Lawn... when to call it quits?

frivolous_fay

Say you've inherited a lawn. It's not in great shape - mossy / hard and dry in places / bare in places / weedy.

How bad would it have to be before you dug the whole thing up and reseeded?

Lord_Gardener

Never, see it as a challenge! Go through all the basics - cut, edge, aerate, scarify, weed n feed, seed patches, water and you'll soon have it back in condition!

roddydogs

What ever you do dont be tempted by those "canada green/Velvet green type ads that seem to imply that you just throw it on the ground, and by magic a lush new lawn appears. Its just grass seed, and needs the same preparing as normal, then u get grass-but u will with normal grass seed !

olly300

The grass seed in canada green seems to be the same mixture used for family lawns from places like Homebase and B&Q.

linlin_3

I'd cut it very low, as low as the mower can take. Dig up the very worst weeds. Scarify it with a hard rake - like combing your hair through to the scalp. Poke it with a fork. Then tamp down a mixture of good quality compost and grass seed. Then leave it - see what happens.

steady__eddie

Don't forget the secret (well not so secret now) ingredient.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=535788

frivolous_fay

LOL, thanks all

I've been out there picking weeds out of the lawn every weekend since July, I just wanted some reassurance that it's not a completely futile exercise!

First I did the tall, spindly, purple flowering weeds that have floating seeds like dandelions and are EVERYWHERE. I keep finding clumps in the beds, and I have noticed it's rampant in neighbour's garden... sigh...

Then I started on the small, leafy, stunted things with a purple flower a bit like clover... you pull up one bit and then follow the runner to the real plant... and so on and so on! There's tons of it lurking under the grass and when I pull a bit up, I get a handful of moss too It doesn't really help that we have no mower yet :rolleyes: although the weeds at least get long enough to get a good grip on

Eventually I will go for the cute little violets that are dotted over the lawn... but at least easy to spot. And I have my beady eye on one or two dandelions *sigh*

Can't decide whether to start gunning for the clover... there's only a tiny bit by the patio but technically it's a weed, right? Although I like bees

Oh, forgot to mention I'm not into weedkillers... I must be nuts

olly300

I must be nuts

Your not nuts.

One of my neighbours' children (I think the kid is around 3) has spent hours watching me pulling and digging weeds out of my lawn. Everytime the kid sees me doing it he asks "What you doing? Why are you digging? " Making me feel like a mad person.

BTW OP if you don't plant grass seed asap in the places where you have removed the weeds from another weed will grow there.

jstyles

olly300 wrote: »

Your not nuts.

One of my neighbours' children (I think the kid is around 3) has spent hours watching me pulling and digging weeds out of my lawn. Everytime the kid sees me doing it he asks "What you doing? Why are you digging? " Making me feel like a mad person.

BTW OP if you don't plant grass seed asap in the places where you have removed the weeds from another weed will grow there.

That rings true with me, too!!

My 5-yr-old son often asks to help me but get fed up after about 10 mins, preferring to annoy snails instead!!

djbd1973

olly300 wrote: »

Your not nuts.

One of my neighbours' children (I think the kid is around 3) has spent hours watching me pulling and digging weeds out of my lawn. Everytime the kid sees me doing it he asks "What you doing? Why are you digging? " Making me feel like a mad person.

BTW OP if you don't plant grass seed asap in the places where you have removed the weeds from another weed will grow there.

I spend hours pulling clover and moss from my lawn too when I can as I find it relaxing of an evening - just me and my garden. My eldest neighbour enjoys asking me 'what am I doing?'. Seeing me in my garden breaks up her lonely day I think. I find that to keep the lawn free of weeds is a continual never ending job and I don't have the time. I used to really spend a lot of time on my lawn, putting down the proper sand, and constantly forking, raking, seeding etc and it did used to look amazing, and last year I reseeded a large section that is constantly shaded and was covered in moss. That section did look good throughout the winter but this summer past the moss came back as I was too slow. If I was retired I would spend my whole life in the garden come rain or shine.

Suzy_M

You need to be quite tenacious if you really want to renovate a lawn and it can take a year of concerted effort so you need to be self-disciplined. - You could just dig it up and start again but digging up old turf is back-breaking done by hand – or very expensive to hire a turf cutter. – And then you’d still have to deal with the underlying problems that caused problems with the old lawn. Personally I’d give it the year first.

Biggest labour-saving "tip" I’ve ever learnt about gardening is to do things at the right time. - If you decide to go for renovation Autumn is the best time to start – but you need to get cracking now before it gets too cold.

I can’t add anything to Lord_Gardener’s post but a couple of tips following on from others:

Best thing for maintaining a healthy lawn is to cut it properly. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever!!! cut a lawn too short. This just weakens the grass so it can’t compete with the weeds. About one to one-and-a-half inches high is fine for most home lawns. Also, cut little and often as opposed to scalping it once every blue moon.

Don’t leave grass long over the winter – longer grass is more susceptible to frost and therefore winter die-off – about one-and-half inches high is fine and be prepared to give your lawn a light cut during the winter if need be. Also during winter – remove any leaves, windfalls or other debris daily (suprising how quickly these can kill the grass off) and try to keep off grass when it’s wet and especially when it is frosty.

Tip for creeping weeds is to rake the grass just before cutting. This brings the stalks up so the mower can get at them and stops them getting a wider hold.

Tip for dandelions is a bulb planter (long handled one is easier) pushed in as far as you can to remove a plug with hopefully the root. Then a little Deep Root / Root Out sprinkled in the hole before filling in with clean soil.

OK lecture over - hope this helps.