2023 Lawn Thread

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Bonefish Blues said:

You could use washing up liquid.

I was wondering if anyone else had thought this. Heard about using it for fairy rings before now, but I'm sure it would work ok on a large scale. However I don't know if it's got things you shouldn't put on a lawn long, and or if the right stuff the job works better and or for longer. Also doesn't give a dosing rate per sqm!

What sort of frequency are people applying, mainly just once-twice a year during very dry spells, or routinely all year round greens keeper style!

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Howard- said:

https://www.affordablelawn.co.uk/shop/INFILTRATE-L...

I'm going to give this one a go. The instructions say 1-2 cap-fulls per 10 litre watering can

Ordered two bottles of this for a laugh, also a bottle of the 'Expand' Bio Boost with Humic and Fulvic acids + 5% seaweed extract, if only mainly to get me the free next day postage.

Our lawn really struggles to retain moisture or nutrients, sandstone bedrock close to the surface, several mature pines. Over seeding and a lot of hollow tinning has helped but the old part of the lawn still hugely lags the area I extended the lawn onto two years ago.

Dont know what else I could do to help a 100yo lawn?

I think it would benefit from deep aeration with a fork, but doing 400sqm be hand even in batches is going to be a fair job, and certainly needs the ground to be less hard for a start!

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brums evil twin said:

My lawn is due its yearly hit of Weed killer - Can I add in some liquid seaweed at the same time to save some time.

Does it need a yearly dose of weedkiller? Rather than just spot treatment?

Either way I might be tempted to hold off a week or so till we've had some rain and everything starts growing again, but I'm no expert yet.

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Yeah, depends so much on the sprinkler, flow rate, etc.

Stick anything down, dog bowl, roasting tray, and seen how much your putting down.

Some sprayers can be uneven too, so you can test for that and adapt accordingly.

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See also aeration, hollow tine in autumn, spiking after rain, and if it's really dry maybe consider a wetting agent?

Not a clay expert as where the other end of the scale! Basically a beach on a ridge.

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Nice!

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MDUBZ said:

EViS said:

We have used a well known national lawn care company for the best part of a decade. However, in the past couple of years, the local franchise seems to have amalgamated into the national company headquarters and our quarterly treatments have become sporadic and unreliable. To add insult, we recently received a 50% price increase. Which, to say the least is somewhat more than the current levels of inflation. Hence, we've decided to leave the 'service' and venture on our own.

Where do I start to learn about what pesticides, fertilisers and other treatments to use at the various times of year? Ideally, I'd like to replicate the four treatments the aforementioned national company provided our lawn with. Is there a reliable source of lawn care information somewhere which provides a generic calendar of what to use and when? At least somewhere which I can use as a basis to start building my lawn care knowledge from.

Edited by EViS on Friday 7th July 19:01

Google "lawn care” lots of companies that sell products will have blogs etc telling you how to best care for lawns and lots will have a do and don’t list to sell more product e.g. lawnsmith.co.uk and YouTube is also a pretty much endless resource.. it can be an expensive game depending on what results you want; and it’s a slippery slope: Mowers, scarifiers, aerators, 2 types of weed killer which you can rotate use of weedol ( once a year ) and resolva (get away with it twice) - can spot with both. Spring, summer and autumn fertilisers, seaweed, iron sulphate or dedicated moss killers , seed types, lawn dressings. etc etc etc. that 50% uplift is going to look cheap lol you’re doomed….

Month by month examples:
https://thegrasspeople.com/lawn-care-calendar?gcli...
https://premierlawns.co.uk/your-complete-lawn-care...

I'm sure others will know more about what said companies tend to use for their treatments. But basically it's going to be a liquid feed four times a year, likely some soluble iron atleast once in autumn maybe more if you have a lot of moss, and probably once a year with a selective weed killer to remove any broadleaf weeks. Maybe aeration and scarification, but you would know if they did.

I find the granular feeds easily, so tend to do a spring and a summer application of 'spring&summer' feed and an autumn feed of autumn granules (less nitrogen or N). With the boggo DIY shed Scott's rotary spreader.
Sometimes I borrow a sprayer for iron, other times I use lawnsand from BnQ.

Lawnsmiths guides and products work well, ive used them and they are well promoted by others in this thread. They do feeds tailors for sandy or clay soil as well as 3month and 6monthly release rates. He also does the Iron, Lawn Seed, Weedkiller, and spreaders and sprayers.
Other providers are available.

I like Robbie in Premier Lawns, but plenty of other YouTube channels out there too from the basis right through to Britains best lawn award winner.

You won't find it hard to replicate what has been done, but might end up hooked on doing better! You have been warned.

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I guess they have plenty of time, money and experience to make it just so!

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Can you not just collect them with the mower regularly?

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Hasn't faired well, but I would renovate rather than start again with that.

Give it a good hard scarify, over seed, light top dress. Jobs a fish hopefully.

It's currently seriously wet in much of the UK, but assuming that's a current photo, presumably not where you are, at which point I would wait till you have a good 10 days wet weather forecast even if thats late September.

Others will I'm sure have their own thoughts.

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glow worm said:

... leaving cuttings in the lawn causes thatch.

I common myth I believe, but not actually true.

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Looking good.

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Stedman said:

Scalped the front today as it seemed to have a spongy layer. We'll see if this was a good idea or not in about 14 days!

