2021 Lawn thread

[Nano2nd]

s1962a said:

spikeyhead said:

I cut mine in the week (in Leicester). There's a lot of moss to deal with after the wet winter.

What would be the best way to deal with moss on your lawn please?

I'm in Leicester too, we've got loads of moss more than I can ever remember, normally I don't let it bother me but its so bad this year I'm going to try a tackle it.

[danpalmer1993]

gallopingclothespeg said:

Our new place has a North facing garden so very shaded. The previous owners had two kids, two dogs and three chickens so the lawn is patchy at best.
What's the way to rejuvenate it without costing loads?
I'm thinking that I'll try to rake the moss, clear the leaves etc then just give it some seed and feed type stuff with a bit of netting to keep the birds off to give it a chance.
Would that help improve it a bit?

Looks very similar to mine where I was walking around on it when we moved in and removed the pond.

My plan is to rake/clean it up, use a hand aerator and put down some top soil and seed and feed to try and cover the patches. Hard to stay off it at the moment given I'm preparing to turf the old pond area.

[johnpsanderson]

Nano2nd said:

I'm in Leicester too, we've got loads of moss more than I can ever remember, normally I don't let it bother me but its so bad this year I'm going to try a tackle it.

I think it's generally advised to rake out most of it first (scarifying), then put down moss killer, then rake the debris out when that's worked. But I think moss is usually seen as a symptom of another problem - probably damp (could easily caused by poor drainage- but could be down to having shaded areas: ours is mostly along a 3ft strip which is against the fence on the south side of the garden) - or the grass just not growing well, so the moss gets more of a chance to get in there.

[spikeyhead]

johnpsanderson said:

Nano2nd said:

I'm in Leicester too, we've got loads of moss more than I can ever remember, normally I don't let it bother me but its so bad this year I'm going to try a tackle it.

I think it's generally advised to rake out most of it first (scarifying), then put down moss killer, then rake the debris out when that's worked. But I think moss is usually seen as a symptom of another problem - probably damp (could easily caused by poor drainage- but could be down to having shaded areas: ours is mostly along a 3ft strip which is against the fence on the south side of the garden) - or the grass just not growing well, so the moss gets more of a chance to get in there.

It's been a very very wet winter and we're on clay soil.

[bungle]

spikeyhead said:

I cut mine in the week (in Leicester). There's a lot of moss to deal with after the wet winter.

I'm also in the Midlands. We always get some moss, which I try to deal with and re-seed the resulting bare patches, but it's an absolute nightmare of moss in my lawn this year, it's absolutely everywhere, a complete mess, I'm really not looking forward to tackling it.

As you say, the wet winter hasn't done us any favours, and maybe I have a bit of a drainage issue as well to compound it.

I can imagine that once I've scarified and taken out the moss, I won't have much lawn left...

[CO2000]

Ntv said:

Stedman said:

This may sound silly but could someone recommended a (manual) hollow tine aerator? Reviews vary massively online and I hate buying twice.

I have the Draper one. Very well made.

The only thing to be aware of is that depending on the type / moisture content of the soil, you may not simply be able to
shove it in the ground with the plugs of soil in the aerator, and expect the previous ones to pop out the top, if that makes sense. My method is to use a cane to force them out (I have clay) and then put them all in a garden refuse sack. Also, no way could i use that in mid summer on clay. Far too hard. Spring yes.

I can say though it really does work as a method of improving lawn and decompacting soil down to a shallow depth. Helps with drainage a bit too.

My ground was too hard/compact for forcing the plugs out (even with watering) so bought one of these forged ones after snapping a weaker one & it was great but took ages!

https://www.toolstation.com/bulldog-contractors-st...

[dhutch]

Could you not just hire a petrol hollow time machine for a day?

[r44flyer]

dhutch said:

Could you not just hire a petrol hollow time machine for a day?

They save time and effort, sure, but they don't penetrate to the same depth as a good manual one. Depends what you value more I guess.

[T5GRF]

I need to seed a number of areas of lawn. I was thinking of using a lawn aerator first followed by sowing the seed directly onto the newly aerated patches (hopefully getting some of it into the holes) followed by a thin top dressing of garden compost. Does this sound a reasonable approach? Would sowing the seed now with a chance of some frost be a good idea?

[carreauchompeur]

AFAIK it doesn’t germinate below 10 degrees so might be a bit early.

[Dal3D]

bungle said:

I'm also in the Midlands. We always get some moss, which I try to deal with and re-seed the resulting bare patches, but it's an absolute nightmare of moss in my lawn this year, it's absolutely everywhere, a complete mess, I'm really not looking forward to tackling it.

As you say, the wet winter hasn't done us any favours, and maybe I have a bit of a drainage issue as well to compound it.

I can imagine that once I've scarified and taken out the moss, I won't have much lawn left...

Yup, mines much the same in NW Leicestershire. Only moved in last July so my first spring here to see what's happening. We cut down a few dead / diseased trees in the Autumn so that should help with the shadows they created but it's still wall to hedge moss in most places. Far too much to get out with just a scarification (there'd be no green left at all) so am going to ferrous this weekend and scarify when the grass that remains has some chance of growing as it warms up. Then ferrous again to hopefully kill off any moss that remains and reseed a couple of weeks after that.

Not to mention all the oak trees that will start to sprout from all the acorns the bloody squirrels dug into the lawn. Working from home I've seen the little sods doing it right in front of the window!

[whatleytom]

This is mine at the moment, excuse the BBQ. Only moved in in November so this is my first cut and first cut of the year this weekend with a borrowed mower. Unfortunately managed to get a tiny piece of grass embedded in my cornea which was less than ideal, glasses from now on.

