Lawn Maintenance Advice

jamieh

Hi all,

I recently moved into a new house and I’m on a mission to get the grass in decent order. The garden is 20 years old and probable never fed, scarified or aerated. I applied Evergreen Complete feed & weed in April and again last week. It still doesn’t look great. I realised my mowers blade are blunt so getting that sorted first.

I’m about to buy an electric scarifier - is it safe to scarify now or should I wait until September?

Is it worth buying a hollow tine manual aerator? Should I aerate before or after scarifying?

It looks like spreading some fresh lawn feed straight after aeration, is it ok to just spread by hand? Any recommendations on decent lawn seed?

Should I apply an autumn feed and weed?

FlipperThePriest

I was in the exact same situation. Moved house. Lawn almost choked and impossible to cut.

With no real experience I decided to do something about it in May. I'd say there was close to 30 years of moss and thatch. I rented a petrol scarifier, it took about 7 or 8 runs to get rid of everything. I'm not sure, but I doubt an electric would have been fit to dig up what I got rid of. I was a bit apprehensive as to how far I should go before totally ruining what was left. I phoned a mate whose da is a landscape gardener and he'd been on a few of these jobs with him.. he told me not to worry, the grass will recover, keep going until I totally expose the soil.

I did a photo log which you might find useful, including the recovery:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/X5qZnDcU8Xt51VDi8

I was happy with the results anyway.

One thing I regret is not spraying the weeds before scarifying... as the grass returned, so did the weeds with a bang (being that it was in Spring too). I might use a weed and feed next year, they say not to use it on new grass. I sprayed the moss before scarifying with Iron Sulfate but I think it was a waste of time it was that thick, and there was that much damage done by the scarifier anyway to remove it all.

I'd say go for it now if you can, there's plenty of heat and rain for grass to germinate. Don't neglect to keep watering the seed on dry days. I made sure the seed and then grass got a watering every evening for weeks.

Edit:

I didn't bother aerating. It's something I might do again. I went back and topdressed some patches that were still struggling after germination with compost. I also spread fertiliser about a month after germination and it really brought it on.

I bought the lawn seed (I sowed about 7kg) from my local agro supplier but I've seen on here guys recommend seed from here: https://seeddirect.ie/lawn-seed.html

There are still some small patches that are struggling, and it seems to be because of thatch that wasn't fully removed, so I've been going around and scraping it off, putting down some topsoil, reseeding and topdressing. Work in progress.

Dr4gul4

zippy84 wrote: »

I did a photo log which you might find useful, including the recovery:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/X5qZnDcU8Xt51VDi8

I hope that crop of yarrow was pre scarfying Keep an eye on it, in fact, if you havent pick up some d2-4 and spray it, it might need one or two applications.

Failing that, grow the grass long, yarrow's not a fan of long grass and being in the shade, so if the grass can out grow it it may die off.

If you dont, and you mulch, you'll spread it and then you'll have a lovely garden ( patches ) of yarrow.

Speaking from experience :mad:

FlipperThePriest

Dr4gul4 wrote: »

I hope that crop of yarrow was pre scarfying Keep an eye on it, in fact, if you havent pick up some d2-4 and spray it, it might need one or two applications.

Failing that, grow the grass long, yarrow's not a fan of long grass and being in the shade, so if the grass can out grow it it may die off.

If you dont, and you mulch, you'll spread it and then you'll have a lovely garden ( patches ) of yarrow.

Speaking from experience :mad:

The yarrow came back along with the grass, yeah it spreads fairly quickly. I've been trying to weed it (in vein really) and have been keeping the grass long. There's a lot of other stuff in the lawn too. As I said previously, I thought it would be unwise to spray a selective weed killer on a young lawn, no?

Dr4gul4

zippy84 wrote: »

The yarrow came back along with the grass, yeah it spreads fairly quickly. I've been trying to weed it (in vein really) and have been keeping the grass long. There's a lot of other stuff in the lawn too. As I said previously, I thought it would be unwise to spray a selective weed killer on a young lawn, no?

You are indeed correct about spraying any form of pesticide on it while new seed is germinating. but at some stage you might have to bite the bullet.

It's shocking stuff, i had a few small patches, but since deploying the automower i've had lots more.
The two main reason's for those following, low grass density due to thatch, and lack of aeration.

I'll be in the same place as you next year, Going to dethatch and reseed, but in the mean time, i've about 2000 sq meters to spray to try and kill the yarrow off as much as possible.

FlipperThePriest

Is 2,4D one of the products being regulated out of the non-professional market?

I see RHS also advise dicamba or mecoprop-P as a treatment for yarrow.

Dicamba and mecoprop-P are both contained in the weed and feed I have, so maybe it would do the job? Might spread a bit on a small section and see how it reacts.

Dr4gul4

zippy84 wrote: »

Is 2,4D one of the products being regulated out of the non-professional market?

I see RHS also advise dicamba or mecoprop-P as a treatment for yarrow.

Dicamba and mecoprop-P are both contained in the weed and feed I have, so maybe it would do the job? Might spread a bit on a small section and see how it reacts.

Repeated applications of weedkillers containing 2,4D, plus mecoprop-P or dicamba

The weed and feed grains are ok, I applied some earlier this year also, but found they dont really give enough of a bang especially for yarrow.

I have a bottle of "Dicophar Lawn Weed Killer" but even with that i've found two applications are required, and even then yarrow may reappear.

You could, in theory apply to small areas when you have new growth, maybe 9 weeks + . But from my own experience, after the second spraying, the grass went yellow for a while, but recovered well after that ..

