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Dead lawn

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  • Last mowed October/November. The brown grass just doesn't grow!

  • i think as I said a good raking /scarifying will do it the world of good. I would then over sow with general lawn seed as soon as night time temps are around 10Cscatter some across the other part of the lawn to blend any difference in colour. 


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





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    I'd agree with Dove. If it's like that just now and hasn't been mown since autumn, it's a build up of thatch which is the main issue. There may not be much grass there just now, but it won't stand much chance of improving in better temps without the dead stuff being removed. Grass needs air circulating around it to keep it healthy too, and the thatch prevents that. Get that out and reseed when warmer, and it should improve quite noticeably. 

     Keeping grass looking decent is an ongoing maintenance job, I'm afraid  image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • mf21212mf21212 Posts: 20

    So looking at weed & feed it seems 25kg roughly does you for 750sqm roughly. So weed & feeding an acre you are looking at upwards of 5 * 25kg bags = £125 or so

    Is that correct? Seems quite expensive no?

  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328

    An acre???  That's some lawn.  

    How about leaving some of the area as a meadow?  You wouldn't need "weed & feed" on that bit.  You could mow paths through it, and plant spring bulbs for extra colour.

    From your photo you don't appear to have weeds, so just a feed would do, in my opinion.  I never kill weeds in my lawn.  It depends what effect you want; a bowling green takes a huge amount of maintenance, whereas a "mixed lawn" (ie a colourful one including wild flowers, aka weeds) takes considerably less, and, unless you live in a stately home, is nicer looking IMO.

    But whatever sort of lawn you want, PLEASE don't cut it so short.  image

    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,146

    You have an acre of lawn? 

    When I had that much grass I had sheep and cattle grazing it - rather a different sort of grass management.

    Perhaps someone else has experience of vast areas of lawn ... golf course and football pitch groundsmen maybe ...

    Hosta has large areas of grass, but it's not kept as one would keep a 'lawn' ...

    Last edited: 02 March 2017 11:16:47


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





  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,146
    Liriodendron says:
    ......... But whatever sort of lawn you want, PLEASE don't cut it so short.  image

     Absolutely agree - I think that is the root (sorry image) of the problem.


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





  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328

    Snap, Dove  image

    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    I had that sort of size of area of grass at the last house, in three parts, one of which was a fairly wild section. We just cut it regularly and it had no other treatment. The second area, next to the entrance driveway, was much the same - cut regularly, but with a weed and feed in spring. It was near the adjacent fields so it would have been pointless trying to keep all the weed seeds out. The third area was at the front of the house. It got slightly more attention, but we still weren't precious about it - it still had daisies and some weeds in it. That area also contained the ponds so we didn't use weedkillers nearby, other than carefully applying the annual weed and feed. Regular cutting was the main priority but it was never cut too short. It got plenty of rain, so cutting every five or six days kept it looking green and healthy. 

    image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,146

    That looks really lush Fairy image


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





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