2016 Lawn thread

[8-P]

So who is still mowing?

Gave mine a quick blast today, partly to pick up leaves.

Rather annnoyed to see moss and fairly serious thinning iat the bottom of my garden which is a low light area.

Annoying as when we moved a year ago it was more moss than grass but by late spring I had it looking like a golf fairway!

[JackP1]

I mowed yesterday, loads of leaves and apples ( still on two trees, in november.... ) raked it all up and mowed. Was wet but decent cut

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

I mowed yesterday on a high cut, just to neaten it up a bit and pick up leaves.

I also gave it what will probably be the last autumn feed, and scattered some ferrous sulphate around. It has been well watered in overnight!

Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Sunday 20th November 09:06

[RYH64E]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

I mowed yesterday on a high cut, just to neaten it up a bit and pick up leaves.

I also gave it what will probably be the last autumn feed, and scattered some ferrous sulphate around. It has been well watered in overnight!

Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Sunday 20th November 09:06

If yours is anything like mine, the leaves are back today. It's as if the 4 hours I spent collecting leaves yesterday never happened.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Yep!

[Esseesse]

How's it looking for people?

Think mine's better than at this time last year. Probably less boggy after aerating in Sept/Oct. Quite a few worm casts recentlyish. Some tatty bits round the edges where I have cut back overhanging borders.

[Nick_MSM]

Mine is certainly not as boggy as last year, partly down to much less rain thus far, and also the work I did in the spring. The lawn has gone a little thin though, much like my hair but I'm relatively happy all will be well in the spring...for the lawn.

[Joe M]

Mine is a bit long at the moment as I was away for 3 months. Will it be OK cutting at this time of year?

[MDMA .]

Esseesse said:

How's it looking for people?

Think mine's better than at this time last year. Probably less boggy after aerating in Sept/Oct. Quite a few worm casts recentlyish. Some tatty bits round the edges where I have cut back overhanging borders.

I left the back a big long and front has had regular cuts. Plenty worm casts on the front. Had loads of rain in the NW so expected. Not sure if its worth throwing anything on now, this time of year?

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

My lawn is looking a bit rubbish at the moment. There is plenty of yellowing grass, and yesterday I noticed that every little patch of sickly grass had wisps of white fluffy mould over it.

Is this fusarium? Or is it just some random mould taking advantage of the moist, mild conditions?

If it's fusarium, how serious is it? Do I need to tackle it, or can I just leave it to run its course and try to improve conditions in the spring?

Would it help to give the lawn a light raking and then mow?

Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Tuesday 20th December 07:38

[eps]

Our main lawn is looking a bit yellow.. we only moved in last year and I was battling to get it down to a reasonable height to be honest. We've managed to extend the lawn area - but this was fallow farmland used for grazing sheep.. I've started to manhandle that a bit but even using a digger I 'hit' masses of bricks and other farming detritus and then solid clay... I dug deeper and deeper but basically found more clay! Had to stop in the end as it was getting to the limit of the digger. I've since filled in the hole with broken up brick and covered with some material - also kindly left by the farmer and then covered with soil and turf.. I'm hoping this will slow down the movement of the water from the field to the lawn near the back of our house, although I suspect I'll be digging again at some time - I've put in a single channel half way across, but had to stop otherwise I was just making more of a mess.

I think I will need one of these at some point in the spring... http://www.blec.co.uk/products/power-box-rake-ital...

Native hedging is in at least...! Bring on the Spring!

[MX51ROD]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

My lawn is looking a bit rubbish at the moment. There is plenty of yellowing grass, and yesterday I noticed that every little patch of sickly grass had wisps of white fluffy mould over it.

Is this fusarium? Or is it just some random mould taking advantage of the moist, mild conditions?

If it's fusarium, how serious is it? Do I need to tackle it, or can I just leave it to run its course and try to improve conditions in the spring?

Would it help to give the lawn a light raking and then mow?

Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Tuesday 20th December 07:38

Yes it is ,there is a fungicide to treat it ,caused by damp conditions,just had to treat our new lawn

[Tony Starks]

We've just moved into a new house and the lawn is really shabby, theres dirt patches and large tufts of weedy look grass every where. It's a year old house and the lawns were done buy the people that built the house to a very low/cheap standard.

Ideally, ripping it up and digging it all out are the best options. But financially it does work, so I have to make do with what I have.

Here in NZ, we're about a month into summer. So obviously the best time to not be trying to repair a lawn.

This is what I have:











So for this time of year whats the best way to start? going for the weeds or trying to fill the patches?

As for mowing, I'm cutting it one rung down from the highest setting on the lawnmower.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

The height of summer is not really the time to be doing anything major. It looks like compaction is an issue for you, so you could try using one of those spikey rollers to aerate it and get some better water penetration. But you'll probably need to water first to soften it.

In 3 months time when it's early autumn (around March for you I guess), then I'd rent a scarifier and a hollow tine aerator. Scarify, then aerate, then overseed and keep it moist every day until you've got good germination.

[Accelebrate]

I noticed GreenThumb were still visiting my neighbour this week - what are they doing at this time of year?

[TimJMS]

There's a good chance they will be applying sulphate of iron which gives four useful things now: suppression of surface worm activity, greening, disease prevention and moss control.

[RYH64E]

Accelebrate said:

I noticed GreenThumb were still visiting my neighbour this week - what are they doing at this time of year?

They've got nothing scheduled at my house, I get four treatments a year and there's nothing due, but they were trying to persuade a friend of mine to get her lawn scarified in December.

[Tony Starks]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

The height of summer is not really the time to be doing anything major. It looks like compaction is an issue for you, so you could try using one of those spikey rollers to aerate it and get some better water penetration. But you'll probably need to water first to soften it.

In 3 months time when it's early autumn (around March for you I guess), then I'd rent a scarifier and a hollow tine aerator. Scarify, then aerate, then overseed and keep it moist every day until you've got good germination.

Thanks, should I water it everyday?

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Tony Starks said:

Thanks, should I water it everyday?

If you've put seed down then it's critical to ensure that it never dries out, so it's often necessary to water lightly 2 or 3 times a day unless the rain does it for you.

[Tony Starks]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

If you've put seed down then it's critical to ensure that it never dries out, so it's often necessary to water lightly 2 or 3 times a day unless the rain does it for you.

Sweet, so no worries at the moment as I haven't. In regards to length, is longer better over the summer or keep it low?