How to fix our lawn?

dudara

We bought my our house in November 2018. It had sat empty for approx a year since the previous owner had passed away. I gather that they were keen gardeners in their day, but obviously the garden has been untended for a while now.

I’ve dug out the old flower beds and I’m replanting. I’ve also pruned & tidied the hydrangea and other bushes. But the small lawn is a state. It’s patchy with uneven grass, plus there’s a shed load of dandelions and other broad weeds.

The nuclear option would be to get a whole new lawn relaid, but can anyone offer good advice on how we could tackle it without going there?

_Brian

Obviously regular mowing.
Feed with a “weed and feed” product.
Oversow with lawnseed to fill in any bare areas, if it’s not big there are specific repair products, but regular seed takes in will grow fine.

Feed again in autumn with an autumn specific feed.


Key with lawns is regular mowing and regular feeding somtie grass stays strong. Weed and feed products keep it clean.

listermint

See autonomous mower thread.

magicbastarder

cut it several times with the mower set on a very high cut first otherwise you'll scalp it.
you may have already done this, but it'll give you a better idea of how patchy it is.

dudara

Thanks for the response so far. The lawn is too small to justify an autonomous lawn mower, much the pity.

I bought some “weed & feed” food yesterday, so good to know I was thinking along the right lines. We’ll start giving it a go.

daheff

also run a scarifier over it... takes out all the dead grass. will leave the garden looking worse, but grass will grow back quickly


for your weeds, feed & weed as aready suggested. i also have a spray weedkiller to target the weeds specifically..... others may disagree, but it works for me.


also, is the garden damp/shady...... Does it get waterlogged in a heavy rain shower?

Roen

How big is the area? What's doable by hand in one garden may require other means in a bigger space.

BigAl81

daheff wrote:

also, is the garden damp/shady...... Does it get waterlogged in a heavy rain shower?

Mine is all of the above ;(

Is there anything you can do, like use a particular type of grass seed or something would you know? Thanks!

L'prof

Are those weed and feed products safe to use if you have dogs?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

L'prof wrote: »

Are those weed and feed products safe to use if you have dogs?

They are safe for dogs twenty four hours after the granules have been washed in.

dudara

daheff wrote: »

also, is the garden damp/shady...... Does it get waterlogged in a heavy rain shower?

It gets sunshine throughout the day and seems to have good enough drainage.

It’s northerly facing, and is triangular in shape as we have a corner semi-d. I would estimate about 20 m^2 of the back is lawn.

daheff

I’m guessing then your garden is approx 5m wise & 6-8m long?

If you have high walls then I reckon your garden won’t get great sunshine, and will be reasonably shady so-particularly in winter?

There is grass seed available for shady areas, but it’s really slow to establish & difficult to keep alive (in my experience).

I’d say keep the mowing to a minimum this summer, spray the weeds, regularly reseed after each cut & feed well with an autumn feed come September.

You’d be surprised how a few weeks of good growth from now to end June will bring on your grass.

Good luck with it.