2017 Lawn thread

[georgefreeman918]

What would you guys recommend for a small shady garden?

Currently turfed but mostly moss, and looking at either re turfing or seeding?

What would you guys recommend? What are the positives / negatives of turfing / seeding?

Any particular type to look go for to suit shade?

[Too Late]

jlee said:

seeded a week ago - nothing. Will it be best to reseed again or will it likely come up?

It can take 4 weeks to show signs of growth

be patient i say

[jagnet]

jlee said:

seeded a week ago - nothing. Will it be best to reseed again or will it likely come up?

It'll come up when it's good and ready to. It can take several weeks to germinate in cooler temperatures but it will happen.

georgefreeman918 said:

What would you guys recommend for a small shady garden?

Currently turfed but mostly moss, and looking at either re turfing or seeding?

What would you guys recommend? What are the positives / negatives of turfing / seeding?

Any particular type to look go for to suit shade?

Personally I'd use seed as there's so much more choice for shady areas, and shade tolerant turf can be very expensive. There's some recommendations for shade tolerant seed mixes earlier in the thread, but Lawnsmith's Shadygreen is a popular choice for damp shade.

[BlueHave]

richatnort said:

BlueHave said:

Scarified mine a few weeks back, then moss killer. Heavy clay soil so decided today would be the day to aerate it before raking and reseeding.

Used a fork to do 20sqm by hand, so lets just say i've done my monthly workout

Backbreaking work

Not to make you hate yourself but for £20 you could of saved yourself some time.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009K9A1GA/ref=cm_sw_r...

Have used these in the past but the spikes aren't long enough, needed to go down about 9 inches.

[NDA]

Too Late said:

jlee said:

seeded a week ago - nothing. Will it be best to reseed again or will it likely come up?

It can take 4 weeks to show signs of growth

be patient i say

Yes indeed. Give it plenty of time, don't fiddle with it.... the soil needs to be considerably warmer.

[8-P]

MockingJay said:

Nope, I seeded two weeks ago and have got diddly.

Based on my experience last year its still not really warm enough for germination, dont re seed but I reckon itll be 3-4 weeks total before you see anything.

[richatnort]

Does anyone think it's a good time to put some fertiliser down? I've just scarified my lawn and got 90% of it out and it's looking pretty bare now.

So i was thinking put some fertiliser down then top soil and seed at the end of May?

And would anyone recommend some good places to get it all from? I've looked on lawn smith but it's come to £60 for fertiliser and grass seed which seems a bit steep but then again i don't know much about it.

Edited by richatnort on Tuesday 28th March 09:12

[Too Late]

richatnort said:

Does anyone think it's a good time to put some fertiliser down? I've just scarified my lawn and got 90% of it out and it's looking pretty bare now.

So i was thinking put some fertiliser down then top soil and seed at the end of May?

And would anyone recommend some good places to get it all from? I've looked on lawn smith but it's come to £60 for fertiliser and grass seed which seems a bit steep but then again i don't know much about it.

Edited by richatnort on Tuesday 28th March 09:12

The fertiliser i purchased said to use within 2 weeks or at the same time of seeding or turfing

So unless you are going to do it within 2 weeks, i would say no

[paulrockliffe]

In my garden I've got buds breaking on some of the trees, 10% of my raspberries have put up new shoots and the blackcurrants have all poked a green bit out of the stem. Based on that I wouldn't expect grass seeds to be flying out of the ground at the moment, but it will eventually.

I sprayed the lawn for moss yesterday, it's been a great winter for that stuff! Planning to scarify that in a few weeks when the moss is dead and the council have emptied my garden bin - stopping in October and starting in April is pretty useless! - then over-seed with some fertilser and I should be good for this year. I'm hoping to train my kleptomaniac toddler to pull speedwell from the lawn this summer, which would be a great help!

[foggy]

I seeded an area on a gentle south facing gentle in Berkshire 10 days ago. There's a healthy green hue to the area now with plenty of germination and sprigs an inch high or so.

[8-P]

foggy said:

I seeded an area on a gentle south facing gentle in Berkshire 10 days ago. There's a healthy green hue to the area now with plenty of germination and sprigs an inch high or so.

