2020 Lawn thread

[Rtype]

Any idea why my newly grown grass is 'collapsing on itself? [url]

|https://thumbsnap.com/CRRsLKba[/url]

Thanks

[MrChips]

Having successfully sorted the garden over the summer I’d planned to re-do this area out the front. I’ve been delayed by 4 weeks so it’s not going to gain traction as much as I’d liked.

It’s got plastic grids below it and occasionally park the car on it (once every 6 weeks or so). It really needed ripping up and restarting but I had some A1 premiership rye seed left over so have gone for a light renovation first.

[Harry Flashman]

My lawn is beginning to thin noticeably as it seems to every autumn - it always looks really poor over winter. Probably to do with the sand it is laid over.

This time I scatters a load of winter slow release fertiliser on just before the current rain. Actually, given how heavy this rain is and the sand under the roots, I may do this again in a few weeks.

I also have some sand suitable golf course sees to oversees with. Taking no chances!

So far, no sign of squirrels digging up my deeply planted crocus bulbs... We'll see.

[ooid]

I've been told not to scarify in september but good to double check with experts over here? As it will be cold and no-sun, the newly seeded won't be growing fast. I usually do it late-march or 1st week of april so it grows quickly.

[Dr Murdoch]

Two weeks ago I used a starter lawn fertiliser and over-seeded. I'm now beginning to see new shoots, which is great.

However, as these are new seedlings, when (if) will be the best time to apply the autumn fertilizer? And is there anything else I should be applying? Its a shady area, but the seeds are extremely shade tolerant. If they establish properly, i'm hoping I shouldn't have a moss problem?

[Leftfootwonder]

Rtype said:

Any idea why my newly grown grass is 'collapsing on itself? [url]

|https://thumbsnap.com/CRRsLKba[/url]

Thanks

Its too long. You need to give it a mow on the high setting then gradually bring it down.

[Leftfootwonder]

Dr Murdoch said:

Two weeks ago I used a starter lawn fertiliser and over-seeded. I'm now beginning to see new shoots, which is great.

However, as these are new seedlings, when (if) will be the best time to apply the autumn fertilizer? And is there anything else I should be applying? Its a shady area, but the seeds are extremely shade tolerant. If they establish properly, i'm hoping I shouldn't have a moss problem?

Personally I wouldn't be looking to apply any fertiliser to the new grass until the spring now as most recommend not to fertilise beyond mid-November but it would potentially be harmful to the new grass to do it any sooner.

[GIYess]

Hi all. I'm hoping you don't mind me asking a question in here being ignorant of lawn care.

My lawn is sown on clay soil by the looks of it. In a dry spell it's gone dry and shrinks away from the kerb. In wet it's squelchy on top.
Not surprisingly, I have very little grass and a lot of clover, daisy and buttercup. There's also a lot of yellowed grass patches that completely die over winter.

I had read about using a corer areator and spreading with sharp sand. Would this help it? I really don't want to reseed it.

No pets and kids don't play in it, so that's not causing a problem

Thanks in advance.

[dhutch]

ooid said:

I've been told not to scarify in september but good to double check with experts over here? As it will be cold and no-sun, the newly seeded won't be growing fast. I usually do it late-march or 1st week of april so it grows quickly.

My understand is is that most of september should ok for most of the country, with a good fortnight between south and north climbs, but while you might well get germination a little later it is quite a risk for anything other than patching small areas.

However late aug early sept is a good time, certainly while I have missed this year, ive had better suggest at the end of the year than the beginning. This year especially as soon as it was warm enough, we got one of the driest aprils on record!

Daniel

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

ooid said:

I've been told not to scarify in september but good to double check with experts over here? As it will be cold and no-sun, the newly seeded won't be growing fast. I usually do it late-march or 1st week of april so it grows quickly.

You've been given some very strange (bad) advice.

September is the perfect month for scarifying, because the soil temperature is still warm from the summer but the ambient temperature will be milder. You're also likely to get a bit more rain. These are perfect conditions for sowing seed and for the grass to recover from scarifying.

Spring is less ideal for scarifying, and you certainly shouldn't be scarifying aggressively. The risk is that you get a period of hot dry weather (as indeed we did this year), and the lawn will then struggle to recover. Also, the soil temperature is actually still quite low in spring - it takes the soil a long time to warm up. And since it's soil temperature (not ambient temperature) that determines the success of seed germination, spring is not as good as autumn for seed germination.

[ChocolateFrog]

My reseeding has had decidedly mixed results.

Patchy and thin in places with lots of weeds throughout. I've given it some Autumn fertiliser and picked out some of the weeds but don't think there's much point doing anything with it until spring now.

And despite me being careful with the dog he must have peed in the middle of it because there's a nice circle dead patch.

It's frustrating caring about your lawn.

[Chicken Chaser]

Well my big patchy mess above is starting to close up a bit. I reseeded those areas just over 10 days ago and they're showing. The problem is the ground is completely saturated now with all the rain we've had. Fortunately I think we passed the point of seed washout before it did rain.

Hopefully between now and the end of the month we will have some decent dry days to keep providing warmth to the soil.

[Too Late]

It will be 4 weeks this Sunday when i seeded our newly levelled garden



Note the area not taken on the return brickwork will be a boarder for planting so will be cleared of the lose grass


Its wet out, very wet. But when do you think it will be safe for its first cut.

[dhutch]

Looks amazing. Most say about 2" for the first cut? Make sure the blade is sharp, try not to scuff it, pick a day it's not quite as wet as this week has been, but it will be ok.

[RichB]

Does everyone on here still favour the Lawnsmith stuff? I have been using their fertiliser and seed since I first saw them recommended on here a few years ago. I just ordered 10kg autumn fertiliser from them and noticed that there's a lot of variation between different autumn ferts from different manufacturers. Lawnsmith's is 15-5-10 slow release over 3 months. I wondered what the experts on here use?

[Milkbuttons]

Is it still safe to chuck down some seed this late in the year?
I have a few areas that have become a bit patchy so was thinking about over seeding the lawn.

[dhutch]

Milkbuttons said:

Is it still safe to chuck down some seed this late in the year?
I have a few areas that have become a bit patchy so was thinking about over seeding the lawn.

I guess it will never do any harm to add seed, it just might not germinate. At which point scarifying could do harm as it wont regenerate and will therefore leave a mess and a blank canvas for weeds and moss over winter.

So while not an expert at all, I would patch patches, but hold of doing the whole lot at this point, unless it is a fairly small area and hence the cost of seed in negligible.

If you have some horticultural fleece or clear polythene sheet to cover it it should raise ground and overnight temps a degree or two.


Daniel

[Too Late]

RichB said:

Does everyone on here still favour the Lawnsmith stuff? I have been using their fertiliser and seed since I first saw them recommended on here a few years ago. I just ordered 10kg autumn fertiliser from them and noticed that there's a lot of variation between different autumn ferts from different manufacturers. Lawnsmith's is 15-5-10 slow release over 3 months. I wondered what the experts on here use?

I used Boston seeds buying some grass seed and some Kiss My Grass fertilizer. Very impressed with both

[ellroy]

Chafers, got bloody chafers.

Have put some nematodes down about 2 weeks ago, but no noticeable impact.

Any suggestions or is it dig it out and start again job?

[ooid]

One last trim in a week, than I guess the lawn is ready for a winter sleep?

Quite glad those red thread disasters recovered finally..