took 15 mins.
In your dreams. It might take 5 minutes off the job but then you've got pick it up and take the damn thing back anyway. I managed to bend the tines on one a few years back, they're not as wieldy as a fork and you get blisters in the wrong places! Olf said:
mikees said:
My soon to be lawn. Not sure it will be this good with me doing it!
Very nice. Although if those are apple or other fruit trees you will be busy come august.Can't wait.
More pics? Less formal lawn round the pool.
Mike
Patch1875 said:
Well done! But you would have been better hiring a hollow tine aerator would have took 15 mins.
The thought did cross my mind, but I didn't fancy forking out circa £50 for it or borrowing a vehicle I could move it in. By the time I would have borrowed a car, picked up machinery, set it up, used it, cleared up the cores, taken it back, taken the car back, it amounts to about the same amount of time I spent in the garden anyway.Besides, I've now got a cracking farmers tan for my hard work
Willeh85 said:
Let me tell you it was forking hard work. Nearly 5 hours it took with a couple of breaks here and there which includes the top dressing work (not shown). I would have finished it today but I've got to take my hound to the vet for his vaccinations.
I'd have hired a hollow tine aerator for that. Probably £40 for the day, and it would do that in about 5 minutes. Then put your mower on its lowest setting and whizz round to smash up the cores of soil. Job done!popeyewhite said:
In your dreams. It might take 5 minutes off the job but then you've got pick it up and take the damn thing back anyway. I managed to bend the tines on one a few years back, they're not as wieldy as a fork and you get blisters in the wrong places!
He's right (and so am I!). A proper petrol-powered heavy-duty hollow tine aerator is a massive machine and would do that lawn in five minutes - no exaggeration! You don't get blisters, because you don't push it - in fact, it'll pull you along. My wife always ends up in fits of laughter watching me, because I'm barely in control of it. And a decent rental firm will deliver it and pick it up again. It's a no-brainer.Willeh85 said:
By the time I would have borrowed a car, picked up machinery, set it up, used it, cleared up the cores, taken it back, taken the car back, it amounts to about the same amount of time I spent in the garden anyway.
Not even nearly! As I say, a decent rental firm will deliver the machine and collect it from you when you're done. Don't collect the cores, just smash them up with your mower and you've got instant top-dressing. Admittedly I never both cleaning out the tines; I just give it back to them and let them do that and I've never lost my deposit. Seriously, I know from experience that the whole job could have been done in fifteen minutes, and you get to play with garden machinery - what's not to like? 
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Friday 10th April 10:43
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
Willeh85 said:
Let me tell you it was forking hard work. Nearly 5 hours it took with a couple of breaks here and there which includes the top dressing work (not shown). I would have finished it today but I've got to take my hound to the vet for his vaccinations.
I'd have hired a hollow tine aerator for that. Probably £40 for the day, and it would do that in about 5 minutes. Then put your mower on its lowest setting and whizz round to smash up the cores of soil. Job done!popeyewhite said:
Hollow tine aerators do not penetrate as deep as a fork, and you don't work the soil as loose with them.
A hollow tine aerator will penetrate nearly as deeply, and don't forget that using a fork actually causes compaction because the solid tines squeeze the soil out of the way instead of removing it.I don't have a significant weed problem, and it doesn't look like the OP does either. Far easier to smash up the cores, and even if you do end up with weeds they're easily treatable.
Five hours' work to aerate that lawn? Do me a favour - life's too short!
mikees said:
Olf said:
mikees said:
My soon to be lawn. Not sure it will be this good with me doing it!
Very nice. Although if those are apple or other fruit trees you will be busy come august.Can't wait.
More pics? Less formal lawn round the pool.
Mike
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
...Five hours' work to aerate that lawn? Do me a favour - life's too short!
I perhaps worded my post quite badly. Whilst I was in my garden about five hours It wasn't spent solely on aeration, and I did do a lot of other jobs that needed my attention.Today I finished up spreading some top dressing around and went a bit crazy with grass seed, about 30min spent on that. I then went about nuking vegetation in places it wasn't supposed to be with some weed killer. This'll be my last update for my lawn for until 8 weeks time to give my lawn a chance to look amazing.
Willeh85 said:
This'll be my last update for my lawn for until 8 weeks time to give my lawn a chance to look amazing.
With proper care it shouldn't take 8 weeks Will, good fertiliser, plenty of water and light mowing are your friends.We heavily core our golf greens twice annually, they honestly look like ploughed fields initially, 7 days later they're lush and smooth.
