2021 Lawn thread

[505diff]

As we have no frost this morning I’m going out for clear up this morning, the leaves still keep appearing, the start of another year of ‘not doing much to the lawn’ and no doubt ‘doing lots to the lawn’ again🤫

Happy New Year lawn buffs

[505diff]

That article is so true, made me laugh and the wife a lot more, going to try to avoid being like that this year.

Betson, welcomeI would, if you plan to do a lot of garden improvements find out what’s under your topsoil, this well give you better idea of how progress. Dig a hole about 450mm deep and see if it drains or fills and weather it’s clay, rubble and the other usual suspects that cause issues.

[505diff]

Mid April is the time when the soil will warms up enough in the South East, it should still be damp enough not to require watering that much, anything before that tends to be hit and miss or bird food.

[505diff]

Patch1875 said:

I run a lawn treatment company I don’t start spring treatments until 3rd week of March(I’m in Edinburgh).

Way to early just now.

With this winters rain the main factor will be heat in the soil and is it dry enough, which looks like being the tail end of March for most, unless you want the lawn to look like a motocross circuit until June.

[505diff]

Just ordered this fellow with handle

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/8TcAAMXQoYJSJeED/s-...

This will sink in well in a veg patch or border, but when I tried one I found in my mums shed on her lawn, it made slots about 10-15 mm deep with out churning up the edges, so will hopefully make the ideal bed for over seeding, giving seed good soil contact and moisture and hide them from the birds, worth a punt for £45

Which is fair bit cheaper than this at £250

https://www.bmsproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/201...

[505diff]

-BFG- said:

I seeded grass last year, grass took nicely however I have noticed it isn’t as green as I’d like due to what I’m assuming is the shade so I ordered some shady grass seed which has arrived today.

My plan is to cut the grass this week/end pending it stays dry and then go over the lawn with spikes/rake poking holes and then spread the new seed and leave for two weeks.

Any opinions ??



Unseeded

The soil is still very cold this time of year for seeding, you may however be lucky, but if you are in shade I’d by leaving it until mid April when the ground is warming and it’s still fairly wet weather.

[505diff]

I’ve rescued a more or less new Qualcast rake and scarifier out of a skip that apparently the owners found too much hassle to clear up the waste, so a bit more lawn kit. I’ve put in the wife’s wardrobe, as that’s were everything that’s new to the house but we have had for years comes from....

[505diff]

xyz123 said:

xyz123 said:

Any recommendations for grass seeds? I have a shady garden on clay soil and looks quite bare now with winter and before that kids spending lot of time in the garden playing. I have tried lawnsmith in the past but not much success. I remember in last year's thread someone had mentioned some alternatives but I can't find that post now.. Thanks.

Any suggestions please? Thank you

I’ve tried Lawnsmith shady green and must say it does not like winter one bit in my garden, I’m going with this stuff this year

https://gardenlawncareguy.com/product/shade-lawn-g...

I do like the chaps lawn care videos too

[505diff]

brums evil twin said:

New to this lawn thread and having been reading a bit in between work.
Anyway, I have a reasonable size lawn - well I say lawn more of a moss bed.
So after some basic advice on the order to rescue / sort it out.

I am quite excited as I am picking up a electric garden rake / scarifier this afternoon. I just have got to 'that' age now!!

My plan is....

Moss killer down (done)
Rake out the moss this weekend
Early April add weedkiller

Then what - I guess in April overseed, then fertilise and feed
Just want to get the order right

Be carful with weedkiller then seeding, you may need a delay between the two, but really need to get your seed down second to third week in April depending your location, if not you find it needs a lots more watering

[505diff]

Right just had a go with the battery drill and a 25mm augur bit, cuts neat holes and takes about a minute to do a square metre going down about 3 inches, no clogging either, not doing the whole lawn just a few high traffic areas, the rest has been spiked with the roller spiked.

[505diff]

ChocolateFrog said:

RichB said:

Stedman said:

RichB said:

morfmedia said:

POA has gone wild in my lawn...

Poa; it's poa annua, it's a type of grass. Names of plants are not capitalised and it's not an abbreviation for price on application.

Yep, mine has gone nuts too. Frustrating

Yep, I've got lots this year, it blows in on the wind and with birds... I suppose on the basis that it's an annual meadow grass it dies off each winter. I hope there's less next year.

Me too.

My normal mowing height doesn't get the seed heads, it is annoying.

If you have a scarifier or electric rake you can run that over a couple of times a month to lift the side shoots up before mowing, make sure the blade is set high enough not to hit the soil though as that’s the last thing you want to do in summer, the lawn will like it the poa will not.