Frank, you must have been heartbroken to leave that lawn! I have just leveled and reseeded my entire lawn, its not that big but a heck of a job! Now I'm waiting for the seed to grow, hoping for rain in the nights and sun in the daytime and trying to keep the cats off it!
Thank you all for your advice. Horrified to see how much more expensive gardening supplies are this year. Will be shopping around. I intend to scarify first, apply chemicals then scarify again. I have resigned myself to having to fight the moss every spring. It always looks great in summer and autumn and this year is probably the best the grass has looked so early in the year. Still looking for perfection though!
Yes, I think scarifying should be seen as an annual job. Even if you don't have too much moss, it's good to rake the lawn to remove whatever is there and to remove the thatch too. It means the job is easier work if you do it annually, plus it prevents the moss building up much of a presence and taking over.
I'm toying with getting an electric scarifier to make life easier, although in my experience they tender to damage the grass more than a hand rake.
Garden noob. The electric scarifiers are good I've found, different height settings. I've found that it only does damage if you pull the scarifier backwards. For really thick patches of moss I tend to go over it in one direction, then another and so on, this ensures a better clearing. I always hand rake afterwards for a really good finish.
Esspee, yes, I'd agree it will be much less of a job if you do attack it every spring, I'm sure it will look lovely before you know it!
I purchased an electric lawn rake a few years ago. Personally I feel that scarifying each year is not needed (at least for me) but a couple of workings-over each year with the lawn rake removes the surface thatch and debris and provides a good bed for the inevitable over-seeding. My lawn has suffered in the past with pest damage which I thought was limited to leather-jackets. Last year, after doing some remedial lawn leveling, I noticed that I was also infested with chafer grubs. So last autumn I applied nematodes for both pests (previously I had only been using those intended for the leather-jackets) and thankfully the lawn has come out of winter in a much healthier state than previous years.
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Frank, you must have been heartbroken to leave that lawn! I have just leveled and reseeded my entire lawn, its not that big but a heck of a job! Now I'm waiting for the seed to grow, hoping for rain in the nights and sun in the daytime and trying to keep the cats off it!
Thank you all for your advice. Horrified to see how much more expensive gardening supplies are this year. Will be shopping around. I intend to scarify first, apply chemicals then scarify again. I have resigned myself to having to fight the moss every spring. It always looks great in summer and autumn and this year is probably the best the grass has looked so early in the year. Still looking for perfection though!
Yes, I think scarifying should be seen as an annual job. Even if you don't have too much moss, it's good to rake the lawn to remove whatever is there and to remove the thatch too. It means the job is easier work if you do it annually, plus it prevents the moss building up much of a presence and taking over.
I'm toying with getting an electric scarifier to make life easier, although in my experience they tender to damage the grass more than a hand rake.
Garden noob. The electric scarifiers are good I've found, different height settings. I've found that it only does damage if you pull the scarifier backwards. For really thick patches of moss I tend to go over it in one direction, then another and so on, this ensures a better clearing. I always hand rake afterwards for a really good finish.
Esspee, yes, I'd agree it will be much less of a job if you do attack it every spring, I'm sure it will look lovely before you know it!
I purchased an electric lawn rake a few years ago. Personally I feel that scarifying each year is not needed (at least for me) but a couple of workings-over each year with the lawn rake removes the surface thatch and debris and provides a good bed for the inevitable over-seeding. My lawn has suffered in the past with pest damage which I thought was limited to leather-jackets. Last year, after doing some remedial lawn leveling, I noticed that I was also infested with chafer grubs. So last autumn I applied nematodes for both pests (previously I had only been using those intended for the leather-jackets) and thankfully the lawn has come out of winter in a much healthier state than previous years.