Advice about patches after scarifying

Hi,

just over twoo weeks ago I used a lawn rake to remove all the dead grass and moss from the front lawn - this left patches where the moss was thickest, afterwards I fed the lawn with a high nitrogen feed , its been just over 2 weeks since i done it and the grass is a little bit greener but unfortunately there is nothing coming through in the patches and it looks ugly (sometimes i wish i never raked it)

there are some photos below - before, during and after shots of the lawn with photos of the patches close up...

should I fill the patches with seeds?
if so what type? (it a short thin/fine grass)
is miracle gro patch-magic any good?

photos:

ON THIS OVERHEAD SHOT YO CAN SEE THE PATCHES...
...THE REST OF PHOTOS ARE BEFORE, DURING, 2 WEEKS AFTER AND PATCHES



BEFORE SCARIFY 1:



BEFORE SCAIRFY 2:



BEFORE SCARIFY 3:



DURING RAKE:



TWO WEEKS AFTER 1:



TWO WEEKS AFTER 2:




here are the patches:

PATCH 1:



PATCH 2:



PATCH 3:




any advice is greatly appreciated...

thanks

 

Yes you can overseed these areas but firstly the soil looks quite compact. This will have assisted in the moss growth in the first place due to poor drainage. Is it the same all over the lawn or just in areas of heavy traffic and use? Also what soil are you on? There's a tree in one of your photos, does this cause much shade? This can determine which seed you use.

I aerate lawns using three different tools. A powered aerator, a hollow tine manual aerator and sometimes a garden fork. The fork is only really used on sandy, free draining soils which are suffering from compaction and if haven't got an aerator with me :dh:, it isn't ideal but it's better than nothing. On clay though it will just make the compaction worse.

The exact process for you to use would depend on answers to the questions above but generally aerate your soil first using the method more suited to you (powered hollow tine aerator can be hired pretty reasonably), (you can pick up a good manual hollow tiner for £10 and up) then rough up the surface with a rake and overseed. To aid things along you can mix the seed with some good quality topsoil which will aid moisture retention on the surface of the lawn.

Patch magic does work well but isn't really necessary and is quite expensive for what it is.

 

I wouldn't worry too much, the grass will fill in the bald patches all by itself but
if you want to hurry it along you can overseed the patches, loosen the soil first
if it's compacted. keep well watered, not a problen right now with all the rain,
at this time of the year the seed should germinate within a week. let us know
how it goes.

Pete

 

thanks for your replys.. i love this forum...

yeah the soil is very compacted, I have put some seeds down and loosened the soil first using same method I done on a patch around the back two weeks ago but around there the new grass is coming through in patches... I guess its just a waiting game..

im new to gardening and just trying to maintain this until next year as this is a new home and we are furnishing it over next 12 months

there is a HUGE tree that stops the sun getting to the garden, the garden only gets sun between 10am-1pm due to trees at back and front and thats why it was poor too start with - the grass is fine/thin stuff - i dont know types of grass etc, as ive said im a complete noob, i dont even know what an aerator is? hehe, at a guess it something that loosens your soil to allow 'air' through

thanks again

 

Hi Snadge, here is an example of a lawn aerator, it spikes the ground to allow in air and water if the ground is compacted, but to be honest you could do the same thing with the tines of a garden fork in the small areas you have to do. good luck.

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/F/product/51133?src=klkoo


Pete