Last cut of the year?

Zardoz

NIMAN wrote: »

When does iron sulphate go down?
When does sand go down?
When best time to scarify (I had put it off til spring)?

Iron Sulphate can go down anytime between now and April.
You cant scarify until there is decent growth so March/April.

magicbastarder

i find all lawn maintenance deathly dull. problem is i usually let it get a little long between cuts and then have to worry about hitting frogs.

ShiverinEskimo

Zardoz wrote: »

You cant scarify until there is decent growth so March/April.

There are a number of different theories on scarifying/aerating. I scarify this time of year (September usually) when weeds aren't seeding and blowing into the exposed soil. Doing it in the spring is a recipe for weed-town I've found over the years.

If you insist on doing in the spring I'd do it very lightly so as not to open it up for weeds.

Doing it in the Autumn means it opens up a great opportunity for over-seeding too to thicken out the lawn over winter and give weeds even less of a chance in spring.

NIMAN

I think after scarifying I would like to re-seed some of the thinner areas, so best to leave scarifying until spring?

Zardoz

ShiverinEskimo wrote: »

There are a number of different theories on scarifying/aerating. I scarify this time of year (September usually) when weeds aren't seeding and blowing into the exposed soil. Doing it in the spring is a recipe for weed-town I've found over the years.

If you insist on doing in the spring I'd do it very lightly so as not to open it up for weeds.

Doing it in the Autumn means it opens up a great opportunity for over-seeding too to thicken out the lawn over winter and give weeds even less of a chance in spring.

Yes that is true, early September is the best time of the year for heavy scarifying.
There is good grass growth and weeds aren't seeding.
We are almost 2 months past that now though, the lawn wont be able to recover before the Winter.

Spring is tricky as you say .
Weeds can seed .
For years every time I scarified in early April, we would get a hot dry spell where it wouldn't rain for 3-4 weeks and the lawn was damaged from the scarifying.
I was literally cursed.

I scarified earlier this year in mid March to try and counter this and it definitely worked.
The weather wasn't as dry.

ShiverinEskimo

In early march you probably got in ahead of the worst of the seeding. My issue is that there's an idle field wrapped around my garden on two sides. It's full of docks, neetles, rapeseed and every other nasty you can imagine. If I scarify in April, come July you can't tell the difference between my lawn and the field.

ShiverinEskimo

Disaster stuck overnight.

Came downstairs to three happy horses munching away at the lush lawn this morning. Fence between my lawn and the aforementioned wild field collapsed.

Damage done is catastrophic and widespread as the turf was soft. Looking at a complete re-do in the spring at considerable expense/labour.

7 years of work undone in a night. I nearly got sick.

Gloomtastic!

ShiverinEskimo wrote: »

Disaster stuck overnight.

Came downstairs to three happy horses munching away at the lush lawn this morning. Fence between my lawn and the aforementioned wild field collapsed.

Damage done is catastrophic and widespread as the turf was soft. Looking at a complete re-do in the spring at considerable expense/labour.

7 years of work undone in a night. I nearly got sick.

Nearly got sick? I salute your restraint. Good luck with it!

Harry Palmr

Feck, who's fence is it?

On topic, today looks ideal for a cut. Dry and overcast down here overnight so little moisture and bright skies now

Zardoz

ShiverinEskimo wrote: »

Disaster stuck overnight.

Came downstairs to three happy horses munching away at the lush lawn this morning. Fence between my lawn and the aforementioned wild field collapsed.

Damage done is catastrophic and widespread as the turf was soft. Looking at a complete re-do in the spring at considerable expense/labour.

7 years of work undone in a night. I nearly got sick.

Nasty.
I had a pack of cattle get into my place about 5 years ago, must have been 20 of them .
Woke up and opened the front door to see a cow sitting on the door step.

Luckily the ground was pretty firm, it was the end of November , the damage wasn't too bad .
Alot of dung around the place and they ate a good few plants/shrubs but nearly all of them recovered.
The lawn looked a bit worn but not too many hoof marks.
If the weather had been wet it would have been a disaster.

thekooman

Gave it a cut today. went out yesterday to cut it and the battery was dead. new battery, 65 euro

Oink

thekooman wrote: »

Gave it a cut today. went out yesterday to cut it and the battery was dead. new battery, 65 euro

Was it dry enough for a cut then? Our grass hasn’t dried in God knows how many weeks at this stage. The mower just sinks in.

thekooman

Oink wrote: »

Was it dry enough for a cut then? Our grass hasn’t dried in God knows how many weeks at this stage. The mower just sinks in.

ground in perfect condition. but grass wet. mulched it at a high level.

NIMAN

ShiverinEskimo wrote: »

Disaster stuck overnight.

Came downstairs to three happy horses munching away at the lush lawn this morning. Fence between my lawn and the aforementioned wild field collapsed.

Damage done is catastrophic and widespread as the turf was soft. Looking at a complete re-do in the spring at considerable expense/labour.

7 years of work undone in a night. I nearly got sick.

I feel your pain.

Was out yesterday afternoon and landed back, drove car round the back of the house. Stopped and looked to my right, bloody cow in the bottom of the back garden.

Took only a couple of mins to get it back into its own field. It seems to have stepped over a slightly lower piece I had left in the fence I had left deliberately so I could get into field if needed.

My back garden hasn't the best drainage and was sodden and very soft. Thankfully it was either only in before I arrived or else it hadn't wandered around too much, just a couple of sets of lines of hoof marks. But deep due to the soft ground.

Thankfully his 10 mates didn't join him.

Now what's the best way to repair them? Just fill with top soil and reseed?

jprboy

NIMAN wrote: »

Thankfully his *10 mates didn't join him.

Now what's the best way to repair them? Just fill with top soil and reseed?

Her (if it was a cow and not a bullock)

Fill with with top soil should be fine, grass will knit in.

NIMAN

jprboy wrote: »

Her (if it was a cow and not a bullock)

Fill with with top soil should be fine, grass will knit in.

You can tell I'm a blow-in to rural life!

Anatom

Got a cut in last Saturday afternoon - just before the rain and high wind set in. My lovely leaf-free lawn and driveway lasted about an hour before the leaves came down in force again.

I'll chance doing it again this weekend if it dries out, and that should do it for the rest of the winter, as there don't seem to be too many leaves left on the trees around here. In terms of the grass, there is hardly any growth, apart from some random spots which seem to grow out of all proportion to everything else...

Cakes and Ale

Just gave a trim to the back there, despite the colder weather there was still a fair bit of growth, and the week ahead looks mild and wet. If no one minds this thread being resurrected, that is!

NSAman

Last year finished in October as we had early snow and frost. Weather has warmed up here and the leaves are piled high everywhere, despite leaf blowing every evening when home from work. Can’t leave the leaves on the grass as it kills growth in spring and it’s taken me 8 years to tame this wilderness.

Today is mild outside, but snow and colder temps this week are forecast. Time to mulch the leaves into the grass methinks and mow for the first time in two weeks. Wish me luck 4 hours of my Sunday gone..:)