Want to get a cylinder mower for it ideally as the rotary cut doesn't ever seem as good. Would ideally like to get rid of the pointless raised bit at the back but we'll see.

[dhutch]

r44flyer said:

dhutch said:

Could you not just hire a petrol hollow time machine for a day?

They save time and effort, sure, but they don't penetrate to the same depth as a good manual one. Depends what you value more I guess.

I guess it depends how far you stick the manual one in. Our lawn is 400sqm so 'bigish but not huge' and there is no chance I would manually do anything other than the two entrance points. It therefore has not been hollow tined at all yet!

Did it with a spiked roller from LawnSmith an hour each night for two weeks and that was more than enough!

Daniel

[Stedman]

Hiring one seemed to get pricey quickly, and that was only for 1 day!

[r44flyer]

dhutch said:

I guess it depends how far you stick the manual one in. Our lawn is 400sqm so 'bigish but not huge' and there is no chance I would manually do anything other than the two entrance points. It therefore has not been hollow tined at all yet!

Did it with a spiked roller from LawnSmith an hour each night for two weeks and that was more than enough!

Daniel

Oh, don't get me wrong, it's a massive job if you're doing it manually. I forked our lawn today to try and alleviate some of the compaction it's suffering from and it took hours, and it's less than 100sqm. If you have a big area get machines in!

[Ntv]

T5GRF said:

I need to seed a number of areas of lawn. I was thinking of using a lawn aerator first followed by sowing the seed directly onto the newly aerated patches (hopefully getting some of it into the holes) followed by a thin top dressing of garden compost. Does this sound a reasonable approach? Would sowing the seed now with a chance of some frost be a good idea?

Yep. I've done that and will do it again this spring. I personally would wait till end of March to do it. (in London)

I would ...

- aerate
- sow seed
- topsoil
- more seed
- more topsoil

[Ntv]

Has anyone here successfully levelled out a bumpy lawn?

This isn't a retaining wall for levelling a large area type job. More a lawn that has too many dips and undulations in it for various reasons over the years (including concrete paving, now taken up).

Based on what I've read... my plan is:

- mixture of topsoil and sharp sand (probably 9/10s or so the former)
- spread over the uneven areas with manual rake/leveller type device
- sow seed
- compact manually
- sow more seed
- top dress with top soil to cover seed

Does that sound ok.

Unfortunately it will take a lot of soil. Looking at how far I can get with 5000 litres of soil and sand.

[T5GRF]

Ntv said:

Has anyone here successfully levelled out a bumpy lawn?

This isn't a retaining wall for levelling a large area type job. More a lawn that has too many dips and undulations in it for various reasons over the years (including concrete paving, now taken up).

Based on what I've read... my plan is:

- mixture of topsoil and sharp sand (probably 9/10s or so the former)
- spread over the uneven areas with manual rake/leveller type device
- sow seed
- compact manually
- sow more seed
- top dress with top soil to cover seed

Does that sound ok.

Unfortunately it will take a lot of soil. Looking at how far I can get with 5000 litres of soil and sand.

Thanks for the reply.
We had similar issues with our lawn when we moved in 20 years ago. I cut the lawn as short as I dare and then bought several tons of top dressing . lI used a large plank as a level and worked from one end of the garden using the plank to move soil into the depressions to try and create a level. I overseeded the whole lot then compacted it and stayed off it for several weeks. The results were pretty good and certainly an improvement worth a long day on my hands and knees!

[BigRickus]

Following putting a new patio at the back and drive at the front last year my lawns are a bit scabby after the winter.
I did scarify, seed and turf some areas last autumn with mixed success.
In the areas overseeded there’s quite a few weeds. Some turfs taken some not so well.
I went to town on lawnsmith and have new seed, spring/summer fertiliser and weedol/resolva all ready to use.
Question is.. what sequence? Weed killers say not til April but on new seed can’t apply for a couple of months...
I’m thinking - fertilise and spike now, give it a few weeks. Hit the weeds with resolva end of March. Wait til they die then over seed late April? Then further dose of weed killer - maybe the weedol in august time?
Any advice?
Thanks

[Humpy D]

Humpy D said:

I have a fairly small lawn (c.40 sq m?) but it contains 3 mature trees, a tall silver birch, a plum and an apple tree. Aside from being a pain disposing of the fruit the plum and apple produce (yes, we do eat some but so do the maggots!!) the lawn suffers from poor growth under these trees, a combination of lack of sunlight and air and I suspect the trees taking any moisture and goodness. This winter has highlighted this more than ever with the area under the apple tree in particular being 80% mud. And what is also annoying is that I try to look after my grass iro cutting, feeding, raking, etc and yet my lawn is significantly worse than all the neighbours who just run the mower over theirs once a fortnight!! I am therefore seriously considering removing the plum and apple but not the silver birch as the lowest branches of this tree are at least 10 foot above ground level.

Just wanted to hear from anyone who had a similar dilemma and removed trees and whether this made a significant difference in the health of the lawn.

Thanks.

Well, I have bitten the bullet and next Tuesday a nice man with a chain saw is coming round to fell the plum and apple trees and take about a third off the silver birch. This will increase the amount of light coming in to the garden and will hopefully mean better grass growth. Plus it'll save me the job of clearing and disposing of maggoty plums and apples in the Summer and leaves in the Autumn which, as we know, can hinder grass growth too.

I'm not happy about chopping down healthy trees (and neither will the birds be either) but as my 'office' looks directly onto the garden I can't stand looking at my dreadful grass much longer. Of course, with all this work taking place, the lawn will no doubt resemble the Somme after they have trampled all over it so I will have that to deal with too.

Oh the fun of having a lawn!!!