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First time gardener: Advice required

craig.coulter84craig.coulter84 Posts: 2
in Problem solving
Hello everyone, as above first time gardener (term used loosely) looking for simple advice.

First thing first. My front lawn is a mess. It's almost entirely some sort of moss and weeds. The grass that does exist is a wierd clumpy stuff, that grows in little knots rather than individual blades. I've started to rake off as much moss as possible and will attempt to weed it. Its north facing and I don't think the soil is all that deep, i think the bulk of it may actually be stones. 

My plan is to cover it with a thin layer of top soil, not a lot, just enough to hopefully starve the moss of sun to kill it. Then lay grass seed. I'm not after an award winning lawn or anything. Just a nice thick green grass. 

My question is,  will this work? What time of year should I be laying seed? I'm in the west of Scotland so even though it's the middle of May now it's still cold and wet and will probably remain so for a few weeks yet. 

Thanks in advance. 

Posts

  • craig.coulter84craig.coulter84 Posts: 2
    ImpatientGardener said:
    The good thing about it being wet is that you won't have to keep going out to water the seeds!
    Might have to de-ice them though. 
  • AlliumPurpleSensationAlliumPurpleSensation Posts: 270
    The grass clumps might be couch grass, I have it in my lawn and it's the bain of my life! I also have a north facing front lawn.

    I think glucosphate will kill it but also the nice grass. I am slowly digging up the clumps in fill with top soil and reseeding.

    Not sure if this is the best way and it's slow but I avoid weedkillers where I can.

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Moss is likely to be prevalent in a lawn that has bad drainage ... just covering it up and resowing won’t improve the conditions and moss will re-establish. 

    Im afraid you need to improve the drainage in order to have a better lawn. 

    Sorry there’s no short cuts ☹️ 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • HelixHelix Posts: 631
    Aeration first.....spend your evenings with a garden fork..  Far better to improve lawn slowly and make a permanent change than throw money at it and find it returns to same state a few months later.  
  • HelixHelix Posts: 631
    Well if you can water 7 times a day....!   Yes it looks great now.  But what will it look like in 6 months time if no permanent watering system and in dry shade under a tree?   I’m not sure it will completely solve the problem. 
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