Lawn Condition

Rigsby

I'm not a gardening expert but my wife knows a fair amount about it. What puzzles both of us is this. Every spring we kill off and remove the moss. We feed the lawn regularly. Yet it never seems to look half as nice as the grass in our local church grounds or park, either of which don't get any pampering, just a cutting from time to time. Our garden has a lot of moss at present, while little or none in the other two. The only reason that my wife can think of is bad drainage. Could this be the reason ?

Minder

Poor drainage could be a factor but water can be removed by evaporation as well as draining away through the soils - if the lawn is in shade a lot, the moisture will be retained. Also are you removing grass clippings after mowing?

When I raised a similar problem with a colleague at work, he said "You could just put up with it - it's green isn't it!"

Rigsby

Minder wrote: »

Poor drainage could be a factor but water can be removed by evaporation as well as draining away through the soils - if the lawn is in shade a lot, the moisture will be retained. Also are you removing grass clippings after mowing?

When I raised a similar problem with a colleague at work, he said "You could just put up with it - it's green isn't it!"

Thanks for your reply Minder. I always remove the grass clippings. While some moss is in shade, there is still a lot that is not.

As for you colleague's remark : ........ so are weeds and look at the trouble we go to, to rid ourselves of them. Maybe he prefers "the natural look" garden, full of weeds, nettles, ect.

Wishbone Ash

Do you have the mower blades set very low?

Re the church/park grass - large expanses of regularly cut grass tend to look good but on close inspection, it can be medicore.

Rigsby

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Do you have the mower blades set very low?

Yes, actually I do. I try them higher next time.

Thanks.

Sonnenblumen

Rigsby wrote: »

I'm not a gardening expert but my wife knows a fair amount about it. What puzzles both of us is this. Every spring we kill off and remove the moss. We feed the lawn regularly. Yet it never seems to look half as nice as the grass in our local church grounds or park, either of which don't get any pampering, just a cutting from time to time. Our garden has a lot of moss at present, while little or none in the other two. The only reason that my wife can think of is bad drainage. Could this be the reason ?

It would seem that you're not tackling the cause of the problem, ie poor drainage which is manifested by repeat occurence of moss. Poor drainage will also cuase grass to suffer over medium term.

Is it a new site (< 5 years old) , if so ground conditions are probably poor? Do a test by digging an area approx 900x900mm to a depth of 300mm (12") and see what the soil is like, if you encounter a lot of stone/hardcore etc, there's the problem or if the soil is poor quality (clay) which drains poorly.

Come back with results and we can see what remedies apply. Note a low cut lawn requires regular will require additional feeding/watering especially during prolonged dry spells. Avoid very low cutting outside of growing season.