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Put grass weed and feed down and lawn looks terrible - please help!

LaurenTee79LaurenTee79 Posts: 5
in Problem solving

Hi everyone, 

Inspired by the GW episode on the tele a couple of weeks ago, I decided last week to give the lawn a bit of a spruce up at the start of the season as it was looking okay, but it had a few weeds sticking through. So I put down some Westland's Aftercut All in One Weed & Feed. 

The following day and days after, however, the lawn started to look pretty terrible. There's black patches and some areas of grass have dried out. I've raked it a couple of times now to get rid of the dead grass and yesterday I mowed it, raked it again and put some Westland's Aftercut Patch Fix (with grass seed) down yesterday and I am hoping for the best! I've been watering it everyday too.

Does anyone have any tips or advice on what else I can do or at least offer me some reassurance that it will get better? I am so disappointed as, apart from the few weeds and bare patches where the dogs wee'd, the grass was looking okay and at least it was green! I've definitely learnt my lesson with this one and won't be doing it again! 

Thanks in advance! 

Posts

  • ForestedgeForestedge Posts: 3,650

    Be brave Lauren it will get worse before it gets better - and it will get better - eventually.

  • LaurenTee79LaurenTee79 Posts: 5

    image

    Thank you Forestedge, that's reassuring. Is there anything I should/shouldn't be doing to make sure it gets better? 

  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053

    The black bits is the moss dying. Rake them out as best you can. The grass will recover!

    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • LaurenTee79LaurenTee79 Posts: 5

    Thank you Hogweed! I didn't realise there was much moss in there, but it must have been hiding away as there is a build up of moss around other areas of the garden (driveway etc, that's my next job to tackle!).

  • Rob LockwoodRob Lockwood Posts: 380
    Yes, it may not seem like it Lauren but it's all the bad stuff coming out and therefore black / bare patches are kind of good news! As you may know though, the moss is there for a reason (damp / shade) and will come back unless you try to do something about the underlying problem - eg improving drainage or reducing tree / shrub cover. Westland and the rest will try to sell you miracle fixes, but a bit of common sense is usually all that's needed, and as they want to sell you it again and again, they won't sell you a total fix!
  • LaurenTee79LaurenTee79 Posts: 5

    Aha, thank you Rob! That's a very helpful piece of advice. I have done a bit of basic gardening here and there over the years, but not at a very advanced level so any advice is great. I will do what you advise and look into improving the drainage, as I think it will be that issue for the lawn rather than shade (which is probably more relevant for the driveway), as the lawn is quite open and covered by much shade. Sorry to sound daft, but is it best to just get a fork over it or do I need a special tool for it?

  • Dave HedgehogDave Hedgehog Posts: 377

    A spring tine rake is ideal for raking the moss out.. but it's very hard work and you'll be amazed at how much comes out!!!

    Electric scarifiers or lawn rakes can be purchased for about £100 but unless you plan on using it regularly, may be a lot of outlay.

  • LaurenTee79LaurenTee79 Posts: 5

    Thank you MowTastic! Fortunately we have a fairly small piece of lawn, but it's still quite a workout! 

    Thank you everyone for your advice image

  • Rob LockwoodRob Lockwood Posts: 380
    Hi Lauren - hope the advice from this very generous forum helps and you get the lawn you want! As you probably know, grass has to put up with a hell of a lot compared to other plants - not least being trampled on day in-day out, so amongst other things it has to grow in very compacted soil with no room for roots or for the air it needs to develop them. Add waterlogging so the roots are drowned, and they're not going to be able to out-compete the moss for their space. From what I read, sticking a fork in every few inches and wiggling it about, at least in the areas which get most traffic - path to the shed, kids/ dogs play areas, washing line - creates channels for this to improve, and if you've got clay / heavy soil, the advice I think is to brush sand in to prevent those channels form closing too quickly. I bought what they call a hollow-tine aerator from Wilkinson's for about £10 (I think they're also available delivered for £15-£20) which actually takes mini-plugs out of the lawn soil, not just moves it around as a fork would do, and it seems to be improving my damper /shadier areas. Good luck!
  • mummybear2mummybear2 Posts: 1

    Hi, your lawn will be fine, I put Evergreen weed and feed down a couple of years ago and it looked terrible, not the beautiful lush lawn I had imaged it would be. The neighbours were shocked how bad it looked, the mossy areas were black and the rest of the lawn looked like faded straw. But within a few weeks after a good raking, lovely green grass started to grow and within 2 months I had a beautiful lawn, minus weeds and moss unlike the neighbours gardens. The neighbours were impressed! I now use a wheeled Evergreen Easy Spreader, which spreads the weed and feed granules more evenly (cost about £25). If you really want to go for gold you could buy an electric lawn rake to make pulling up the grass easier, I bought one from Tesco for £60. It filled up 5 black bags of moss and dead grass on my front lawn the first time I used it, now I only fill up 1 bag. Using weed and feed reduces the amount of moss you will get, so you can see how better off your lawn is using a weed and feed. Good luck I'm sure you will be happy with your lawn in a couple of weeks. 

    Last edited: 01 May 2017 09:31:06

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