The 2025 Lawn Thread

[julianm]

Mower service in the sunshine - new oil & even a new blade!
1980 Hayter with a Briggs & Stratton engine.
Burst into life on the 3rd pull - hooray!

[Megaflow]

I am hoping to improve my lawn this year, from the mossy mess it is at the minute.

It was scarified and treated with lawn sand yesterday, I'll scarify it again once the lawn sand has done it's thing.

How soo after the second scarify would people recommend feeding it?

[UTH]

This might be the year I finally join this thread.

We are currently having a lot of work done to our patio, which included removing a massive tree stump, and machinery etc, so currently the lawn is a mess.
There's been moss throughout it for years, so I'm going to take this year as the chance to get it sorted.

We have Einhell stuff already, so I'm going to get this: https://www.diy.com/departments/einhell-pxc-cordle...

My old man pointed out I'll need to kill the moss first, so the mission this weekend is to cover the lawn in fertiliser/moss killer....

Then, a couple of weeks later, use that machine above, then lay seed everywhere.

As you can probably tell, I've never done this, so any tips/advice? I'm hoping I can't fk it up, but you never know.

I've got this on the way to spread the killer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09ZRKKDGJ?ref=ppx_yo2...
Any tips on what I actually need to be spreading on the lawn?

[JerryEXE]

UTH said:

I've got this on the way to spread the killer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09ZRKKDGJ?ref=ppx_yo2...
Any tips on what I actually need to be spreading on the lawn?

I’m sure experience will vary but I had the B&Q equivalent of that spreader and it was truly awful. I used it once and it’s been hidden at the back of the shed ever since. There was just no consistency and it would dump large piles of whatever you are spreading whenever you stop of turn a corner … which led to lines and patches of scorched grass. I now just do it by hand.

I’ve tended to just use whichever of the 3 in 1 products was cheapest at the time and they all seem to work in killing the moss. I think you’ll be surprised just how much dead moss and thatch gets removed first time you do it.

[UTH]

JerryEXE said:

UTH said:

I've got this on the way to spread the killer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09ZRKKDGJ?ref=ppx_yo2...
Any tips on what I actually need to be spreading on the lawn?

I’m sure experience will vary but I had the B&Q equivalent of that spreader and it was truly awful. I used it once and it’s been hidden at the back of the shed ever since. There was just no consistency and it would dump large piles of whatever you are spreading whenever you stop of turn a corner … which led to lines and patches of scorched grass. I now just do it by hand.

I’ve tended to just use whichever of the 3 in 1 products was cheapest at the time and they all seem to work in killing the moss. I think you’ll be surprised just how much dead moss and thatch gets removed first time you do it.

Ahhhh, I did wonder if going mega cheap might bite me on the arse, I guess I'll see.

Ok, cool, sounds pretty straightforward then, and yes, my old man warned me I am going to be amazed at how much there is, and also how awful the lawn will look for a while!

[AC43]

UTH said:

This might be the year I finally join this thread.

We are currently having a lot of work done to our patio, which included removing a massive tree stump, and machinery etc, so currently the lawn is a mess.
There's been moss throughout it for years, so I'm going to take this year as the chance to get it sorted.

We have Einhell stuff already, so I'm going to get this: https://www.diy.com/departments/einhell-pxc-cordle...

My old man pointed out I'll need to kill the moss first, so the mission this weekend is to cover the lawn in fertiliser/moss killer....

Then, a couple of weeks later, use that machine above, then lay seed everywhere.

As you can probably tell, I've never done this, so any tips/advice? I'm hoping I can't fk it up, but you never know.

I've got this on the way to spread the killer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09ZRKKDGJ?ref=ppx_yo2...
Any tips on what I actually need to be spreading on the lawn?

I've tried using spreaders like that for years. They're very poor. Last year I went for one of these; night and day

https://www.screwfix.com/p/einhell-ge-us-18-li-sol...

[UTH]

AC43 said:

UTH said:

This might be the year I finally join this thread.

