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Lawns
Hi I'd welcome some advice about my lawn please. It suffered badly in the summer as we were away a lot and we had a gardener in to cut it, but its struggling to recover. It's about 3 cms long now and 50% moss. I know I have to take out the moss and seed it in the spring.,but I'm beginning to think that cutting it short might not be helping. Should I leave cutting it now to help it's recovery?
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to a Flymo which made the job easier and left the grass longer.
I too do not mind a few daisies and noticed this summer my south facing lawn was
turning brown, but now its pushed through new grass.
Therefor I would leave the cutting till spring as over winter it will fully recover.
I have been trying to leave ours a bit longer, but old habits
I think yes it is the cutting too short through the whole season that makes it worse.
You have to feed, treat and water regularly to have a green, moss free short sward. I think we are all tempted to cut a bit short and not do the other things that are needed to have that bowling green effect.
Cutting it short encourages the moss rather than the grass, which will weaken if constantly scalped. If you want a bowling green, and are prepared to spend lots of hours and money on it, then you can have it short, but most people don't do that
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
If your grass has moss in it you will never achieve a good lawn. So first get rid of moss. This is best done in the spring. Apply a solution of sulphate of iron, be careful that you only use on grass and not hard structures, concrete etc, as it will stain it a brown (oxide) colour. Within a few days the moss will turn black and die. Now, hire a electric lawn-raker and rake the dead moss, easy. At this stage your grass will look absolutely awful. Now, the hard part. You need to get drainage into the parts where the moss has grown. So dig over these areas with a fork, not easy. Don't try and pull the fork out of the ground but, trust me, lift the sod, it's easier. Now, apply a top dressing, multi purpose compost is ok. NOW, YOUR GRASS WILL LOOK LIKE A BUILDING SITE. But have faith. Leave for a few weeks till ground settles then sow grass seed. Don't be tempted to use fine grass seed, a mixture containing rye grass will do the job. Now, watch your new lawn grow. Water regularly if rain does not fall. Don't be impatient when grass is about 2" high cut with a sharp Flymo set to its highest cut. When the grass has established apply, not too much, a proprietary brand of weed, feed & moss killer. I realize, unless you're very keen, that you're, probably, not going to go through this difficult procedure but, trust me, it's the only way to achieve a reasonable lawn.
Lastly, a word on cutting height and lawnmowers. It's a myth that cutting grass short creates more moss. Good drainage & light kills moss, dead. The more you cut the thicker, finer & healthier the grass will become. You will NEVER achieve a good lawn using a rotary mower. A cylinder mower cuts grass like a pair of scissors, the shorter, to a degree, the grass the finer the sward.
Good Luck. But, if it starts to look better, don't get too obsessive it could take over your life!
You can scrape out and remove all the rubbish, and then loosen and rake the soil, adding a bit of new soil/compost as you see fit, and then reseed, but it's too early. Best to wait till spring, and the seed will germinate readily when it's warmer, and grow away well.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...