2016 Lawn thread

[8-P]

maccas99 said:

Anyone got any ideas? Current thinking is a roller when there has been plenty of rain...

Got any photos? Hard to tell without seeing / size of lawn etc.

Id be tempted to blast them with the hose, soften them up gradually, kick them away, rake a bit, patch a bit

[maccas99]

8-P said:

Got any photos? Hard to tell without seeing / size of lawn etc.

Id be tempted to blast them with the hose, soften them up gradually, kick them away, rake a bit, patch a bit

Thanks - I'll get some pictures up later so you can see what I'm dealing with.

[MikeGoodwin]

Is it ever too late in the year to weed and feed? Planning on giving the grass a good weed and feed but at the same time I need to lay down some new turf which I wont be able to do for a month or so. Might give it a light dose in the autumn and go at it proper next year.

[RevsPerMinute]

I have just ordered some more grass seed as I overseeded about 4 weeks ago and it seems those couple of cold mornings killed them off as very little germination.

[8-P]

RevsPerMinute said:

I have just ordered some more grass seed as I overseeded about 4 weeks ago and it seems those couple of cold mornings killed them off as very little germination.

Had to do this in some areas. Problem is, the lawn is growing so fast at the moment its hard not to mow it after a week and the seed may have just popped up at 1 week or it may take a bit longer. Ideally you want to mow as low as you can, and personally I like to put down seed and a very thin layer of top soil.

[oyster]

There's a blizzard of dandelion seeds outside my window right now

[8-P]

oyster said:

There's a blizzard of dandelion seeds outside my window right now

Get your garden vac out!

[AdamIndy]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a decent selective weed Killer? I want to kill everything bar the grass. Dandelions and clover amongst other things.

Will be applied by knapsack sprayer over about 100sq/m. Cheaper the better!

[Evanivitch]

So, ants...

My default position is kill them with fire. I guess the reality is lots of ant powder? Not sure how several (black and red) have popped up in my relatively small lawn.

[Tony Angelino]

Cheib said:

I had to buy a lot of fertiliser a couple of weeks ago...I had a look at the Lawnsmith's offerings. Conclusion was its sodding expensive...I think you're paying for the slick marketing. Some of their 20kg are up to £70!!!

I bought mine from Pitchcare https://www.pitchcare.com/shop/maxwell-turf-food-o...

They have a custoemr support line so I rang them told them what I needed ad that's what they recommended. It's been down for a week and made a massive difference.

Would this one kill the moss if applied in the correct dosage? Lawn smith not come back to me as yet about the enquiry I made over email midweek last week.

[Buzz84]

MikeGoodwin said:

Is it ever too late in the year to weed and feed? Planning on giving the grass a good weed and feed but at the same time I need to lay down some new turf which I wont be able to do for a month or so. Might give it a light dose in the autumn and go at it proper next year.

I hope the answer is going to be no, I'm moving house Friday and there is a large patch of moss out the back interspersed with a dozen blades of grass!the house needs a lot so tell garden will be low priority.

[mikees]

8-P said:

Looking good. Well worth the effort, mine looks like a golf fairway, Im rather pleased after the wifes comments 6 weeks ago about me killing the lawn, how Ive ruined it etc etc la la shut up Dorris

This 4 in 1 is amazing. Mind you I'm sprinkling as well. No water meter. Lost the stripes from Saturday by today due to growth.

Mike

[audi321]

Am I too late to plant turf now? I read that April is still ok and given we're only 2 weeks into May would I still be ok with plenty of watering?

[mikees]

Buzz84 said:

MikeGoodwin said:

Is it ever too late in the year to weed and feed? Planning on giving the grass a good weed and feed but at the same time I need to lay down some new turf which I wont be able to do for a month or so. Might give it a light dose in the autumn and go at it proper next year.

I hope the answer is going to be no, I'm moving house Friday and there is a large patch of moss out the back interspersed with a dozen blades of grass!the house needs a lot so tell garden will be low priority.

Should be ok.

[Some Gump]

Well, the war with the dandelions seems to be turning in my favour. Far fewer of them this year.

However, the small leaved clover with the wee yellow flowers is doing my head in. I think it's called Black medic (aka yellow trefoil). The fact that it has 2 names proves it's a double bd.

Last year, I pulled it all out by hand. Took ages, but Resolva hadn't made a dent. This year, it's come back - and in greater numbers.

Help me lawn-be wan. You're my only hope.

[ATG]

Lawns had got totally out of control in the last few weeks with all the sunshine and rain. Foot tall, dense meadow grasses. Bought 2 hours of lawn-mowing at a fund raiser for the local primary school, and the dude turned up with one of these on a trailer and a collection of cutting decks in his van. Amazing bits of kit.

4 wheel drive, a tiny turning circle, massive cutting width, and hugely powerful. 99.9% of the time, total and utter overkill for our needs, but just what the doctor ordered on this occasion.

http://www.stigalawnmowers.co.uk/products/front-cu...

[8-P]

audi321 said:

Am I too late to plant turf now? I read that April is still ok and given we're only 2 weeks into May would I still be ok with plenty of watering?

No youll be ok I think, I did some mid summer last year more about prepping the ground and watering it afterwards

http://www.turfland.co.uk/blog/best-time-of-year-t...

[thetapeworm]

My battle with a very neglected lawn in the new house continues, 5 hours of dandelion removal by hand at the weekend resulted in a rather large pile of the evil things and lots of holes in the lawn. Still plenty to go. Am I OK to leave these holes open and consider them much needed aeration or are they likely to attract other problems?

Secondly are there any negative implication to using a shady lawn seen on non-shady areas? I need to redo the always shady front lawn and some of the larger rear lawn that has shade just at the bottom end, I was going to over seed around the same time to get a nice blend - will this be an issue?

We came home from holiday and found the neighbour at the back had constructed a large wooden gazebo thing along the fence line, he's kindly dug under the fence and onto our side to ensure his concrete had full coverage around the vertical posts so that's another challenge I have now.

[Cheib]

Tony Angelino said:

Cheib said:

I had to buy a lot of fertiliser a couple of weeks ago...I had a look at the Lawnsmith's offerings. Conclusion was its sodding expensive...I think you're paying for the slick marketing. Some of their 20kg are up to £70!!!

I bought mine from Pitchcare https://www.pitchcare.com/shop/maxwell-turf-food-o...

They have a custoemr support line so I rang them told them what I needed ad that's what they recommended. It's been down for a week and made a massive difference.

Would this one kill the moss if applied in the correct dosage? Lawn smith not come back to me as yet about the enquiry I made over email midweek last week.

I don't believe so.

Looks like they have these products https://www.pitchcare.com/shop/turf-moss-control/i...

I'd call them, they were very helpful.

[Cheib]

AdamIndy said:

Does anyone have any recommendations for a decent selective weed Killer? I want to kill everything bar the grass. Dandelions and clover amongst other things.

Will be applied by knapsack sprayer over about 100sq/m. Cheaper the better!

I have just ordered some of this

http://www.rigbytaylor.com/Shop+by+Product/Algae+M...

Not the cheapest but then it's a professional product....and will last ages.