Hi Everyone I have a small lawn which my husband is threatening with paving over and I suddenly find myself very attached to this little patch of grass. How can I go about improving it? It's a south facing garden so gets the morning sun, but there is a big fence that shades part of it, here moss grows, the grass is patchy and I've spotted slugs hanging out there too. The rest of the lawn is fairly balding too, and a hole where the kids were digging for Australia! I'm thinking that I would need to aerate the lawn by sticking holes in it, possibly putting lawn sand down to kill the moss? Then reseed? Is this right? Can I do this at this time of year? When reseeding do I just chuck the seed down all over, or work on areas (the lawn gets a lot of child action). Any advice gratefully received.
Hi Jo, You can buy seed for a shady lawn, you can get it from a good seed merchant or off the internet.. We usually reseed in Spring or Autum but given as summer is not here I would do it after the next cut if they are forecasting this weather for the next few weeks.. Spike it all over & rake it with a grass rake, then loosen the soil to a depth of about a couple of inches with a garden rake not a grass rake, or a hoe when the soil is damp.. Then sprinkle on your shady lawn seed.. Firm the ground down after so the seed is pressed well in.. Tell the kids to stay off it & wait.. Usually pretty quick to start this time of year but a couple of weeks & you should start to see it.. Hope that helps..
Thanks Marley Farley, Should I do anything about the moss or would the raking get rid of it? After I've seeded the lawn, should I then water it? Jo x
my advice, is take your time and do it properly .... 1st get rid of the moss and weeds ... this will take a few weeks to do then, mow the lawn as short as you can but don't scalp the lawn .... then, aerate by using a hollow tine aerator (you can buy them from good garden centres or on amazon): http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00163SK...and=1383194958868812073&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt= then, scarify using a garden rake then, get seed such as this one .... http://www.bshamenity.com/product-detail.php?product=a6_(supra_shade) it's very good for shady areas .... you only need 4kg of seed for 100 square meters ... they advertise 20kg bags, but perhaps if you email them, they will sell you a lesser amount (I always use approx twice the recomendation, and grass grows a lot thicker quicker if you use loads of seeds you could pre-fertilize before seeding, but I have never bothered once you have seeded, throw a thin layer (2mm) of John innes number 3 compost over the entire area .... its easy, if you use your hand to throw it keep the area damp, but dont walk on it .... in this heat, the seeds should germinate within 14 days .... keep the area damp throughout the season when the grass is approx 6cm tall, use a mower with a sharp blade, and mow it to approx 3cm tall (cut half of the length) then, you can add some lawn fertilizer but don't use anything that has weedkiller in it (you should not use any weediller on the new grass for at least 6 months) mow regulary (up to twice a week if needed) ... keep damp and you should have a nice green well kept lawn
Thank you so much, I now know exactly what I should do...I feel inspired! Just one more question...what is the best way to get rid of moss? Jo x
you could try a liquid mosskiller such as this: http://www.google.co.uk/products/ca...X&ei=v-HpT5KuL42N0wWKotyqAQ&ved=0CHwQ8wIwAjgK research it a bit further .... I have never had to remove moss when overseeding .... so find out if the moss killer will harm the lawn seed (it may need some extra time before seeding?) ... the guys at BSH will advise if you email them the parts that have moss should be aerated extra/loads so that drainage is very good) ... I also forgot to mention, some people fill the holes that the aerator leaves with sand/soil ...
