By Bobo
London, United Kingdom
Can anyone give me any lawn care advice? I live in a heavy clay area, but before laying turf 3 years ago I put down a ton of topsoil (the garden is 35 ft by 12ft). Each autumn since I have aerated the lawn by actually removing plugs with a bulb hole maker and filling them with agricultural grit and new soil as well as brushing over a mix of soil and grit over the whole garden. I thought this would help with drainage but the garden still gets waterlogged in the wet and a cracked surface in the dry periods. I've just gone out to start doing some gardening and have raked off loads of moss. There are quite a few bald patches now - either where the moss has been scraped off (still some left though) or where the grass has just died.The garden doesn't get a whole lot of sun and the worst affected area is in the shadier part (still gets an hour of sun at around 11am in the Summer). Can anyone tell me what to do next and in what order as far as removing weeds, getting rid of moss and re-seeding goes? Thanks very much.
- 1 Apr, 2013
Answers
Thanks for this - I've sent off for the book. Before it gets here can you give me any advice on the order I need to do things - scarify, applyweedkiller, sow seed - is that the correct order?
2 Apr, 2013
Most grass does recover if cared for, now your moss is removed what grass is left in those patches will start to grow as the weather gets warmer. I suggest those patches you do need to resow you do when there is active grass growth and perhaps choose a seed for shade which hopefully will survive better, but as already said its probably best to remove grass in those very shady areas
In the spring I rake mine (mower set on higher the first couple of mows) a few days after those first mows when there is some growth I feed and use a weed/mosskiller and repeat this after 6 weeks. Once growing I mow every 4-7 days keeping it short as regular mowing encourages side growth which thickens the lawn.
I too like the D. G. Hessayon books and found the lawn one helped a lot.
2 Apr, 2013
Thanks for that!
2 Apr, 2013
No, not quite the right order. If you want to reseed any areas, no granular lawn treatment applications should have been used for six weeks, particularly not those which include a weedkiller in the mix.
I always prefer to scarify in autumn rather than spring, but some people do it in Spring. Spiking is a good thing to do on heavy soils, and as for seeding, I'd do that now. Most lawn treatments start in April - but this year, its so cold, probably best left till May anyway. Even so, it should not be applied to the newly seeded areas for a good couple of months, so you either treat the lawn first, wait six weeks and seed the patches, or seed first and treat later.
3 Apr, 2013
Yes I agree but my order did not include seeding. I prefer to scarify in the growing months so that it recovers and looks ok over winter.
3 Apr, 2013
Drc, my response was in direct response to Bobo's second query about having the right order, and not intended as a response, comment or criticism of your answer. I didn't actually read your answer properly anyway, just skimmed it to see if you mentioned the problem with seed/lawn treatments.
3 Apr, 2013
Yes got it now Bamboo lol
3 Apr, 2013
The problems you describe are typical of lawns on heavy soil and in shade, unfortunately. For the worst affected part with the most shade, if its possible, consider removing the grass from that area and turning it into a planted part instead. Regular spiking with a garden fork helps drainage a bit, and moss killer treatments can be used, but any areas where moss was prevalent and then is either raked out or dies will need to be reseeded. I recommend you get yourself a copy of D. G. Hessayon's The Lawn Expert, its not expensive, and tells you probably more than you ever wanted to know about lawns and how to keep them healthy.
Regarding waterlogging, it should be borne in mind that we've had much more rain in the last 18 months than we would normally get, so its possible you've seen worse problems with this than you could expect in other years.
2 Apr, 2013