quick gardening questions

pavlovs_dog

i have offered my services to my nan as a gardener to help tidy the garden up a bit.

nothing overly fancy, it just needs a good cut of the grass, a bit of weeding, and general tidy up.

i've noticed that there are a few bald patches on the lawn. the grass as a whole grows well, and has a gorgeous deep green colour to it. there are just random naked patches. whats the best way of getting rid of these? will something as simple as grass seed do the trick, or do i need something more fancy? also, any tips on caring for this until its established and encouraging growth much appreciated :beer:

secondly, i have access to a strimmer for doing the borders/edges, which given the nature of the garden would make the job much easier. however it has no wire left. i know we sell strimmer wire where i work in argos. is strimmer wire a universal thing? will the wire from argos be suitable for use in most/all strimmers, or do i need a specific type?

thanks in advance for your help

P_d

culpepper

no not all strimmers use the same line. Why dont you take the strimmer in to B & Q and ask which line it takes? You needn't buy it there once you know.
My neighbour often resseds bits of her lawn and she puts down branches to keep the birds from eating the seed.

marklefty

Usually whether petrol or electric narrows it down, I would take the cassette that holds the line in and get the thickest line that fits it through the hole.

With the lawn first find out whats caused the dead areas and then seed over should suffice but watch out for the birds

fannyadams

does your nan have a dog or cat?
their wee is quite caustic - especially girl dogs wee - and will cause bald patches on an otherwise 'perfect' lawn. or is it where any birds roost (specially at night)? bird 'lime' will eat the paitwork on the car so it's probably not very nice on the lawn.
there's a thread on here somewhere about it.
Fungus (fairly rings) will also cause bald patches and you would have to dig out the fairy ring and chuck it all away including the soil then put on some more seed or patch from another part of the lawn.
I think you should maybe try to see why the lawn is bald first BEFORE spending out loads on seed and it not growing coz there's an underlying reason.
HTH

pavlovs_dog

its definately an elcetric strimmer.

as for the cats/dogs, nan doesnt own any but she does occasionally get the neighbours cats coming to sunbathe on the garden :rolleyes:

thanks for all advice, much appreciated :beer:

pavlovs_dog

ive found out that this is the strimmer she has

Cutting Width: 25 cm
Cable Length: 12m
Line Length: 10 (2x5)m
Line Diameter: 1.5 mm
Blade/Line Type: Nylon
Feed Mechanism: Double Autofeed
Edging Faciity: Yes
PNC: 9648596-25
EAN: 501175902483-9

does this mean i am looking for nylon wire no greater than 1.5 mm thick? are the spool cassettes a standard size, or will this be a factor?

OddjobKIA

1.5-2mm thick cable will be fine for a small hand held electric strimmer any thicker than that and it might burn out the motor. The thicker stuff is meant for Petrol strimmers. If you buy it on a roll then it is quite easy to rethread onto the exisating cassette.

As for the patches on the grass it might be lots of things the most common is fungus under the ground If there isnt much dig it out taking 4" of soil with it put a bit of pea gravel down and returf the area affected shouldn't cost more than £10-15 depending on the area of dead grass water well and keep of that area untill settled in (spring next year)