Mossy lawn and weedy planting beds
Crossroadblues
Posts: 6
Hi guys, new to the site, and just getting started with the whole gardening thing, so expect lots of posts looking for help!
So the wife and I bought a nice wee cottage last year and there's a decent sized garden with a lawn, greenhouse, pear and apple trees, strawberry patch and a few planting beds. The previous folks were just renting the place and don't seem to have used the garden at all as it was pretty wild.
I've been tackling it a bit at a time, just trying to tidy the place up, but as I know next to nothing about gardening, I'm afraid I'm not being very efficient and busting my hump for no real results.
Main issues are the lawn and the planting beds. The lawn was pretty overgrown, and when I mowed it, discovered there is a serious amount of moss involved. I went over it with a lawn rake which removed quite a bit (but left a few bare patches) and spread some moss killer stuff from Wilko, but not sure how to proceed. I've bought some grass seed, but should all the moss be removed entirely before putting new seed down?
Other thing causing me grief are the weeds, of course! Plenty of planing areas in the garden, but plenty of weeds to go with them. Not sure what kinds they are, but so far I'm thinking I should just attack the beds with a garden fork, then seive all the earth to separate the weeds.
Any tips much appreciated!
Posts
Moss in your lawn indicates poor drainage and poor soil in general. You do need to rake off any more dead moss. Once cut and raked you need to go over the grass and bare patches with your garden fork, pushing the tines in as deep as you can and wiggling back and forth to open the holes. Do this at frequent intervals across the whole lawn. Then you pour dry, sharp sand - not wet, round grained builders' sand - and brush it into the holes. It will look messy for a while but will help enormously with drainage.
Next job is to rake over the bare patches to loosen the soil a bit and then scatter your chosen seed. If no rain falls, water it in. Once it does germinate you have to leave it to grow long enough to establish ha god root system to sustain it and then cut to 2" minimum to let it thicken up.
Once it is growing well you can reduce the height of the blades but never cut shorter than 1" as this weakens the plants and allows weed and moss to take over again. You can apply a liquid feed to help it along at this stage and use an autumn weed and feed mix in September, following the instructions on the pack.
For you borders, I suggest you clear one bed or one patch at a time working methodically. If you do it after rain, or a good watering, the weeds will come out more easily and the plants you wih to keep will be less disturbed. If it's too weedy to do it this way then water well, remove any treasures and pot them up to grow on while you give each bed a thorough forking over to remove all weeds and their roots. Then apply some good garden compost - your own or bought in - to condition teh soil and re-plant the treasures. Water well. Hoe regularly to remove weedlings.
Thanks Obelixx. My neighbour thinks the cause of the moss is shade. The trees in my garden are pretty tall and block a lot of sunlight, (getting a tree surgeon in to quote me for trimming them down some) whereas his trees are neatly pruned and he has a lovely lawn. The soil quality is good, and I haven't noticed any drainage, but will keep a close watch for any issues of that kind.
Looking at getting a big bag of bark chips to use as mulch after weeding out the beds. Thanks again. Shopping list for the weekend now includes bark mulch, a garden fork, sieve and some sand!
Shade alone won't cause moss but it won't help and the trees will also be robbing the grass of nutrients so feed it. Raising the canopy of your trees by removing lower branches and, maybe, thinning some of the rest will certainly help bring in extra light.
Enjoy. It will be worth it.
If you could post some pics of the weeds, it would be helpful in diagnosing the types you're up against and how to get rid of 'em.
Yep was planning on doing that. Got the usual dandelions and stuff, but the main one is a weed that looks quite like an onion. Long thin green stalks and the root does look like a small brown onion. Wild onion maybe? Whatever it is there's a lot of it.
Was looking at some weeding tools. Saw a long handled one in Wilko for under a tenner, but watched a video where a dude was using a soil knife. What's the consensus among you learned green fingered folks?
I like the Wolf system. You buy heads as you need them and handles of different lengths.
For general hoeing and weeding, I like the push me-pull you double edged hoe head - 2 widths, and the cultivator head, also 2 widths. I also have the rake for smoothing soil, spring tined rake for grass cuttings and leaves, Dutch hoe head, and a flat, hooky thing for getting between pavers. There are also trowels and loppers.
Have a look here under soil care and cultivation tools - https://www.wolfgarten-tools.co.uk/multi-change-tools-main/multi-change-tools-inner
If the beds are badly weed infested then digging them out is the only option so invest in a good spade first. And a good pair of gardening gloves if your hands are soft. You won't need a sieve, You can use a pail to put your weeds in as you dig but a plastic trug which is a lot bigger than a pail is more useful. You have a lawn rake which is a start. Don't buy any weeding tools yet, you are at the Tonka truck stage with your weeds and not at the Dinky car stage yet. Don't try and cut corners by chopping the weeds off, dig all the root out as well. Any plants you wish to keep need to be weeded carefully round about. If there is couch grass in the roots, dig the plant out, remove grass and replant and water.
As others have said, start with one border or bit and do it all so it is nice and clean and weed free. Then go on to the next border etc. Start at the bit closest to the house because you will see it all the time from the windows and it will give you the incentive to do more.
Once you have a border free and ready for planting keep the hoe on it to get rid of weed seedlings. Best to do on a hot day - they will frazzle in the sun. I like a Dutch hoe, each to his own.
Your oniony things may be bluebells - see what develops.
And the grass may also be mossy because it has not been looked after regularly, quite likely, if it had been rented. When you reseed your bare patches, mix the seed with some compost - a handful of seed to six handfuls of compost and scatter that on the bare patches after breaking up the soil, pat it down then water, and water and water if dry. The moss will turn black with the mosskiller. Try and rake out as much as you can - you will never get it all but some is better than none. Then reseed.
Have a plan in your head of how much you can possibly achieve this year given your time restraints and don't try and do it all at once. Buy a good basic gardening book and it will keep you right about jobs to be done at the right time. Bear in mind that there can be a 3-5 week difference between planting/sowing etc times between the south and the north of the UK.
Good luck.
And sometimes, depending on your thoughts on the subject, weedkiller can come in very handy! If your borders are devoid of plant life you could spray them all with something like Weedol which will kill all the weeds in their track (unless you have mares tail, bindweed or bishops weed). Give it a few weeks then dig the border over. Job done. Be careful and buy only Weedol which only kills green things and not the soil. You can plant straight after. Don't use it on the lawn - get lawn weedkiller for that. And if you are getting lawn weedkiller get a weed and feed. That will give your lawn a boost.
I'm no expert but when I moved in my house the back end of 2015 I was in a similar position. For the lawn I waited for spring and used a moss and weed killer then soon after scarified and aerated the lawn. It didn't look great but soon recovered. With a spring feed, summer feed and regular cutting the lawn was soon looking nice and really thickened up.
As for the borders I'm about to finish my last one this weekend! As said just methodically work through them removing weeds.
Last edited: 26 April 2017 07:48:53
Okay here's a pic of the weeds. Forgot to mention they have wee orange bell like flowers during the summer.