2016 Lawn thread

[BRISTOL86]

8-P said:

Hard to tell, during the recent warm patch a few weeks back the sunniest parts of my lawn almost visibly grew, literally I could see the difference every morning. The thing is every seed that geminates pops out one shoot, at some point that one shoot becomes more, but Im not sure how quick that process is - I would have thought at least as long as its been in so far if not more.

Cheers! It already looks tons better at first glance than just the bare soil that was there before, and I then did a second swathe of seeding about a week ago so that should be germinating soon too hopefully. Should look quite a bit different in another few weeks I think!

[FUBAR]

This time last week :gulp:

[8-P]

FUBAR said:

This time last week :gulp:

Itll be a dream soon........

[scz4]

scz4 said:

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

scz4 said:

Glad I found this thread...

So what are tolerances of grass growing through top soil? See pics below. I've extended our garden into the field, but it's pretty uneven, so I've been putting top soil down to trying to flatten it out a little. Happy to re-seed if required, but hoping it may push through, probably 1 to 2" deep.

(apologies about the quality of the pictures, sun was going down)

Edited by scz4 on Friday 6th May 21:33

That is such a golden opportunity to put some seed down; why wouldn't you, with the weather being so ideal for germination over the next week or so? Definitely seed it, and scatter some over the existing lawn as well to blend it in.

Thanks, although I I should have stated I'm in the NE of Scotland, so ground temperatures are still below 10 degrees, so not quite ready yet.

So I went ahead and seeded on the 9th (10 days ago), I've watered each day that it's not been raining and still nothing happening First 4 days temps were 20+ degrees, now down at 12 degrees or so, down to 7 or 8 at night..... Can I assume the seeds are "dead"? I went to a seed specialist that I've used before, so no concerns over the quality of the seed.

[8-P]

scz4 said:

So I went ahead and seeded on the 9th (10 days ago), I've watered each day that it's not been raining and still nothing happening First 4 days temps were 20+ degrees, now down at 12 degrees or so, down to 7 or 8 at night..... Can I assume the seeds are "dead"? I went to a seed specialist that I've used before, so no concerns over the quality of the seed.

Wasnt the general opinion your soil was too deep? Doubt they are dead though, some of mine were stuck in the cold for 3 weeks

[scz4]

8-P said:

Wasnt the general opinion your soil was too deep? Doubt they are dead though, some of mine were stuck in the cold for 3 weeks

I didn't really understand the response about soil depth at the time, assumed that was referencing the existing grass growing through, which is what I was asking. But I decided to top seed it, but with no success.

Ah good to know, didn't think they would sit dormant for that long.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

I assumed you'd seeded on top, in which case it's too early to give up on the seed yet. Ten days in Scotland is not all that long.

[MG-FIDO]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

I assumed you'd seeded on top, in which case it's too early to give up on the seed yet. Ten days in Scotland is not all that long.

Yeah, as Gary Barlow would say, have a little patience!

[BRISTOL86]

Better shot of how things have improved since early April

[Joe M]

2 weeks in and my staygreen seed hasn't germinated I know the seed is good, ive got some in a tub in the kitchen on wet kitchen towel and its about 3 inches. Hope ive not over fertilised as I didn't accurately measure the garden.
Also, I seem to have attracted 2 wood pigeons to the garden, there stting everywhere and eating god knows how much seed. I take it they will bugger off once the seed starts growing or runs out?

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Whereabouts are you Joe?

Two weeks isn't necessarily a failure yet.

[moles]

Mine is coming along nicely after starting afresh last september, it is still a bit thin in places but is totally flat now.. Only problem I have is that when I cut it short something comes in a starts digging holes in the ground think its either foxes or birds getting at worms?. I had the same problem when I first seeded and it has been fine all winter until I cut it short this week and the next day I have about 6 small holes/mud scrapings where something has tried to dig under the grass.

[Joe M]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

Whereabouts are you Joe?

Two weeks isn't necessarily a failure yet.

Glasgow area, weather has been good since seeding, a hot week with watering then a wet week, but still fairly warm. Had a better look, the areas ive filled dips with new topsoil have some reasonable patches, but the main grass has hardly anything. I don't think I've killed it with the fertiliser or I wouldnt have the decent patches. Probably just crap soil and I need to be more patient.

[LordHaveMurci]

moles said:

when I cut it short something comes in a starts digging holes in the ground think its either foxes or birds getting at worms?. I had the same problem when I first seeded and it has been fine all winter until I cut it short this week and the next day I have about 6 small holes/mud scrapings where something has tried to dig under the grass.

I've had the same issue on our front lawn this week, guessed it was foxes too

[Mario149]

I actually ordered 50m of plastic fencing and stakes today to keep our Rottie off the bit I seeded the other day "little" bastid keeps digging holes when we're not looking, and it only takes him about 10s to make one 6" wide and about the same deep!

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Joe M said:

Glasgow area, weather has been good since seeding, a hot week with watering then a wet week, but still fairly warm. Had a better look, the areas ive filled dips with new topsoil have some reasonable patches, but the main grass has hardly anything. I don't think I've killed it with the fertiliser or I wouldnt have the decent patches. Probably just crap soil and I need to be more patient.

Soil temperature is the important factor, not air temperature - and the soil temperature will lag behind. Your soil may still be rather cool.

[Philemon]

LordHaveMurci said:

moles said:

when I cut it short something comes in a starts digging holes in the ground think its either foxes or birds getting at worms?. I had the same problem when I first seeded and it has been fine all winter until I cut it short this week and the next day I have about 6 small holes/mud scrapings where something has tried to dig under the grass.

I've had the same issue on our front lawn this week, guessed it was foxes too

This is usually crows or magpies digging for leatherjackets or thrushes digging for worms.

Quite common shortly after mowing, when the vibrations from the more cause the worms to come to the surface. You can often make the worms come up by banging a small area of the lawn with the flat of a spade. Quite amusing seeing them wriggle around .

[taaffy]

Mario149 said:

I actually ordered 50m of plastic fencing and stakes today to keep our Rottie off the bit I seeded the other day "little" bastid keeps digging holes when we're not looking, and it only takes him about 10s to make one 6" wide and about the same deep!

I feel your pain, we had 3 Rotti's at the same time and they don't half make a good job of excavating the garden.

[bigbob77]

Mario149 said:

I actually ordered 50m of plastic fencing and stakes today to keep our Rottie off the bit I seeded the other day "little" bastid keeps digging holes when we're not looking, and it only takes him about 10s to make one 6" wide and about the same deep!

When I first seeded our lawn I used plastic fencing to keep our dogs out. It worked until the Lab decided to have a crazy 5 minutes of "tuck tail under bum and run like a stabbed rat" (he was 4 years old FFS, not a puppy!)
He ran straight through the fence nose-first, leaving a cartoon-like dog shaped hole and proceeded to "wheelspin" all through the lawn

[Mario149]

bigbob77 said:

When I first seeded our lawn I used plastic fencing to keep our dogs out. It worked until the Lab decided to have a crazy 5 minutes of "tuck tail under bum and run like a stabbed rat" (he was 4 years old FFS, not a puppy!)
He ran straight through the fence nose-first, leaving a cartoon-like dog shaped hole and proceeded to "wheelspin" all through the lawn