Starting lawn from scratch

In the three years since I took over the lawn I've spent a lot of time, money and effort trying to get it right but looking back I should have killed the lawn back then and started afresh. The course grass was just too well established to be beaten. So now I'm going to do it right, or as well as I possibly can, so I know what I'm dealing with going forward. I don't intend doing it again after this, so do it properly and if it doesn't come right then I tried my best and probably just put up with a mediocre lawn from then on.

 

Having said that I learnt a lot in the three years about lawn care. I'm now in a much better position to be able to maintain a good new lawn.

 

Glad I had a soil test done, looks like I was on a hiding to nothing with my lawn care over the last few years.




Just waiting for an email from Progreen to tell me their recommendations on what I need to do to rectify the problems before I re-seed the lawn.

 

And their recommendations are.

Garden lime @ 100g/m2


G0 Granular fertiliser @ 200g/m2
Amvista G0 Kick-Start 20KG (10-4-4) cool weather active fertiliser plus seaweed

I was told I should till into the top few inches of soil and then I'd be ready to seed.

I was also told to ring them back in the spring for a new treatment schedule.

 

Looking good. Stick to that lime treatment, don’t go over the rate as it’s hard to correct.
There’s a few differences from your other test results.

looks like they recommend Treatment aimed at foliar for best results. That’s going to be spray form only but it’s recommended due to leaching. That includes fertiliser and iron treatments as both can be foliar applied rather than granules which are ground based treatments.
Notice the CEC, if you add sand that will add to the issue so if you ever dress or aerate you need to keep the mixture the same or work at increasing the soils ability to hold its nutrients via good top soil mixture.

did they want another soil sample in the spring? The basics are there so you have a good starting point and to be honest I think that sample is all that’s required at the moment.

The other thing now to look into if you are up to it is the ph levels that various grasses prefer and what problem grasses prefer.

 

They didn't mention another soil sample, they told me that their recommendation was for this year only and I should ring them again in spring to discuss the way forward.

I have a good backpack sprayer that I have been using for seaweed treatments, so I'm good there. I assume as long as the backpack is only used for fertiliser type treatments washing it out between different treatments doesn't need to be too thorough?

I think/hope I'm up to keeping my eye on ph levels going forward but that's something for the future. For now I'm just concentrating on getting the area ready for seeding and hopefully getting a decent start before the weather turns much colder.

I've ordered what they suggested and also a bag of Amvista quality grass seed.

Amvista Quality Lawn Seed 10kg -formal lawn looks elegant for longer & easy to mow

The plan is to book the tiller for rent next weekend.

 

I am edging towards putting 20 bags of compost on it when I till the soil. I think I can deal with the height increase as I have the decrease from the removed turf to work with. I'm thinking if I don't do it now while I have the chance I might regret it down the line.

 

always wash it out using the 3 wash system as it hold liquid even when the tank is empty. You fill up with 1 ltr and shake and spray till air appears then repeat this another 2 times. I use a tank cleaner ever so often or after using herbicide and strip down to clean the filter and soak parts in the cleaner. The Lance area tends to be the one place that holds onto liquid as you can spray and clean out after a dye use yet the Lance holds on to it so I always tend to clean that out as a priority.
Ferts and iron leave a film so washing down needs a helping hand to keep it spotless.
Mine has 2 pressure regulators, one is removable on the Lance so I know at say 1 bar if it drops below it will stop.
Mine also holds 100ml even when empty and when you strip it’s amazing whats there so some care is needed if you use a herbicide.

regarding compost it’s up to you really, just remember top soil when prepared holds it’s firm structure, compost may impact that depending on its type and how crazy you go.

Progreen have advised what to do, in their minds they have created a set environment based on your tests. It’s a good starting point.

 

Okay, if the compost isn't really needed then I won't put any on. I thought it would definitely make an improvement but if that isn't always the case then I'll be glad to give it a miss.

 

You could use a mixture of topsoil, compost and sand………as you said, you removed a good bit of height when you took the turf off. That will then give you a good seed bed with all the nutrients in the topsoil and compost to feed the seed. Sharp sand will then help with drainage and structure….

its what i did and my grass is looking mighty fine. My neighbour cant believe how good it looks as he has lived here for 40+ years and knows how bad the garden looked from the previous owners…..and ive not added any lime or seaweed or jungle juice or any other fan dangled bottle of whatever.

My grass after being seeded from scratch on the 2nd June

 

I think I'll try to keep it simple and just go with the lime and fertiliser as recommended.

Your lawn does look good considering you only seeded it just over a month or so back. That's what I need, something that makes me glad I put the hard work in. Previously with my lawn I was putting plenty of effort in but the lawn rarely looked that good considering the tlc it was getting.

 

I get what you mean……ive put a lot of work into mine this year.

This was last april



And this is now



So a lot of hardwork over the 15mths of various lockdowns and winter too

 

I'm guessing your soil isn't as acidic as mine, or at least the top inch or so you added isn't.

The bloke at Progreen told me it was fairly rare for them to see results like mine that were in such need of amendments to make the soil healthy again for growing a decent lawn.

 

If you're bored mate have a look at this thread I started back in Sept 2018.

Scarifying and patch magic.

Plenty of hard work already been done on my lawn and now it all seems a bit wasted as I've started again.

Like I posted earlier in this thread, I have learned from the experience and have no regrets.

 

Just read through that thread ( its raining here) and it does seem you put a lot of hardwork into the grass. Some things could have been done differently, but we all learn as we are going.

Hope it all works out this time with all the new stuff you have to get and the work you need to put in.