Spreading Lawn
Good day everybody,
I have a patch on my lawn which I have tried to show in the pictures which hope it's clear enough. I want to sort my lawn out and I wondered if there is any possible technique of slowly allowing this fresh healthy strain of grass to spread and maybe gradually overtake the weak grass that is already there.
The patch of lawn that I wish to spread sits under the place where my bird feeder is so I wonder where in the country the seed for this grass strain has come from.
I must note that upon inspecting my lawn is generally in bad shape, as you can see in the picture, and I noticed there are many weeds growing around the garden. I couldn't tell you the of the name of the weeds however as I am new to this, as you can probably tell!
So please let me know if you have any suggestions on how and if it is possible to somehow make the rest of my weak patchy lawn become like the healthy thick and wide patch of grass under my bird feeder.
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Many thanks in advance.
Mustafa
Posts
Just keep moving your bird feeder around the garden! Most likely this is Barley or Millet that's come out of the bird feeder and germinated on the ground. It make make for an ornamental grass but it's not going to be very suitable as a lawn unfortunately.
The easiest way to get rid of clover is just to buy a slab of turf and stick it on top. Failing that more expensive option, you could rake away the clover and put down some lawn seed. Failing that, if the clover hasn't completely taken over then you can let the grass around it grow long and suffocate it out; that's the cheaper but slower and less reliable means.
That thatch of thicker sward looks like Poa Annua, the annual meadow grass. It's not normally seen as desirable in a lawn and will set seed very readily even at low heights without you realising. If you want this to colonise your lawn, you will not need to feed your lawn and rake it, since the two actions are require to keep the lawn free of gaps that allows clover and such grass to thrive.
You will find these lush looking clumps will grow where there are gaps, but they will never be uniform all the way through your space which is what I believe you are expecting. The issue is they don't do well when cut. They dry out quickly and in hot dry weather completely die down.
For a healthy lawn, you should just cut out those clumps and feed your lawn with mostly high nitrogen feed and spike the lawn. Clover and weeds thrive on compacted soils. Regularly re-seed bald patches to avoid weeds filling the gap. Cut at regularly intervals during the warm months, in time, you should be able to have a more uniform looking lawn.
Last edited: 14 November 2017 17:18:50
Looks more like wheat than grass to me.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
what does that long patch look like when it's been mowed? Has it been mowed yet, that's the test for a good lawn grass
In the sticks near Peterborough
I love clover. It stays lovely fresh and green in dry periods. I mow around a smallish section where I just let the clover grow so it flowers (bees like it) and sets seed. I squint and imagine that section looks a bit like an inverted dry-pond in the lawn. Perhaps eventually I can get some meadow flowers to grow in that section. I welcome most other things, e.g. microclover, daisies, speedwell. Only dandelions get the chop. Lawn is one of the most artificial constructs in a garden. I like it as an architectural element to offset borders et cetera, but by itself it is a heinous monoculture and so difficult to maintain. Anyway, I love clover