We are currently having a lot of work done to our patio, which included removing a massive tree stump, and machinery etc, so currently the lawn is a mess.
There's been moss throughout it for years, so I'm going to take this year as the chance to get it sorted.

We have Einhell stuff already, so I'm going to get this: https://www.diy.com/departments/einhell-pxc-cordle...

My old man pointed out I'll need to kill the moss first, so the mission this weekend is to cover the lawn in fertiliser/moss killer....

Then, a couple of weeks later, use that machine above, then lay seed everywhere.

As you can probably tell, I've never done this, so any tips/advice? I'm hoping I can't fk it up, but you never know.

I've got this on the way to spread the killer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09ZRKKDGJ?ref=ppx_yo2...
Any tips on what I actually need to be spreading on the lawn?

I've tried using spreaders like that for years. They're very poor. Last year I went for one of these; night and day

https://www.screwfix.com/p/einhell-ge-us-18-li-sol...

Hmmm ok maybe I need to bin off that thing and go with that Einhell one.....

[RichB]

It's going to be an interesting few months, with all the wet weather we've had since last autumn I've never seen my grass looking so poor.

[AC43]

UTH said:

AC43 said:

UTH said:

This might be the year I finally join this thread.

We are currently having a lot of work done to our patio, which included removing a massive tree stump, and machinery etc, so currently the lawn is a mess.
There's been moss throughout it for years, so I'm going to take this year as the chance to get it sorted.

We have Einhell stuff already, so I'm going to get this: https://www.diy.com/departments/einhell-pxc-cordle...

My old man pointed out I'll need to kill the moss first, so the mission this weekend is to cover the lawn in fertiliser/moss killer....

Then, a couple of weeks later, use that machine above, then lay seed everywhere.

As you can probably tell, I've never done this, so any tips/advice? I'm hoping I can't fk it up, but you never know.

I've got this on the way to spread the killer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09ZRKKDGJ?ref=ppx_yo2...
Any tips on what I actually need to be spreading on the lawn?

I've tried using spreaders like that for years. They're very poor. Last year I went for one of these; night and day

https://www.screwfix.com/p/einhell-ge-us-18-li-sol...

Hmmm ok maybe I need to bin off that thing and go with that Einhell one.....

Honestly it's SO much easier and faster than one of those wheeled hoppers. I used the latter for nearly 3 decades before making the switch and I wouldn't go back.

You can apply any kind of treatment and use it for seeding too. Just choose the flow rate and spray radius and off you go.

[UTH]

AC43 said:

Honestly it's SO much easier and faster than one of those wheeled hoppers. I used the latter for nearly 3 decades before making the switch and I wouldn't go back.

You can apply any kind of treatment and use it for seeding too. Just choose the flow rate and spray radius and off you go.

Well, any excuse to add to the Einhell collection

[malks222]

UTH said:

As you can probably tell, I've never done this, so any tips/advice? I'm hoping I can't fk it up, but you never know.

get yourself onto lawnsmith.co.uk and get reading! it was recommended on here, and I read as much as I could, bought some seeds and feed from them, and managed to turn:



into this:


took about 5/6wks all in, but I was very happy with the results. unfortunately the grass has taken a beating over winter. very shaded in the corners, very wet/ damp (bottom of a hill) so I’m going to be starting again in the corners.

I reckon it’ll only take 1 weekend of ‘work’ with some new soil to level out and get seeded. then just need to wait on the grass growing.

but in scotland its definitely still too early to do much, still getting too cold at nights. but ill get going mid/ end of april and should be good to go when the nice weather kicks in (fingers crossed ha)

[Discendo Discimus]

Apologies if this has been covered previously, I'm new to this area of the forum.

We moved house back in September and our garden looked like this. The house was left empty for 3 years prior to us moving in so it was a bit of a jungle.



We've tidied it all up now but the grass is absolutely littered with weeds and roots. The plan is to Glysophate the whole lot and re-seed in time for summer.

