Lawn neglected - how to recover?

Hi all,

I've just moved into a property (2 weeks ago) and the previous owner didn't look after the small garden at all. This is what it looked like on move-in day:



Not good! Grass/weeds were up to my knees.

I immediatedly strimmed it down then mowed it, but 2 weeks later it still looks like this:



As you can see, the only green parts are weeds!!

Any advice on how to tackle this? Feed and weed and some water? It has been incredibly dry over these 2 weeks.

Any help appreciated!

Gareth

 

For now I would just water well and mow regularly.

The grass will be brown because when it is allowed to grow long, it shades out the lower areas of the plant, and the chlorophyll (the green part, which makes the plants food) moves to the higher parts to find the sun. You then cut that off and you'll just have brown stalks left, which is exactly what you've got!

The good news here is that your soil looks like it is really good as it supported such a lush amount of growth, so the grass will have a lovely deep root structure and will recover really well.

Just keep it well watered, and mow it once a week. Then when we move out of this dry spell and get some good rain, have a think about tackling the weeds.

 

As Kris Lord says.

I would be inclined to use a selective herbicide to kill the weeds (once the lawn has recovered and started to grow lush again - which won't be anytime soon if hot weather, and minimal rain, continues - so it might be Autumn-ish, and no point using a combined Weed & Feed then. Something like Verdone Plus or Vitax Lawn Clear. Even if you water the lawn to help it recover I wouldn't apply selective weedkiller during prolonged dry weather.

If it is patchy, when it recovers, or perhaps because you then kill the weeds and it becomes patchy as a result, I would over-seed it in the Autumn - which will help get the mix of grass varieties that suit you best (anything from bowling green to rugby pitch, or even wild flower meadow )

Worth thinking about whether you want some flower borders - around the edge, or some other design. No point making perfect turf in those areas to then dig them up to make way for Ornamentals ... Autumn would be a good time to make any flower borders too.

 

Well, after a week of remaining dry only rained once all week), i've watered it most evenings, and now the garden now looks like this:



Still not acceptable but a good deal greener, although quite a lot of that is broad-leaved weeds. So I've put some Verdone Extra on with a watering can tonight, which will hopefully take care of those.

Fingers crossed it will keep getting better.

Gareth

 

All sounds good. Fingers crossed as you say Should see the weeds starting to curl up and look unhappy within a few days.

I prefer to put weedkiller on with a sprayer as its easier to do it without runoff ... but there is also risk of the spray drifting (although surrounded by fencing and with no precious plants that you want to preserve I reckon you'd be fine). Might be worth considering if it needs another dose.

 

I by no means intend to hijack this thread, but may I throw in a question whilst we talking about Verdone, Kristen did you mean Verdone Extra? I tried googling Verdone Plus but to no avail,

I am in a similar situation AND Verdone Extra concentrate (not spray) did a brilliant job in getting rid of ALL my broadleaf weeds within 2 weeks, however and sadly, after a month, they started reappearing in small numbers, considering you can only use the Verdone Concentrate treatment once a year, how shall I tackle the rest of these newbie and unwelcomed broadleaf criminals? I timed the Verdone application in such a way that by the time I will be ready for overseeding, 6-8 weeks will have passed, so a clear green light for grass germination when overseeding beginning of Sept.

I am quite inclined to carefully spray them with round up if they reappear as a drastic measure!? For now, I have removed them best I can with hand, (small lawn).

Just a thought, do you think I can get away by using the beneath product to spot weed, considering its from another brand ??

• Vitax Lawn Clear Ready to Use ‘squirty’ bottle

Also a note for the original poster, please keep up updated right till the end, its fab when you can follow a thread from start to finish with pics

Good Luck !

 

Hello Geek2garden

Verdone & Verdone extra are made by scotts so maybe you can find it on google that way

I use Dicophar lawn weed killer and it gives great results (for dandelions regular application is needed)

If you want to re seed you can do so after 2 weeks and it won't harm your lawn seed

 

Yup, its called Verdone Extra ... sorry, memory not what it used to be ... in fact I can't now remember if it used to be any better!!

Did you find something that said you needed to have a gap between using Verdone and re-seeding? My expectation was that Verdone is a contact herbicide with no residual effects, and thus you could re-seed immediately (well ... a short delay is no doubt prudent).

What you can't do is to use Verdone on newly germinated grass.

Also not sure that I have read that you can only make one application per season. I've certainly made more, but that isn't a recommendation of course

Note, in case you were not aware, that you cannot compost grass clippings and must not put them in the council recycle (for N numbers of mowings and thereafter for M months you have to exercise additional care - such as not using the resulting compost for X more months). Details are on the destructions

Same comments as above. However, FWIW I alternate between Verdone Exxra and Vitax as they have slightly different chemical composition and I find that the weeds that one misses the other kills

 

Verdone rep informed the Garden Shop I use to wait 6 weeks before over-seeding

On the bottle itself, it suggests its to be used as a single annual treatment,

Yep aware of the careful disposal of clippings,

Will give Vitax squirty a try for spot weeding - thanks!

 

Thinking about it the fact that you cannot compost the clippings must mean that there is persistence in the plant ... so I suppose mowing and drooping some clippings could then transfer to germinating grass seed.

Its the Clopyralid that has this effect, and I expect you will find that that is in all of them (including Vitax squirty)

 

Just to throw my two penneth worth into the mix. If you want faster results (but more painstaking) when getting rid of dandelions and docks etc, I tackle them with a large, flat blade screwdriver. I push the screw driver in right next do the base, aiming to sever the stem about an inch below the ground, then just push down and the rosette just pops up and out. Saves waiting for chemicals to make the leaves turn black and crispy. Then I'd put a sand and grass seed mix over the top and keep the sprinkler on it. In a couple of weeks it would be lovely and green.

 

Bit of an update. The garden now looks like this:



Yup, built myself a small patio but more importantly the grass is starting to look more normal now. There's still a few patches to recover but you can see I've spread a little topsoil/sand mix on them and sowed seed, so hopefully in a few weeks all will look good.

 

looks 1000% better ,well done