Please help! Lawn infested with moss and weeds.

armabelle

We moved into a house and it has a nice big lawn out back except it is not so nice right now. The previous tenant didn't look after it and now it is about half-covered with moss and has a lot of weeds too. I purchased "weedol" lawn spray to kill the weeds and got a box of this "aftercut" which is supposed to be a a weed & feed type of thing that you throw on the grass after you mow. After using this product a lot of my lawn has gone brown assuming the moss is dying but what do I do then? Do I just leave it? What about the other areas where the moss has still died?

I am new to gardening and having a lawn so would like to make the most of it. Please can someone help me get it back in shape?

Oh and I also purchased a box of grass seed because I watched a video on youtube that says you should rake out the moss and then add seeds with some compost on top so there is more grass growth. Is this a good idea? If I rake out the moss there is so much of it that my lawn looks like 50% bare earth!!

thank you

drag0n79

This is your first time having a lawn...it takes time, regular maintenance and patience to get it right so stick with it but don't expect it to be perfect straight away. If it's in a bad way, you can probably still get it looking respectable for this summer, but it may take a few years to get it really nice.

You should lightly rake out the moss that has gone brown. Some of those areas will be left bare and you will need to reseed, some of them may be small so the existing grass will take over the spot. If you're reseeding, water well. Before you reseed, make sure the moss is totally gone. If there are a lot of dry days after you reseed, make sure to keep watering those areas - evening is best.

Cut it regularly, maybe once a week during growing season. Manually remove any weeds. If your lawn is shady during winter, then it's likely the moss will come back every year but you can minimise it by maintenance. Hard to fully get rid of it forever if that is the case though.

akagugs

Hey Armabelle, which Aftercut product did you buy? Just be a little careful with the 'all in one' solutions as some can inadvertently feed the weeds as well as the grass. You're nearly always better off buying individual products until you have the grass thriving and healthy then you can use whatever you like.
The Weedol will kill your weeds, this can take up to two weeks to work. An application of Sulphate of iron will kill your moss. After you've done this, like drag0n said, rake out the dead moss and reseed any patchy areas with the seed you bought. Keep this well watered for at least two weeks to a month until the grass has begun to grow.
Is the lawn 'spongy' at all when you walk on it? there can be quiet a build up of thatch in older lawns.
Stick up a few pics if it's handy for you and it'll give a better idea of what you're working with.

armabelle

drag0n79 wrote: »

This is your first time having a lawn...it takes time, regular maintenance and patience to get it right so stick with it but don't expect it to be perfect straight away. If it's in a bad way, you can probably still get it looking respectable for this summer, but it may take a few years to get it really nice.

You should lightly rake out the moss that has gone brown. Some of those areas will be left bare and you will need to reseed, some of them may be small so the existing grass will take over the spot. If you're reseeding, water well. Before you reseed, make sure the moss is totally gone. If there are a lot of dry days after you reseed, make sure to keep watering those areas - evening is best.

Cut it regularly, maybe once a week during growing season. Manually remove any weeds. If your lawn is shady during winter, then it's likely the moss will come back every year but you can minimise it by maintenance. Hard to fully get rid of it forever if that is the case though.

THanks for getting back to me. Is it possible to rake out moss that hasn't died yet? When I threw on that "Aftercut" product it only seemed to darken some of the moss. There are other areas that are still mossy and when I raked one of the areas, a big pile of moss came out. Should I do this over the whole lawn and then reseed?

Also, is it OK to throw compost over the lawn after reseeding or do I need something else? I have two bags of compost which I need to put to good use so would like to use it on the lawn if it will help.

armabelle

akagugs wrote: »

Hey Armabelle, which Aftercut product did you buy? Just be a little careful with the 'all in one' solutions as some can inadvertently feed the weeds as well as the grass. You're nearly always better off buying individual products until you have the grass thriving and healthy then you can use whatever you like.
The Weedol will kill your weeds, this can take up to two weeks to work. An application of Sulphate of iron will kill your moss. After you've done this, like drag0n said, rake out the dead moss and reseed any patchy areas with the seed you bought. Keep this well watered for at least two weeks to a month until the grass has begun to grow.
Is the lawn 'spongy' at all when you walk on it? there can be quiet a build up of thatch in older lawns.
Stick up a few pics if it's handy for you and it'll give a better idea of what you're working with.

It is a product by "westland" if I remember correctly. Maybe I should use the sulphate of iron as you said because the aftercut product only killed some areas. Or maybe i should just rake out the moss manually and then reseed?

philstar

i hear Osmo is supposed to be great, has anyone used it???

drag0n79

armabelle wrote: »

THanks for getting back to me. Is it possible to rake out moss that hasn't died yet? When I threw on that "Aftercut" product it only seemed to darken some of the moss. There are other areas that are still mossy and when I raked one of the areas, a big pile of moss came out. Should I do this over the whole lawn and then reseed?

Also, is it OK to throw compost over the lawn after reseeding or do I need something else? I have two bags of compost which I need to put to good use so would like to use it on the lawn if it will help.

Yes you can manually remove the moss. This is scarifying the lawn. It will also remove any thatch (a spongy layer between the grass and the soil) which you need to do anyway. But it would be best to kill the moss first. It is more likely to come back otherwise (but as I said above, it often comes back anyway!).

For the bare patches, when you are reseeding, apply a small layer of compost and rake the hayseed into it. Not too much, just enough to cover the seeds. Main thing is to keep those areas well watered - but it's a balance, don't wash the compost away.

armabelle

drag0n79 wrote: »

Yes you can manually remove the moss. This is scarifying the lawn. It will also remove any thatch (a spongy layer between the grass and the soil) which you need to do anyway. But it would be best to kill the moss first. It is more likely to come back otherwise (but as I said above, it often comes back anyway!).

For the bare patches, when you are reseeding, apply a small layer of compost and rake the hayseed into it. Not too much, just enough to cover the seeds. Main thing is to keep those areas well watered - but it's a balance, don't wash the compost away.

Ok, thanks! I will try and kill it but I put in the "aftercut" like 3 weeks ago and lots of moss still. Only some areas are black from dead moss so might have to scarify.

NIMAN

Sometimes time alone is needed, and patience.

When I arrived at my house 6 years ago the grass wasn't in great nick, more field than lawn.

I got into the habit of regular cutting, as often as I could, taking a little off, but more often.

Add a couple of feeds a year to it and it now looks pretty decent. There was also a bit of raking of dead thatch out of it too.

So doing this alone might be enough to bring it on, if you can accept it might take a couple of years at least.

armabelle

NIMAN wrote: »

Sometimes time alone is needed, and patience.

When I arrived at my house 6 years ago the grass wasn't in great nick, more field than lawn.

I got into the habit of regular cutting, as often as I could, taking a little off, but more often.

Add a couple of feeds a year to it and it now looks pretty decent. There was also a bit of raking of dead thatch out of it too.

So doing this alone might be enough to bring it on, if you can accept it might take a couple of years at least.

see I am not going to be here for more than a year or two so now I am having second thoughts about trying to get it great looking

NIMAN

I wouldn't bother.

mayo.mick

This http://www.horkans.ie/p/zero-lawn-liquid/p187063241 is getting great reviews from gardeners. Works great at getting rid of moss and it also greens the grass.

armabelle

NIMAN wrote: »

I wouldn't bother.

thanks, I think I am going to save my dreams for having a nice lawn on my own property, come the day