lawn under a leyllandii

hello everyone,

i have a good sized lawn which was neglected for a long time before we moved but since then with a little work it has started to improve. except that is underneath the big spread of a large leyllandii in the far corner. it isnt all that great underneath the two mature oak tree in the adjacent corner either for that matter. they do get some sun in the mid to late afternoon. i was told by my dad it might not be the trees but a grub-leatherjackets possibly, but he hasnt seen the lawn himself so i am not sure. i refuse point blank to do anything to my gorgeous oak trees, and my hands are tied as far the leyllandii is concerned as bats spend their summer in it (odd that my garden is the holiday resort of choice as is such a mess), although i am currently awaiting advice from the bats trust as want very much to keep them coming.

is there any particular kind of lawn seed or treatment or feed (i will do it every day if necessary), which can bring it up to the same or similar standard of the rest of the lawn?


sorry for being so long winded-new to the forum and relatively new to gardening and have loads of problems.

regards

 

You don't say exactly what's wrong with the lawn under the leylandii but I'll take a guess and say the leylandii is taking all the moisture and nutrients, as well as the light. Your oaks have got much deeper roots and so the grass under them has a chance to improve.

There are types of grass for growing in shady areas but I think they'd still struggle in competition with the leylandii.

All you can do is carry on with standard lawn care - weed, feed, spike, scarify, etc and hope you'll gradually overtake the dominating effect of the leylandii.

Unless, of course, you can invite Mr Chainsaw to pay a visit....

 

you sound just like my hubby, he wants to see the back of it too, but have just butchered my bully boy laurel hedge at the front and thinks its best if i step away from my tree saw and loppers for a while. the grass is sp**** and does easily burn up in the sun, i suspected too it was the leyllandii sucking all the goodness out, but not keen on taking it out coz bats come in the summer and have their holiday here and my kids love them-and they drive my cat mad because she has no chance whatsoever of catching them but still tries.(whoever said cats are clever!) thanks for the heads up on shady lawn seed, still raining here in sunny bolton so should be perfect job for the weekend.

cheers m`dear:o

 

Sounds as if the lawn under the leylandi gets some sun, so more feed, and water should be the way to go. One way to help keep moisture in the turf is to leave the mowings on the lawn. They mulch down quite quickly, and help retain moisture.

 

It is just a thought but there is a specific lawn food on the market which is for use on areas of very dry lawns to encourage the rooting in dry conditions. I bought mine from Home Base. I have found it does help as my grass is also very spar se. I had to take my leylandii out in the end as they were robbing everything from the lawn. My trouble is that there is nothing under the lawn except builders rubble! I cannot do anything long term about it as I rent the property and I have already spent hundreds on the garden.

 

Hi Moyra,

can you remember the name

 

Sorry Lollipop, I told a little white lie. I was sure I had bought it from Home Base but I didnt because it is called Tesco Garden Lawn Drought Master. It comes in a green squarish litre plastic bottle. Approximately 8" tall by 5" across and 3" deep. So you hopefully will find it in your local Tesco if like us you have a Tesco Extra near you.

 

Thanks Moyra for finding that out for me, considering the mouthing off I gave about supermarkets today I am suitably chastened lol