2022 Lawn Thread

[Stedman]

I didn't think I had many weeds before popping down some Autumn feed, Christ how I was wrong - they've gone mental!

Grass looks good though

Edited by Stedman on Wednesday 5th October 12:53

[nickfrog]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

(...)

Mike, a massive thank you for your very humorous and reassuring message. Much appreciated.

[AyBee]

blue al said:

I’d put polythene down to extend the growing season and retain moisture

Clearly someone who doesn't like in the NW where it's currently not necessary to retain any moisture

[Comacchio]

Is it too late to either seed or lay turf on an area of 'virgin' ground? Almost finished landscaping our garden and have a 3m x 8m (or so) patch of hard soil that I intend to rotavate prior to either seeding or buying turf. Located near Glasgow. Probably a month away from being ready to be honest, so thinking leave until spring? The soil isn't great quality, quite stony - not sure whether I should get a tonne of topsoil first to spread or whether rotavating will be fine if turfing.

Went from this:



To this:



Over last weekend. Still a bit of soil to be removed to get to the correct level.

Edited by Comacchio on Wednesday 5th October 09:41

[dhutch]

AyBee said:

Clearly someone who doesn't like in the NW where it's currently not necessary to retain any moisture

Lot of truth in that! Just been down the m6 this morning, no lorry fire (yesterday) but it down to 50mph due to rain!

[MDUBZ]

We moved into a new place end of May, the lawn was OK tbh, quite a few weeds in some places and a bit patchy in others. Apart from cutting and the occasional weed and feed I’ve not done a whole lot over the summer. The lawn is raised, so moisture retention is a problem, and the hot weather really took it’s toll. I applied a lawn specific weed killer middle of august, I scarified 1st September and applied a pre seed fertiliser, overseeded a week later and repaired some patches. Results are a real hit and miss - I’ve struggled to maintain moisture level I think: I have a much lower weed count, grass looks much healthier and thicker, but still very patchy in places… so 2 days ago, my attempt 3, I bought some more top soil and seed and did some more patch repairs (in the dark ), fingers crossed I haven’t left it too late: overnight temps are forecast to fall into single figures on a few nights over the next couple of weeks.

Already planning next year, early focus will be try to improve soil to retain some moisture, encourage deeper root growth and fix the remaining patches.





Ps yes I know.. I struggled to walk in straight lines and the lawn area it’s not as square as the image suggests (it widens a bit)..

Edited by MDUBZ on Thursday 6th October 12:35

[dhutch]

Looks fairly good to me!

[RichB]

Gratuitous picture of one of the lawns after cutting it earlier this week. It's recovering well after being blasted by the sun this summer. Coincidentally Google just popped up a picture form 5 years ago today! We did rather trash it with the digger while building the greenhouse.

|https://thumbsnap.com/LJx9LJeM[/url]

[url]

[MDUBZ]

dhutch said:

Looks fairly good to me!

Thank you appreciated. Improved for sure, that angle flatters it and the OCD is strong. Needs a bit of levelling too

I can see a few green shoots in some areas, but was expecting better after 4-5 weeks which is why I threw down a bit more top soil and seed. Worst case I’ve just put down a good base for next spring.

[Stedman]

dhutch said:

Looks fairly good to me!

Agreed

[nickfrog]

Experts please.

Is this stuff any good?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112770169422?_trkparms=...

I have only just scarified and overseeded last weekend but the feed I used is like a weak retail formula I think.

Any counter indications with the seeds?

[Semmelweiss]

nickfrog said:

Experts please.

Is this stuff any good?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112770169422?_trkparms=...

I have only just scarified and overseeded last weekend but the feed I used is like a weak retail formula I think.

Any counter indications with the seeds?

That is definitely not what you want at this time of the year. It's an extremely high nitrogen (N) fertiliser, with very little P & K - these encourage root growth (what you want over autumn and winter), whilst N encourages leaf/top growth (what you want in Spring and early Summer).

Look specifically for an autumn fertiliser.

[nickfrog]

^ thanks a lot.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Semmelweiss said:

nickfrog said:

Experts please.

Is this stuff any good?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112770169422?_trkparms=...

I have only just scarified and overseeded last weekend but the feed I used is like a weak retail formula I think.

Any counter indications with the seeds?

That is definitely not what you want at this time of the year. It's an extremely high nitrogen (N) fertiliser, with very little P & K - these encourage root growth (what you want over autumn and winter), whilst N encourages leaf/top growth (what you want in Spring and early Summer).

Look specifically for an autumn fertiliser.

Something like Sportsmaster Autumn 4-12-12 would be much better. I used a moderate dose of this every six weeks throughout autumn and winter and right through into early spring, and intend to do the same this year. I’ll pause the feeding if we get a properly cold snap, which we didn’t last winter, but otherwise I think the lawn benefits from the phosphorus and potassium - the former for root growth (which continues well into winter) and the latter for hardening of the grass. My lawn came out of winter this year in much stronger condition than ever before.

Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Saturday 8th October 07:45

[sutoka]

Applied Miracle Gro Autumn Lawncare a week ago 35g per m2 about a week after spiking. No weeds or moss in the lawn. I measured it accurately and applied as per the instructions. Looks like it scorched the hell out of it. I haven't made a mistake, I checked and double checked and even emailed Miracle Gro who said it 'could be a bad batch'.

Well thanks to their bad batch it looks like I'll be reseeding and top dressing at my expense.

[McGee_22]

Any recommendations for a winter feed and something to get rid of the moss?

I could scarify first but not really sure of which order to do things in at this time of year. I've used the 4-in-1 stuff to good effect in very early spring over the last few years and the weeds are down to a stray one or two and the moss massively reduced. I lightly scarified in late spring for the first time this to get rid of the dead and dying moss so it's been pretty damn good for most of the summer, with only a late flourish of clover which I have left to itself.

[Stedman]

Maybe Lawnsmith Green Up may be worth looking at? You could continue to use it over the winter into spring at which point you can hit the moss.

[dhutch]

sutoka said:

Applied Miracle Gro Autumn Lawncare a week ago 35g per m2 about a week after spiking. No weeds or moss in the lawn. I measured it accurately and applied as per the instructions. Looks like it scorched the hell out of it. I haven't made a mistake, I checked and double checked and even emailed Miracle Gro who said it 'could be a bad batch'.

Well thanks to their bad batch it looks like I'll be reseeding and top dressing at my expense.

Presumably plenty of rain too as this time of year? Odd.

[sutoka]

dhutch said:

Presumably plenty of rain too as this time of year? Odd.

Baffled it rained heavily three days after

[Evanivitch]

sutoka said:

Applied Miracle Gro Autumn Lawncare a week ago 35g per m2 about a week after spiking. No weeds or moss in the lawn. I measured it accurately and applied as per the instructions. Looks like it scorched the hell out of it. I haven't made a mistake, I checked and double checked and even emailed Miracle Gro who said it 'could be a bad batch'.

Well thanks to their bad batch it looks like I'll be reseeding and top dressing at my expense.

Did they request the batch number off your container?