Ohh, and be sure to use all the usual safety wear, especially a good mask. im sure that goes without saying, Dicophar is a hormonal pesticide where as good old fan fav Roundup is simply a poison. ( always handle roundup carefully also of course )

kaiserrussel

HI there

Had a question after reading through this. My own lawn was a lawn that was sown about 13 years ago and while I have tried to use fertiliser/weed & feed etc and keep it mowed down. Ive always thought that it was more of a field type of grass but maybe it needs some further work.

see attached pictures.

would raking/scarifying this help and if I over sow by putting out some grass seed? When I read about over sowing it seems its best to cover with a coat of top soil. I have .4 acre of grass on my site.

Pictures attached

Dr4gul4

kaiserrussel wrote: »

HI there

Had a question after reading through this. My own lawn was a lawn that was sown about 13 years ago and while I have tried to use fertiliser/weed & feed etc and keep it mowed down. Ive always thought that it was more of a field type of grass but maybe it needs some further work.

see attached pictures.

would raking/scarifying this help and if I over sow by putting out some grass seed? When I read about over sowing it seems its best to cover with a coat of top soil. I have .4 acre of grass on my site.

Pictures attached

Tough to make out exactly whats going on that, looks like dead grass, maybe stressed patches ? are they always like that?

You could scarify/aerate (solid thines) and overseed, but if it's standard field grass you'll never really remove it from overseeding.

As for covering, topdessing is more for leveling, it can help when overseeding, but i've found simple aeration is a cheaper option.

kaiserrussel

Dr4gul4 wrote: »

Tough to make out exactly whats going on that, looks like dead grass, maybe stressed patches ? are they always like that?

You could scarify/aerate (solid thines) and overseed, but if it's standard field grass you'll never really remove it from overseeding.

As for covering, topdessing is more for leveling, it can help when overseeding, but i've found simple aeration is a cheaper option.

Thanks I’ll take a pic or two more and share. I know last year it essentially died during the dry spell, it’s hasnt been right since - even if it was field grass would I be able to power rake out the dead grass and simply throw out some grass seed?

Dr4gul4

kaiserrussel wrote: »

Thanks I’ll take a pic or two more and share. I know last year it essentially died during the dry spell, it’s hasnt been right since - even if it was field grass would I be able to power rake out the dead grass and simply throw out some grass seed?

You could and should rake out that old grass, and throw on some new grass seed, even if you go over the area in question with a fork to punch come holes it will help the grass seed take .

Cody OHare

jamieh wrote: »

Hi all,

I recently moved into a new house and I’m on a mission to get the grass in decent order. The garden is 20 years old and probable never fed, scarified or aerated. I applied Evergreen Complete feed & weed in April and again last week. It still doesn’t look great. I realised my mowers blade are blunt so getting that sorted first.

I’m about to buy an electric scarifier - is it safe to scarify now or should I wait until September?

Is it worth buying a hollow tine manual aerator? Should I aerate before or after scarifying?

It looks like spreading some fresh lawn feed straight after aeration, is it ok to just spread by hand? Any recommendations on decent lawn seed?

Should I apply an autumn feed and weed?

Related to the OP comments, can anyone recommend where to get a manual hollow tine aerator?

Dr4gul4

Cody OHare wrote: »

Related to the OP comments, can anyone recommend where to get a manual hollow tine aerator?

Something like this maybe ? https://www.thegardenshop.ie/lawn-aerator/

Just be sure and lift / remove the cores from the lawn .

kaiserrussel

Dr4gul4 wrote: »

Something like this maybe ? https://www.thegardenshop.ie/lawn-aerator/

Just be sure and lift / remove the cores from the lawn .

would these be useful? Interesting that they could be used while mowing (with push mower)

https://www.thegardenshop.ie/lawn-aerating-shoe-spikes/

Dr4gul4

kaiserrussel wrote: »

would these be useful? Interesting that they could be used while mowing (with push mower)

https://www.thegardenshop.ie/lawn-aerating-shoe-spikes/

In theory perhaps yes, in practice, hard to say for sure, If you're soil already has a large sand content perhaps body weight / stamping would provide enough force to sink each thine the full 4 cm's .

But I wonder how many landscape gardeners do you see wearing/using them ..

fryup

what the best thing to do with a small flat back garden that gets sodden any time there's heavy rain...theres no natural drainage

Cody OHare

Dr4gul4 wrote: »

Something like this maybe ? https://www.thegardenshop.ie/lawn-aerator/

Just be sure and lift / remove the cores from the lawn .

I got this delivered on Friday. I spent a frustrating Sat afternoon trying to use it. Hard to get in the earth and getting blocked all the time. Eventually I worked out the amount of water you need to soak on the lawn (not that much, but definitely needed) and now it works pretty well. Its a laborious business and works up a sweat. I knew that from the start and my plan is to do a set amount every 2 weeks and have complete my the end Oct.

jamieh

Thanks for all the replies folks. I went ahead with scarifying and managed to collect a crazy amount of tatch - several wheelbarrows full. The grass looks desperate since, somewhere between dead/burnt. It's only been a week, and I'm starting to see some growth but huge patches are still very yellow looking. I bought a sprinkler and have been tipping away with that as there hasn't been much rain.

I just bought a 12kg of no.2 seed for Seed Direct - will apply that to the bare/yellow patches in the hopes of rescuing those areas.

knipex

Whats the lawn like structure wise ?

is it dry ? If the soil compacted like concrete ? Is it level ?

In my experience if the lawn is that old and in that poor condition you might be better off to spray it all, give it a week, rotavate and mix in compost \ soil improver and if necessary sand, sort out any drainage etc, level, roll and reseed.

In long run it will be quicker, cheaper and you will end up with a better lawn.