Having never done this before I have a few questions :
1 - Once it's all dead, do we have to remove the old dead stuff? The plan is to take the top layer of soil and put it along the fence so it'll be churned up by a digger
2 - How long once it's seeded can we expect to see a lawn? (I understand it could be next year, I'm not expecting a lush lawn in a few weeks).
3 - We have 2 dogs, assume they can't go anywhere near the garden once the Glysophate has been sprayed?

Any help will be gratefully recieved. Thanks.

[UTH]

malks222 said:

get yourself onto lawnsmith.co.uk and get reading! it was recommended on here, and I read as much as I could, bought some seeds and feed from them, and managed to turn:



into this:


took about 5/6wks all in, but I was very happy with the results. unfortunately the grass has taken a beating over winter. very shaded in the corners, very wet/ damp (bottom of a hill) so I’m going to be starting again in the corners.

I reckon it’ll only take 1 weekend of ‘work’ with some new soil to level out and get seeded. then just need to wait on the grass growing.

but in scotland its definitely still too early to do much, still getting too cold at nights. but ill get going mid/ end of april and should be good to go when the nice weather kicks in (fingers crossed ha)

Well that is bloody lovely!! I shall aim for this!

[Discendo Discimus]

Read the rest of the thread, of course I'm now ordering more tools. FFS going to need more racking in the garage.

[AC43]

Discendo Discimus said:

Read the rest of the thread, of course I'm now ordering more tools. FFS going to need more racking in the garage.

The amount of gear you can build up just for a lawn is surprising

- lawn mower - I ended up with three but binned two last year
- electric scarifier - great for a small to medium lawn
- electrid feed & seed spreader
- petrol strimmer - extremely useful
- lawn rakes - I somehow have ended up with two
- manual hollow tine aerator - fairly useless, will bin
- lawn spiker - ditto
- sprinkler - I've got two for some reason
- moss killer - bulky
- feed and weed - ditto
- seeds - the same
- topsoil - gets in the way
- lawn sand - as does this

Time to use up as much as possible of all the suppplies
That's just off the top of my head. That's half a shed's worth.

[dirtbiker]

We got suckered into some targetted advertising by 'The Lawn Pack' so that should arrive this week. Still too cold up here in Aberdeen to put down any of the treatments but I've got my Flymo 1200R set up again and on a high setting. Will look to pick up a scarifer off Marketplace to get the worst of the moss out.

What are people doing for aeiration? I have some of the spikes that you strap to your shoes but it sounds like hollow tininig is the way forward? Best way to do that?

[AC43]

dirtbiker said:

#

What are people doing for aeiration? I have some of the spikes that you strap to your shoes but it sounds like hollow tininig is the way forward? Best way to do that?

Best way is to hire a petrol-powered one.

I can't because the clay here just clogs them up.

So I try loosening things up with a fork and then get some sand brushed down the holes.

[AC43]

I popped out early evening to just strim the edges. Which led to my giving the lawn its first cut.

Which meant I had to clean all the trimmings off the patio.

So I got out my my Vax wet and dry vac.

Which led to me vacuuming all the winter crap out the Acro drains.

Scope creep.

[Skyedriver]

Back garden has seen the dogs running on it for the last 6 months along with wife and I wandering back and forth. Looks well trodden on. Top corner is under a huge beech tree, just outside the garden. Despite raking for days there's still beech nut casings everywhere.
Now it's warming up, the rabbits are back, scratching little holes everywhere. The deer have been in eating the tops off the dafs.
I'll get the mower out eventually.
Front doesn't suffer the wildlife despite the deer eating the tops off all the iris and stuff that's starting to sprout. Needs a cut as the dog poo is getting hard to find (take them out there last thing about 11.30, go looking for it in the morning).

[mikeiow]

Well.....we popped Rob O'Mow out this week. Seems none-the-worse for a couple of months in the shed.....grass looking okay after a few days of him randomly roaming about!

Bit of weedkiller on a couple of small weed patches.

We don't spend nearly enough time & money on the lawn here