help with my lawn?

Aidan_M_M

Howdy folks. I'm only starting into gardening so please bear with me. I sowed my lawn late last summer / last autumn, unfortunately cattle broke in and trampled a bit of it a few months after. I patched it and got on with life. It's thickened enough to need mowing now , I've actually mowed it 3 times now. It seems to have a lot of weed it though, and they grow rapidly. Any idea what they are and how to deal with them? I have fed the lawn twice with 3in1 feed, the stuff for feeding grass, killing moss and weeds. I can't honesty say it has done much weedkilling!

secman

When you say you put down weed & feed twice, did you get 3 or more dry days after you put it down, if it rained before 3 days the weed part would not have had time to work, it would have been washed off. The grass looks a bit on the weak side, plenty of gaps, perhaps the grass is too young for a weed & feed, as you only sowed it last autumn ?

I know when i sowed my lawn in the autumn, it was the spring 2 years before i applied a weed & feed, just regular cutting for the first full spring /summer.

Secman

Aidan_M_M

I'm more worried that the weeds will take over than the thickness of the grass. It had a few dry days the first time anyway.

redser7

Weeds and grass succeed inversely to the other. So thick healthy grass keeps weeds at bay while thin unhealthy grass allow weeds to take hold. It might take a couple seasons to get it right. For now apply your feed and weed regularly according to the product. Regular mowing at the right height is also good for the grass.
Then in September, scarify, aerate and over seed. In November apply an autumn feed and you should be in good shape next year.

snowstreams

OP Your grass looks very good compared to mine. My best patch would be the same as yours.

I sowed my grass very late last autumn and then finished another patch in my garden this spring at two different times.
One patch that was sown during the dry weather in late march/april and didnt grow well. Now its mostly just scutch grass. The other pathes are doing reasoably well at keeping out weeds particularly the grass sown in early october last year.
I havent put down any fertilizer yet. It was mostly new topsoil that was delivered by our builder, but i can see that the builder mixed in some poor subsoil into it too, because in parts the grass is very stunted and yellow, even the weeds are stunted!

Q.1 Is it possible to get rid of scutch grass with a feed/weed?
Q.2 what would be the best thing to do with the subsoil patches, should i just put a few inches of fresh topsoil over it or would a good fertilizer turn the subsoil into topsoil over time?
Q.3 I have a few poorly draining parts near a wood at the back of the garden with lots of rotten leaves mixed into the grass etc. Would it be a benefit if i imported some worms to aerate the soil and eat the leaves?

Thanks for any tips. I know it will take a lot of time to get the lawn right but I dont want to waste my time getting it wrong at this stage either!

lazybones32

Bad news: the weeds will eventually occupy those bare patches if you don't do something. Sow more seed is your only real option.
Weeds are in every lawn and usually, you can just mow them into submission: can you set your mower a bit lower without scalping the lawn?
A neighbour of mine spreads some grass clippings over any bare patches on his lawn and they take! It'll do no harm to try, I suppose.

I've applied those weed/feed things also in perfect conditions and directed dosage and there was little change...I'm beginning to think they are a scam.