To much Moss and Weeds in lawn
dgarcia_ina
Posts: 3
Hello everyone. I need some serious help with my lawn. My wife and I have had a busy couple of years with our first baby and have had next to no time to work in the garden. We've had moss and weeds creeping in over the years but just accepted it rather than treating it but they have taken advantage of our lax attitude over the last 2 years and gone haywire. Has anyone got any advise on how to rid the lawn of moss and weeds without to much effort as time is still restricted. Also I can't really use weed killer as we have a cat that spends a long time in the garden and we don't want to harm him in any way. I don't know if there's a way to upload pictures but I took a photo where you will see a lawn with a carpet of dandelions...looks pretty...but as a lawn it's pretty awful. Appreciate any advice anyone can give. Many thanks in advance.
Posts
Some of us on here have a fairly relaxed attitude towards lawns, and as long as it is green we don't mind too much whether the green is from grass or moss or 'weeds'.Your baby will soon be playing on it and won't mind either
Big rosettes of dandelions or plantains do look untidy though, even when it is just mown. On my lawn I remove the big ones wtih a sharp pointy trowel, or you can get special weeder tools, and I let the small leaved things like daisies, speedwell , celandine, selfheal etc be.
A purist would throw up his hands in horror, I just enjoy the flowers as they appear. The purist though would have to do a lot of hard work and spend quite a bit before he could get the enjoyment out of his lawn that I get out of mine. I say 'he' because there does seem to be a bit of a gender divide on this, but it is not absolute.
It's your choice, but if it were me I would spend my time enjoying my family and the rest of my garden, not fretting about the perfection of the lawn
Keep the cat indoors, apply a weed and feed product, then address the black remains. They'll need removed with a rake, and then you can reseed when the residue has gone from the weedkiller bit - a few weeks anyway.
Having said that - you'd now be better waiting till spring, as it's not the ideal time to start that process. You'll possibly need to adress the fact that it's very mossy - usually damp and/or shade are the main causes, so you'd need a suitable grass seed for the location, and then a regular routine of cutting and aerating, with the odd feed/weedkilling application etc, depending on how weed free you want it.
My 'grass' was mainly dandelions and buttercups when I moved in four years ago. It gets a weed and feed in spring and cut at least once a week, and that's all. The back gets the odd liquid feed.
For now, I'd just cut it.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I'm not precious about it all being pure grass either. Too much like a bowling green and hard work. A few daisies and bits of clover and speedwell add interest for insects too.
I suggest you start by removing the big, broad leaved weeds such as dandelion and plantain and the like then improve drainage as and when you can. This can be done quite simply by piercing the grass at frequent intervals with a large garden fork, pushing in the tines as deep and straight as you can then wiggling back and forth to enlarge the holes. Pour on some sharp sand - not damp, round builders' sand - and brush it into the holes. This will allow in air to the roots and improve surface drainage. Repeat as necessary till drainage improves - especially in autumn to prepare for winter rains and cold.
In autumn you can also give it a good raking with a spring tined rake (fan shape) to remove dead thatch and any moss and fallen leaves. Alternatively, buy or hire a scarifier which will do the job in no time and pick up the gubbins for you to empty onto a compost heap or green waste bin.
Next spring, apply a special weed and feed mix following the instructions carefully to get the correct dosage or you'll end up with a blackened mess. Keep your cat in for a couple of days until it has been rained or watered in. After a week or two, the active ingredients should have killed some or all of the moss and weeds and you can rake them off as above and bin or burn them. Not good for composting.
A regular scarifying will help your grass grow better as will an occasional feed and making sure you never cut it too short. As with any other plant, grass needs its leaves to make food and keep the root systems healthy and strong to fight off competition and disease.
Thanks for the replies so far..already helping me to make a plan. As a couple of you commented about not worrying about it being a perfect lawn, I absolutely agree, 1. I don't have time to keep it tip top and 2 we do encourage a fair bit of natural and wild growth in our garden. The main concern we was having about the weeds was if any were stinging because we was worried our little girl would frequently fall as she starts to find her feet more and more and lands her hand in some stinging nettles or simular, as well as it just becoming more weed and moss than grass...which it's not far from.
So at the moment it's looking like a bit more mowing and perhaps dig up some weeds and then perhaps next spring do a bit with a scarifier and lay say gras's seed and perhaps weed killer.
Mowing once a week would be a luxury but i'll try and do every other at least. Feels like a plans developing.
Thanks again.
I would make drainage a priority too or you'll never get anything nice for her to play on and weeds and moss will re-grow faster than grass.
Last edited: 07 September 2017 19:14:49
Yes..drainage never crossed my mind before..will give that a go too. It's quite a big garden so will have to dedicate some time to that by the sounds of it.