Getting the perfect lawn [pictures]
C.J
Posts: 12
Morning.
Last year I achieved in my eyes my perfect lawn. It looked great:
This year I've followed the same steps but I'm just not happy with it, maybe I'm being too picky, maybe I've made a mistake (over/under fed, over/under watered) or maybe it's too early to see the results I want?
Here's what I've done (pictures below):
- Evergreen 4in1
- Scarify
- Evergreen multi purpose seed
- MiracleGro Patch Magic
- Watered with MiracleGro Liquafeed once
- Watered with sprinkler every 2 days
- Evergreen Extreme Green
First cut
First treatment: Applying Evergreen 4in1
13 days later a few scorch patches, and also uneven lines of dark/light green
Scarified
Patch magic applied, uneven colours are starting to show (far left side is dark green)
Watered
Applied Evergreen Extreme Green (spreader)
Today
So now the Extreme Green has scorched my lawn (my fault obviously), and I've seen no improvement with the colour.
I have a few questions I hope anyone can help with:
- Is there anything I've missed above/done wrong?
- How often should I be watering?
- What cutting height should I use? I currently use between 2" - 2.5"
Sorry for the long post, I'm just trying to sort it before summer.
Posts
Wow, thats still a lovely looking lawn, well done!
Although i can't contribute to your problems, but have just started a similar routine myself, which i think i screwed up instantly by messing up the 4-in-1, so watching the thread with interest!
Also watching with interest as the new lawned area has been an unmitigated disaster (not helped by seeding to early then having (what felt like) nothing but cold days and no sun until last week..
I have shown this to my husband ( who is very keen on his lawn!) and asked him what he thinks.
Assuming you are not growing a lawn for the children/grandchildren to play on, 2.5 inches is a little long. He would keep watering say twice a week (assuming you have no rain), to try & dissipate the lawn food. He has noticed that on the lawn feed packets they often refer to a handful as being 35g ( I think I have this right) but unless you have really small hands it is often much more than that, so he has pinched my old kitchen scales and uses them to measure feed to get an accurate measurement - told you he was keen.
The problem with the type of spreader that you have to put the Evergreen on ,is that when you get to the end & turn around, you get an excess of feed in that area, which causes the scorching.
He measures the area using canes and broadcasts by hand (using gloves of course).
Hope this is of some help.
Ann your hubby must be very lawn-proud!
I strive for such perfection but with my daughter and dog both having a ridiculous notion that a lawn is for PLAYING on it's an on-going challenge for me!
Well, it keeps him out of mischief !
A keen lawn man I know said that his life changed when he got one of those devices that distribute the lawn feed mechanically; it is so much more accurate
Today it's got worse, to the point I'm worrying the lawn is dying.
Does PH play a big part? I read 6.5-7 is ideal, but checking tonight the 'good' grass is around 4.5, and the patchy/yellow grass is around 6.5.
The 'wet' meter is off the scale at 10.
No spiking or top dressing.
Where should I go from here? I'm assuming the products I've added are still working there way into the soil, so am I best holding off doing anything this week?
Should I start overseeing again? Hold off on watering until my meter states it's dry?
Mike, it is so lovely to hear from you again; hope you are feeling better.
I have always thought that lawns are best left to men, they seem to care about them passionately, I only have a tiny one and it is the most neglected area of my garden. I simply can't get very enthusiastic about a large area of green: flowers and veg just seem so much more interesting