South facing = as much sun and warmth as is possible

[maccas99]

Piersman2 said:

Scarifiers are excellent, but so irritating. Get about 3 foot and then have to stop and empty the damn thing, or use it with no box and have it fling moss and chaff 6 foot in the air as you walk into it, and then have to rake it all up anyways!

After my efforts this weekend I'm up to 4 big black sacks so far, and I've only done about 1/4 of the garden. The first year I did it a few years back I pulled out 21 full, compressed, black bin bags.

I've just ordered up some more Ferrous Sulphate moss killer powder and a tub of lawn fertiliser. I'll give the lawn a spray of a that combined in a week or so to make sure and kill off any moss bits left and give the grass a boost.

Then I have to move onto the OH's lawn at her house which has so much moss in it it's like walking on a mattress. I am NOT looking forward to that.

Where have you ordered your Ferrous Sulphate from? Care to share? :-)

[Craikeybaby]

jagnet said:

georgefreeman918 said:

What would you guys recommend for a small shady garden?

Currently turfed but mostly moss, and looking at either re turfing or seeding?

What would you guys recommend? What are the positives / negatives of turfing / seeding?

Any particular type to look go for to suit shade?

Personally I'd use seed as there's so much more choice for shady areas, and shade tolerant turf can be very expensive. There's some recommendations for shade tolerant seed mixes earlier in the thread, but Lawnsmith's Shadygreen is a popular choice for damp shade.

This sounds a lot like the lawn I am tackling at my parents house. I've ordered the Johnson's shady lawn mix, as it has types of grass included in the Lawnsmith seed, but is available in much smaller amounts.

I put moss killer on the lawn last weekend, and will scarify and overseed next week sometime.

[georgefreeman918]

Craikeybaby said:

This sounds a lot like the lawn I am tackling at my parents house. I've ordered the Johnson's shady lawn mix, as it has types of grass included in the Lawnsmith seed, but is available in much smaller amounts.

I put moss killer on the lawn last weekend, and will scarify and overseed next week sometime.

Just seems to be more moss than anything!

Plus the dog likes to wee on this - do tomatoes stop the staining?

As its such a small area I'm just going to start again.

[jagnet]

The only reliable way to stop scorching from dog urine is to water it in really well immediately. You'll get lush green growth in that area still, but at least the grass won't die.

[Accelebrate]

richatnort said:

And would anyone recommend some good places to get it all from? I've looked on lawn smith but it's come to £60 for fertiliser and grass seed which seems a bit steep but then again i don't know much about it.

https://www.ivisons.com seem a bit cheaper, they have an eBay store with more choice too.

[p1stonhead]

Last weekend I cleared out the planting and shrubs which made my already small garden much smaller (and put some doors into the garage)

New lawn right, old lawn left.

Perhaps I should have done the whole lot.....

Edited by p1stonhead on Wednesday 29th March 07:44

[PostHeads123]

Quick question, do you always have to top dress if you do heavy scarifying or can you just get a way with a lot of reseeding ?

thanks

[Piersman2]

maccas99 said:

Where have you ordered your Ferrous Sulphate from? Care to share? :-)

From Lawnsmiths, I signed up for an account this time and noticed on my old orders that I've ordered the same 10kg tub of Ferrous Sulphate in March for the last 3 years!

Bloody moss is such a pain.

But I've finished 1 half of the lawn, 8 black sacks full, and it looks pretty bare as it always does when I do it. I'll get another light application of ferrous Sulphate over it to hopefully kill off any moss still clinging on in there, along with some fertiliser as I've not applied any of that for 5 years or so now.

I'm based in Berkshire, and the grass on the bit I've not yet attacked with the scarifier is shooting up over the last week since I mowed it. I might have to mow it again before I scarify.

I'll be back to Lawnsmith's soon for some more big bags of seed, one general and one shady, so I can massively over seed again. Keeps the local pigeons well happy that does.

[paulw123]

just over 3 weeks ago I fed with evergreen and a week later scarified, verticut, overseeded and top dressed. Its been over 2 weeks now and I would have expected to see some beginnings of seed germination. Just shows its got a bit colder at nights recently. this is on the south coast too. Will try and sort some pics up soon. Its (fortunately) only a small lawn but trying to get it to grow under a big TPO'd pine tree is always a challenge