2015 Lawn thread

[Gareth1974]

I'm been expecting to have to seed patches as a consequence of scarifying, will I need to do the whole lawn (I'm new to lawn care!)

[jagnet]

Gareth1974 said:

I've just bought a scarifier, and plan to use it for the first time this evening. Any advice? Should I do the whole lawn, or just areas which look shabby?

Scarify the whole lawn. Start on a higher setting that's just starting to nibble into the soil, then get progressively deeper. I'd look at doing 3 passes over the lawn, angling each at about 30 degrees to the last. You may need to do more if there's a lot of thatch and moss.

Overseed the whole lawn to better blend in the bare patches and thicken the sward on the rest.

[WinstonWolf]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

Rain, and very mild nights which should keep the soil temperature up for a bit longer. Go for it!

I best get on with it then

[illmonkey]

The seed I finally laid for the dog patches hasn't taken. It's had water most days, but won't go.

What do I need to do? In 'summer' when patching it came out very quick, this times it's been 2 weeks and nothing!

[jagnet]

I'd remove any dead grass, scratch up the soil surface and reseed if there's no sign of germination by now. Ensure there's good seed to soil contact, and cover with a little fresh sand/topsoil.

Germination failure is likely down to the seed laying on top of dead grass, old seed, or the seed drying out at the wrong time.

[illmonkey]

There is no grass, I'll scratch the surface and reseed.
What's the watering recommendation? Once a day with sprinkler?

[jagnet]

At least once, possibly two or three times a day depending on how fast the ground dries. Giving the seed a light covering of soil will help. It's all about keeping the seed moist to get it to germinate and then to stop it drying out once it starts.

[illmonkey]

Got it. I raked the grass, then laid seed, then mixed it into the loose mud and patted it back down. then a small dose of water.

I'll do an other water tonight.

Can you over water it?

[jagnet]

It is possible to over water, but the soil would need to be consistently water logged. Aim for 'moist' and you'll be fine.

[jagnet]

A quick update on the lawn progress for anyone that's interested:

This was the state of play after scarifying and topdressing:-



And today:-





On the whole the bent grass really expensive bird food has taken well. There's some areas in the foreground where it hasn't so much, but it's still early enough in the autumn to deal with them.

With the forecast of rain all day yesterday I lightly reseeded on Friday to help fill in thinner areas. As it turned out it was bright blue skies and sun all day (well done met office ), so I ended up syringing the lawn about 8 times throughout the day to keep the ground moist. Germination should now be a little easier with more grass coverage to nurse the fresh seedlings.

This morning I've added a half rate spread of Maxwell Myco 2 4-6-12 organic fertiliser plus a light dose of 4-4.5-8 liquid seaweed extract. With the soil being a loamy sand, with all the irrigating and with the original fertiliser after scarifying being at half rate a little boost now seemed in order. It'll also bring it in line with the path area so both can be fertilised together next time.

I'm using less P in relation to N and K than normal for seedling development as the soil test came back showing that there was plenty available already.

[Dr Murdoch]

Can anyone recommend a fertilizer / seed spreader for £50 or under?

Its a relatively small garden, maybe 40sqm.

Cheers

[jagnet]

Something like the Scotts Handy Green Spreader would be fine. Set the spreading rate to about half what you need and make a couple of passes at 90 degrees for a more even spread.

[Jimmyarm]

Some lovely gardens on this thread

We are about to move to a house which has a reasonable back lawn already in place, it needs work to get it how I would like but my main concern is that we now have a little girl dog.

I 'made' a lawn in our current places back garden by clearing all the weeds and seeding last year, has been fine for the summer but is now spotted with little dead patches from the dog wee.

Moving forwards, is running out and tipping a bucket of water on the spots the only solution that works ? I'll try and train her to go in one area behind the shed but well, dog is dog

[aphill80]

We have a Female dog.. (2yrs) old... nothing works to solve the dog patches on the lawn.. we tried the DOG ROCKS. then ketchup in her food. She was spayed a year ago and people said that would help... (that was not the reason she was spayed) it didn't make a difference

the only thing that works is to water down the area after she goes... So our final solution was to gravel a area at the end of the garden and train her to only go on the gravel... been a year since we saw a burn in the lawn :-)

[jagnet]

Jimmyarm said:

is running out and tipping a bucket of water on the spots the only solution that works ?

Yep, that's the only way to prevent the grass burning.

You might consider sowing microclover amongst the grasses, which is more resilient to excessive ammonia in the urine so that the patches at least stay greener until you get chance to overseed. I'm doing that to a couple of lawns that suffer from dog spotting. The clover also has other benefits for the lawn - eg nitrogen fixing, improving soil structure and reducing compaction.

I had a thought the other day that ground charcoal could be a possible solution, but until I get chance to do some testing it is just theoretical.

[moles]

Day 9 after seeding and I have about 90% success with germination i think, some parts are slower than others but there is grass coming up everywhere.

[jagnet]

moles said:

Day 9 after seeding and I have about 90% success with germination i think, some parts are slower than others but there is grass coming up everywhere.

That's coming up a treat

[tim0409]

tim0409 said:

Finally decided to hire a scarifier to do the lawn in the coming week (given the weather and the fact my lawn doesn't seem to growing due to the thatch) - the hire company lists two different types; slit tines or flails -

Slit tines - Ideal for use on large lawns. This lawn scarifies and aerates
the ground removing dead grass, weeds and moss.

Flails - Professional petrol scarifier with flail action blades for
harsher conditions to give top performance.

My lawn is circa. 90sqm and has quite a thatch problem - would welcome some advice on which would be the most suitable?

Many thanks

Tim

I hired a slit tine scarifier (which is also meant to aerate) this afternoon and set to work on the lawn; I can't believe how much thatch came out! I did one pass then a lower one across the lawn - still not sure if I need to do another, lower pass so would welcome opinions. Do I need to feed/water it, or should I wait?

Photos to follow - for some reason I can't upload them at the moment.

Many thanks

Tim

Edited by tim0409 on Wednesday 16th September 20:37

[505diff]

Just noticed the lawn awash with crane flies, and I mean thousands, bds, nematodes on order, anyone else got these to look forward to eating the lawn over winter?

[jagnet]

tim0409 said:

I did one pass then a lower one across the lawn - still not sure if I need to do another, lower pass so would welcome opinions. Do I need to feed/water it, or should I wait?

It looks as though you're still pulling up a lot of thatch on the second pass, so I'd do another one. Avoid crossing the previous pass at 90 degrees, it's best to angle each pass at about 30 degrees to the previous one to avoid tearing out the grass plants.

Are you planning on overseeding?

I would definitely give the lawn a feed unless it's recently had one, and a good deep watering will help the grass recover.

I'd also give the grass a really short cut once done.