Lawn Weeding & Feeding

melon_collie

I am looking for advice on the best way to weed and feed my lawn at home. I have quite a big lawn, circa 0.7 acres which was sown about 18 months ago. I have two main problems at the moment:

1. I am crucified with thistles trying to become established. Up to now I have put a lot of work into trying to keep them out but I don't think I would be able to keep up that same level of effort this year. I sprayed the lawn twice/three times last summer with hytrol lawn weedkiller but I'm not really sure it did any good. I also went spent days going around handpicking the thistles from the root. Hard work. What would be the best way for me to keep the thistles under control?
2. My second problem is that parts of the lawn are very yellow and other parts are lush green. I had hoped that the yellow parts would become greener but they haven't. I think they might need some kind of feed. What would be the best thing to use as a fertiliser taking in mind that I have such a large area. Those weed and feed products on the market are just too expensive to use on a lawn my size. Also, when would be the best time to apply this fertiliser? Somebody suggested to me about using hydrated lime. Anyone know if this is any good?

Any help/advice on the above problems would be greatly appreciated.

Audioslaven

melon_collie wrote: »

I am looking for advice on the best way to weed and feed my lawn at home. I have quite a big lawn, circa 0.7 acres which was sown about 18 months ago. I have two main problems at the moment:

1. I am crucified with thistles trying to become established. Up to now I have put a lot of work into trying to keep them out but I don't think I would be able to keep up that same level of effort this year. I sprayed the lawn twice/three times last summer with hytrol lawn weedkiller but I'm not really sure it did any good. I also went spent days going around handpicking the thistles from the root. Hard work. What would be the best way for me to keep the thistles under control?
2. My second problem is that parts of the lawn are very yellow and other parts are lush green. I had hoped that the yellow parts would become greener but they haven't. I think they might need some kind of feed. What would be the best thing to use as a fertiliser taking in mind that I have such a large area. Those weed and feed products on the market are just too expensive to use on a lawn my size. Also, when would be the best time to apply this fertiliser? Somebody suggested to me about using hydrated lime. Anyone know if this is any good?

Any help/advice on the above problems would be greatly appreciated.

i would say that the soil quality is poor in the yellow parts when you got the lawn sown. Get a bag of 0:10:20 or 0:7:30. Put this out as it will give the grass a good kick start. You can get this in any co-op. A bag is 25 euro or so and it would do the area you have.

In regards to the thistles, get specific spray for them. Ask in the co-op when your in getting the fertilizer. Mowing the lawn will keep these in check anyway

jrby

does anyone know where i would get this around south dublin / greystones? also any harm putting it and grass seed down now / over next week or two?

thanks

magicbastarder

no harm to it - but little benefit either. i suspect the birds will appreciate it; there won't be any growth for several months yet.

redser7

You're better off leaving any work till things warm up and dry out a bit. Think March. My own lawn is very soft underfoot with lots of worm casts about. If you go walking on soil at this time of year you'll just mess it up more. Plus your grass seed would just rot and you don't want your grass growing fast during winter cold.
The Lawn Expert is a good reference book. 1p + delivery second hand on amazon.co.uk.