Just scalped? Or have you also scarified?

Most of the UK is currently damp enough to make it good weather for scarification and or other renovations, but a short cut with the mower alone won't do much to remove thatch or moss.

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s91 said:

Lawn update/advice needed - old lawn (mostly moss and weeds) was killed off, scarified, and raked out earlier in the year, followed by top soil and new seed along with some 696 fertiliser.

Most of it has grown very well, but thanks to some very heavy rain immediately after seeding there are some slightly scabby areas and now a few weeds have started to appear and I'd like to get rid of them before they take over, is there a product for this? (Weed and feed?)

As for the scabby areas, now that the lawn is well established is there a preferred time to add some more seed, do it now or wait until next year?

For a young lawn, I would mechanically remove/weed, and or spot treat more serious weeds individually with a selective lawn weed killer if you really want, but mainly just mow regularly and treat next spring.

Broad leaf weeds in a new lawn are to be expected and not and issue.

Weed grasses can only be removed mechanically pulling them out. Or light scarification/verticutting once the lawn is more matured.

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chinnyman said:

Any tips on where tk get fertiliser from?


Must say Lawnsmiths summer fertiliser is really good.

Also interested.

I have a 500sqm lawn and mainly use the Lawnsmiths products, either the Natur Spring+summer or the 'For sandy soils' as were on sand. Autumn mix in autumn, plus BnQ lawnsand. I also use Lawnsmiths 'Staygreen' seed. As long as you buy the larger bags, and or more than one at a time, which isnt linked to a single product (ie you can buy a s+s and an autumn and get the discount) the price appears ok.

Did order one round from Daniel Hibbert when he was offering 20% off, also works find, but without the discount is more expensive I think.

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Yeah, given how cool and moist it is currently, it's ideal time to seed now here, but it all depends on your area and the longer term forcast for your area.

Will you be taking the current turf off with a turf cutter first?

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thecopster said:

So….. I think I am ready to seed my front garden!





I have my lawnsmiths starter seed and fertiliser ready to go. I’m going to wait a couple of days for the soil to get soaked in the upcoming rain then rake it through one more time before seeding!

My only concern is that whilst the weather looks perfect this coming week for germination there is a LOT of rain forecast! Should I be concerned?

Thanks

Looks good!

Get the seed down imo, easier when it dry.

Apply seed, rake lightly into the surface, job done. Saves covering in top dressing when you have nice clear loan like that.

You can sheet it in polythene, or flease, but I wouldn't for that area for a one off. Especially as you're due rain which should keep it moist.

Worse case you get a bit of pooling, some seed floats, slight bare patches. But unless it's got a good gradient or a load of surface water running onto it from a patio or the like it unlikely to be a major issue.

You can always reseed small areas, but best to get it down and the bulk covered asap imo. Especially if your further north.

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RichB said:

Bikesalot said:

Can I just scarify a lawn and leave it’s own devices with a bit of fertiliser or will it just look rubbish forever more?

Of course you can. Scarify it, mow it again to get rid of any crap and feed it. Better than doing nothing.

Absolutely. Don't go too hard on it if it's been a good while, and you'll likely still rip out a lot of thatch and moss and weeds, with what should be enough growing season left to allow recovery before winter. Feed is always good, autumn mix now i guess, some iron is inexpensive and good especially if you have moss. Maybe some selective lawn weed killer if you have a lot of broad leaf weeds.

Obviously if add to that a overseeding and top dressing, that's where the keen beans would be. But that does add significant cost and labour and certainly doesn't have to be an annual thing unless you want to dedicate that much resource to the cause!

You could also consider hollow tine aeration just beforehand if it's an older lawn and or showing signs of compaction. Dandelions, standing water after heavy rain, etc.

Enjoy!

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glow worm said:

I'm not a great fan of hollow tinning on domestic lawns , besides having to have the correct equipment or paying Greenthumb a fortune, it's only any use if you want to get some good stuff into the root zone ... sand or top dressing dependent upon your soil , also you have the conundrum do I remove the cores or let the frost break them down ( and leave a mess on my lawn over winter ) ?
A good spiking with a fork is the best action , if you've got a SISS m/c with solid tines or slitting tines rather than hollow would be my preference.
Top Dressing at £100/tonne is getting crazy.

Cheap and easy to hire a Camon for the day, with either hollow or solid tines. If hollow tining, scarifing over the top of the cores breakes then down quickly, especially in spring with a bit of sun to dry them.

Spiking with a fork is great, and can go deeper than a 'domestic' spec hired aerator, but doing 400sqm like that takes a very long time!

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Probably as much as anything else that the new section is new seed, in new soil. So much more nutrients, much less compaction, no thatch build up, etc.

Given a few years it will settle and soften, but if you want to speed up the process you like want to improve the old section as much as anything else.

Getting a tiny bit late in the year for over seeding depending where you are, but I would start by testing compaction and thatch thickness.
You could hollow tine now if compaction is an issue, and or do a light scarification if thatch was seen to be bad.
Else mainly at this point I would start be dropping some autumn feed and some iron over the lot and less how it shapes up in spring.

I wouldn't ever kill off the whole off, especially if you where happy with the old lawns condition/growth etc beforehand, but you could do a renovation off the lawn in spring if you wanted to put some time and effort in. Heavy scarification, hollow tine aeration, overseed with your blend of choice, top dress. That sort of thing. Budget?