Pathetic Lawn..

Trotter

A bit of advice required on how to restore my lawn to some sort of normality.. I've just bought the house and the grass was quite long and very yellow with doc leaves and weeds all through it. Some of the grass is the short thick stuff that daisies grow on but most of it is that thin straw like stuff thats pretty seethrough.

There are a few fairly bad holes in the garden too that I need to sort. Im thinking that I'll mix some peat moss and sand together and shovel that into the holes and reseed it.

But.. What can I do to the rest of the lawn to sort it out without rotavating it? Some sort of spray or something like that? I'd like a thicker, greener type of grass.

Ideally this is what I'm after



Thanks!

atgate

Ready for the fun.....

If there's moss you need to scarify it - rake out the moss and old thatch. This will leave it looking crap but don't worry it will get better soon. Next, you need to get some drainage into the lawn (lawns tend to get really compressed over time - people walking on it, playing footy etc) - so you need to get a garden fork and push it into the ground then move the fork around a bit to open up the small holes. Do this every foot or so up and down the lawn.

Now you want to fill those drainage holes with sharp sand (so they won't just close up) - just pour it onto the lawn and brush it in. You might want to surface treat it with some compost and chuck some seed where there are gaps / really thin bits. If you've seeded keep it well watered and try not to walk on it till the new growth gets going.

If this all sounds like too much trouble you could got to B&Q and get a tub of "Weed & Feed". Follow the instructions and it should kill off the moss and weeds and promote growth of the grass already there - you will still want to seed the gaps (and prepare the soil first).

Have fun (actually it's a pain in the arse since you really need to do it each year - lawns are loads of work between maintainance and mowing).

Zynks

This is a great thread for me. I have the same problems (and wishes) as Trotter. Thanks Atgate!

TempestSabre

Be careful to pick a similar lawn seed. I picked up grass seed by accident once and didn't notice till I had clumps of monster grass. Luckily my lack of care has killed it off.