Has anyone tried these or are they a waste of money?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Greenkey-30cm-Rolling-Lawn...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Greenkey-30cm-Rolling-Lawn...
Yes, I bought this exact one this spring, within a week I noticed a very good improvement in new growth. Possibly one of the best lawn purchases i have made. I added a few dumbell weights on the shaft which helped also.
I'm in my third spring of lawn ownership and started with a patch of moss and weeds, and only this spring I can see that it's starting to get where I want. First year was removing and battling moss, second overseeding and control of weeds, this year the grass looks to be very thick which should hold back most weeds..
Started with this
Removing basically everything
Reseeded first year which looked good but then the following year the weeds came with a Vengence As there was a lot of bare earth whilst grass was takin hold . Also installed pop up sprinklers before seeding
This year after a scarify, aeration and some mobacter which is fantastic stuff if you only have a little moss to control IMO.
on third cut of the year and got to get out there later to oversee some areas
I'm in my third spring of lawn ownership and started with a patch of moss and weeds, and only this spring I can see that it's starting to get where I want. First year was removing and battling moss, second overseeding and control of weeds, this year the grass looks to be very thick which should hold back most weeds..
Started with this
Removing basically everything
Reseeded first year which looked good but then the following year the weeds came with a Vengence As there was a lot of bare earth whilst grass was takin hold . Also installed pop up sprinklers before seeding
This year after a scarify, aeration and some mobacter which is fantastic stuff if you only have a little moss to control IMO.
on third cut of the year and got to get out there later to oversee some areas
Fun thread. Lawn care is becoming a bit of a hobby of mine, even though ours is only 80sqm I try to keep it nice. As others have said, there is something therapeutic about lawn care.
The garden was a complete disaster when we moved in. We had to reclaim some of it from brambles and essentially turn the whole thing over to create some patio areas, a couple of veg beds and a newly laid lawn (from turf) to give a low-ish maintenance garden with space and growing fun for the kids.
How it started, although even this was after a significant amount of clearing...
A lot of hard work later, patios laid but not pointed, all soil dug to 12 inches and topped with 3 inches of lovely blended topsoil from my local garden centre, and Rolawn turf on top. This was laid at the height of the heatwave in 2013 so the sprinkler was on a lot! This is after the first cut.
As it stands this evening, looking somewhat less than vibrant and a bit thin. It's had 3 cuts so far this year to lower the cut height before being power-raked and overseeded (4 days before this photo) with a fescue/dwarf ryegrass mix. When the seed has taken I will fertilise, for which I use Lebanon Proscape 25-0-12, as a soil test revealed it already has quite a high phosphate content. It should burst into life again proper and start thickening up by mid-May.
Loving everyone's pictures so far!
The garden was a complete disaster when we moved in. We had to reclaim some of it from brambles and essentially turn the whole thing over to create some patio areas, a couple of veg beds and a newly laid lawn (from turf) to give a low-ish maintenance garden with space and growing fun for the kids.
How it started, although even this was after a significant amount of clearing...
A lot of hard work later, patios laid but not pointed, all soil dug to 12 inches and topped with 3 inches of lovely blended topsoil from my local garden centre, and Rolawn turf on top. This was laid at the height of the heatwave in 2013 so the sprinkler was on a lot! This is after the first cut.
As it stands this evening, looking somewhat less than vibrant and a bit thin. It's had 3 cuts so far this year to lower the cut height before being power-raked and overseeded (4 days before this photo) with a fescue/dwarf ryegrass mix. When the seed has taken I will fertilise, for which I use Lebanon Proscape 25-0-12, as a soil test revealed it already has quite a high phosphate content. It should burst into life again proper and start thickening up by mid-May.
Loving everyone's pictures so far!
popeyewhite said:
Good job, very satisfying I'm sure.
Is the fescue/ryegrass seed the same as the variety of the turf you used?
No, it's not, not this time. I laid Rolawn Medallion turf, and while I overseeded it with matching seed last year I won't be doing it again because trying to find out exactly which cultivars Rolawn use, for comparison, is very difficult, although I now have a very good idea. As far as I am concerned this is a marketing ploy. They work very hard to keep it a secret to protect the image of the turf being somehow unequalled. While the turf they produce is very good quality, and miles better than the majority of the stuff you'll find on a pallet outside most garden centres or DIY sheds, the seed is massively overpriced compared to what else is available, and it ain't magic.Is the fescue/ryegrass seed the same as the variety of the turf you used?
So, this time I have seeded with LM2 from Pitchcare, which contains a good blend of cultivars for what I want from the lawn, and we'll see what it looks like in a couple of months.
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