This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
How do I rejuvenate a lawn?
juicifer
Posts: 1
Our lawn is very unloved so would like to try and breathe some life into it. I've identified several types of weed that need removing - and there are a lot of each of them! The only option is to treat these chemically. As well as that there are some baron patches that have been there since we moved in a couple of years ago (they had a dog, maybe this could be the reason) and the rest, the grass, is far from luscious.
I have researched and as advised bought lawn weedkiller and lawn fertiliser. I mowed the lawn today but unsure which process to start first! Do I strengthen the grass with fertiliser, then treat the weeds?
I'm only just getting my teeth stuck into gardening so any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
0
Posts
Edd I would agree to everything you say above only years of working my lawns and bowling green lawns taught me sometimes chemical is the only way. The Lawn over the road from me is chemical free and a riot of Dandelion and Daisy every year plus other nasties they seed and cross the road to me on the easterly winds. I see the odd weed start at the edge of my lawn and if I did not knock them back they would spread like wildfire. We always had a patch of lawn at the bowling green for repair, if we had a weed on the green we cut it out with a small cutter then replaced with a piece cut from the spare but come Autumn when we did the main repair and maintenance chemical had to be used.
The choice is ours you can have a lawn or a meadow and most around me are the latter, they boast they do not use chemical then ask me how I keep my lawns so nice, I tell them, you pay's your money you take your choice. I grew up in a time when everything by todays standards was organic, yes well my Dad a gardener supreme used bordeaux mixture, soap sprays, slaked lime and other methods used by most people who had to feed the Family from the garden. If you did not you could go hungry as many did, no supermarkets then with berries from Mexico Potato's from Egypt and Cyprus or Salad from Spain. We need to have some sense about what we do as against what our ideals are.
I use feed and weed after the first cut now done, then six weeks later, then after scarifying and aerating a winter feed and weed then leave it never walking on it when wet that compacts the lawn if I need to go on it then I use a board to stand on, spread the load. We all have our own way of doing things Edd.
Frank.
In addition to Edds suggestions I have found that Seaweed meal (spread at a handful per square yard) is a great tonic for any lawn.
Also regular mowing from now till Autumn helps keep the grass healthy.
If you do let it get a bit too long again then mow it at a high setting first rather than cutting really low.
For the bare patches now is a good time to patch these up with new seed, rake the area and maybe add a bit of sharp sand before sprinkling the seed and then lightly raking in. Keep the seed covered until germination and also keep moist.
Obviously Franks requirements for a bowling green make chemicals more required but if you don't need that then I would consider a proper aeration tool a better investment than chemicals.
Paul you work as you find, over many years of gardening always with at least one patch of lawn, I now have two, I had to resort to chemical in that I use Feed and Weed. Living on the edge of farmland and with surrounding lawns wick with Dandelion Daisy and such which some people like, the only way to keep it clear was that and it does year on year. I remember coming home from work once and my Wife asking what the nice yellow plants were right at the back of the garden, "what yellow flowers" so went to look, it was Rape, the birds dropped the seed and I had missed it. I never use chemical on the borders or elsewhere but if my lawns were riddled with weed they would come up and as some have done gravel it and park the cars on it. The lush sward I see at some garden visits, never a weed in site tell me the story, I once asked the Gardener at a house we were at well known in the NE what he used, got the full lecture on feed and weed and how to use it, I must have looked like a learner. As I said we find out what works for us and that is my way of gardening, sorry to any greens although I do my bit by taking my holidays in the Uk and not flying, others may fly yet not use feed and weed well we are all different.
Frank.
Quite agree Frank.
There's no ultimate right way in gardening. It's always what works for each of us and what we are comfortable with.