2017 Lawn thread

[Patrick Bateman]

Anyone any experience of this scarifier/raker?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb428gdo-32cm-130...

Need to properly sort out my moss problem and aerate the lawn. Never scarified or aerated before, doubt it was done by the previous owners for years either.

Also looking at this-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/VonHaus-Electric-Scarifie...

Does the raker element of these sorts still aerate decently?

Edited by Patrick Bateman on Tuesday 29th August 19:23

[Dal3D]

Patrick Bateman said:

Anyone any experience of this scarifier/raker?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb428gdo-32cm-130...

Need to properly sort out my moss problem and aerate the lawn. Never scarified or aerated before, doubt it was done by the previous owners for years either.

Also looking at this-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/VonHaus-Electric-Scarifie...

Does the raker element of these sorts still aerate decently?

Edited by Patrick Bateman on Tuesday 29th August 19:23

I've got that screwfix one - it's a beast and can pull you along nicely. Get rid of moss quite well too.

[Patrick Bateman]

I've just noticed the lead is only 3m according to that, is that not a pain in the ass?

Can it aerate the lawn or is it really not ideal for that?

[Muncher]

Final raking, preseed fertiliser spread, seed spread, light rolling and now waiting for it to grow. That was last Saturday, currently away on holiday for two weeks so hoping to go back to see some grass!

[Rich135]

Patrick Bateman said:

Anyone any experience of this scarifier/raker?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb428gdo-32cm-130...

Need to properly sort out my moss problem and aerate the lawn. Never scarified or aerated before, doubt it was done by the previous owners for years either.

Also looking at this-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/VonHaus-Electric-Scarifie...

Does the raker element of these sorts still aerate decently?

Edited by Patrick Bateman on Tuesday 29th August 19:23

I also have the Titan one, but agree with another poster, the bag is useless. Just do the scarifying them now everything up (emptying your mowing bag a lot!).
They don't aerate at all, as you need to push into the lawn to do that (making holes or pulling plugs of earth out). That is a different machine. The raker attachment is fine for raking the grass and the scarifyer attachment does a great job.

The lead is definitely longer than 3metres, but I always have an extension lead into the middle of the lawn and then power from there.

[Muncher]

News from back home, first shoots after 5 days!

[Rib]

If it's very thatchy then use the blades, if it's mainly moss use the spring tines as they are more effective at removing the moss.

Always apply a moss Control after which will stop the left over moss from spreading any further and also help the lawn to recover a little quicker.

Also don't go mad going over and over it, maximum twice, otherwise you just start taking grass and roots with it.

And a suggested above fling the bag, rake up the majority of it and then whizz over with the mower afterwards to get the rest up.

[8-P]

Muncher said:

Final raking, preseed fertiliser spread, seed spread, light rolling and now waiting for it to grow. That was last Saturday, currently away on holiday for two weeks so hoping to go back to see some grass!

Looking good, youll be on a par with the bowling club next door!

[Muncher]

A phenomenal amount of work goes into looking after that, I found getting mine flat pretty tough, I've no idea how you would even start building a green from scratch, 10mm out of level over 40 yards has a noticeable impact on play.

[Patrick Bateman]

Rib said:

If it's very thatchy then use the blades, if it's mainly moss use the spring tines as they are more effective at removing the moss.

Always apply a moss Control after which will stop the left over moss from spreading any further and also help the lawn to recover a little quicker.

Also don't go mad going over and over it, maximum twice, otherwise you just start taking grass and roots with it.

And a suggested above fling the bag, rake up the majority of it and then whizz over with the mower afterwards to get the rest up.

I'm not sure about thatch, it's a spongey lawn but that may be down to the moss. Bear in mind none of this has been done in at least 5 years (how long I've been here) and given the condition of the lawn when I moved in, probably a lot longer.

Might just get a manual aerator like this too- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coopers-of-Stortford-Outd...

What would be the general plan for the lot?

1. Moss killer down and wait a couple of weeks
2. Cut grass short
3. Scarify/rake
4. Aerate/spike
5. Overseed

[RichB]

Patrick Bateman said:

1. Moss killer down and wait a couple of weeks
2. Cut grass short
3. Scarify/rake
4. Aerate/spike
5. Overseed

Also add top dress to that list :-)

[markiii]

overseed or topdress first?

[tim0409]

I've been out of our house for the last two months (holiday lets) and have only been able to cut the grass between guests; tomorrow we move back and I've ordered a bulk bag of top dressing, some quality seed from Lawnsmith and my friend has dropped off a massive cast iron roller. I plan to reshape the lawn to give wider borders, then cut and scarify, seed and top dress (never used top dressing before so any pointers would be gratefully received). Will post up some before and after shots.

[RichB]

Not sure about when to do it with seeding. I've usually topdressed each spring with soil. Looks odd to begin but the grass grows back stronger after a couple of weeks.

[Patrick Bateman]

Is trying to apply iron sulphate dry more hassle than it's worth? I hadn't realised until googling now that it seems diluting is the common way but using a watering can on the lawn will take a while.

Edit: might actually go for this and buy a spreader too- https://www.amazon.co.uk/EverGreen-Complete-Lawn-C...

Edited by Patrick Bateman on Thursday 31st August 21:41

[juice]

Patrick Bateman said:

Is trying to apply iron sulphate dry more hassle than it's worth? I hadn't realised until googling now that it seems diluting is the common way but using a watering can on the lawn will take a while.

Edit: might actually go for this and buy a spreader too- https://www.amazon.co.uk/EverGreen-Complete-Lawn-C...

Edited by Patrick Bateman on Thursday 31st August 21:41

I use a knapsack sprayer

[Twilkes]

Gave the lawn a deep rake (not really scarified as it was only a Flymo garden rake) and there is lots of brown (dead?) grass that is still rooted into the ground, I'm assuming those are grass plants that were sheltered by longer grass and thus couldn't survive. Anything to be done with these? I was expecting patches of mud/dirt that I can reseed but it hasn't really turned out like that. It did bring up a LOT of material so must have done some good.

[Craikeybaby]

I've got the weekend after next set aside for lawn renovation - reshaping, scarifying, over seeding etc. Is there anything I should be doing in advance? I had sprayed weed killer on all of the weed grasses, hopefully I can be rid of them.

Would there be any benefit in top dressing? The lawn isn't exactly smooth, would top dressing help smooth the bumps?

[richatnort]

Craikeybaby said:

I've got the weekend after next set aside for lawn renovation - reshaping, scarifying, over seeding etc. Is there anything I should be doing in advance? I had sprayed weed killer on all of the weed grasses, hopefully I can be rid of them.

Would there be any benefit in top dressing? The lawn isn't exactly smooth, would top dressing help smooth the bumps?

You're probably 4 months too late I'd say. Now is the time to start preparing for winter so scarifying to get rid of Moss and thatch, fertilising for the winder, hollow tining to ensure it was sufficient drainage and starting to raise the cut of the grass.

[g3org3y]

Second use of the Honda, pretty decent results. Also used the (new B&D) strimmer for the first time round the edges. Unfortunately not the best skills and ended up being a bit uneven. Hopefully will be better next time. Are there any other helpful tips for dealing with lawn edges where overhanging bushes impede the use of the lawnmower? As an aside, so glad ended up going for the self propelled Honda, would have been very difficult without on account of the slope.



Also finally got round to ordering this lawn seed as kindly suggested by Jagnet for the dry areas in the shade:

jagnet said:

A challenging environment. Much shade from the Willow trees, coupled with them being very thirsty trees so it's going to be a very dry shade. With no dedicated path you'll also need a seed mix that's wear tolerant to cope with foot traffic down that lawn (most dry shade fescue/bent mixes aren't that wear tolerant unless mixed with other grasses).

Fortunately Germinal's A6 Supreme Shade is just the ticket.