moss removal, scarifying, overseeding?

Hi guys,

Our lawn is in a fairly bad state with huge amounts of clover/moss and a real bouncy feel. I tried to kill the moss and feed it using an all in one granular in late spring but unfortunately somehow managed to scorch a few patches into the grass

The patches seem to have gotten better but this time i want to do things correctly and remedy my mistakes. I was hoping some of you could please offer me some advice.

What is the best and safest method for removing all the clover in our grass? how long should i wait before then scarifying it? what is the best and easiest method for overseeding? is it worth getting a seeder rather than judging by hand? Am i ok to do all these works this late in the season?

Any advice you could offer would be hugely appreciated so i can get tackling this problem immediately.

Thanks,

Kevin

 

sorry forgot to say, when should i aerate it also?! planning to hit B&Q one night this week to get all the necessary tools!

 

I always know when to treat our lawn. I "do whatever my golf club greenkeeper does when he does it."

I stopped using granualar feed, weed and mosskiller as I always scorched the grass.

Wilkinsons do a soluble one and I've used it for the last couple of years with great success.
I have an electric scarifier which I use in the spring and manage to fill two or three wheely bins with it compacted down. The lawn looks a right mess afterwards, but if the grass is growing it soon recovers. I then aerate it with a fork. I right pain. The golf club has a slitter tractor attachment which would be much easier!

I used to continually get moss down one length of the lawn next to the border, which always returned each year, despite being treated. So this year I ripped up a turf's width all the way down in June and re-turfed it. It's almost as cheap as moss killer and after four weeks you couldn't see the join. I did a couple of other patches too. You have to be careful to get turf with the "right" type of grass as otherwise you can see the difference.
I'm a firm believer in cutting the grass as soon as it will take a cut, this is sometimes three times a week in the summer. I also "give it a go" with some "Miracle grow" and use a spray "spot weeder."

I also put a lot of water on my lawn, like leave the sprinkler on for half an hour three or four days a week in really warm weather (we've sandy soil), as we aren't on a water meter.

My greenkeeper says, if you are going to water, water heavily, a light water just encourages the roots of the grass to grow up to the surface instead of down.

I reduced the border round this acer, built the brick circle and used two rolls of turf to fill in the space. This photo was taken two weeks after completing the job in early August and the joins were rapidly closing.



I use a flymo "vision"...I can't be bothered with stripes.



My biggest problem is "closing up the divots the squirrels take in the lawn after they've played golf at five in the morning."

You used to be able to buy some stuff called "Clovertox" which was really effective, but I think they've banned it.
If the clover is localised (it usually grows in patches) a roll of turf is a quick way to "treat it."

You could put the seed down by hand, but be generous with it, grass grows all the year round now since "global warming" our golf course fairways get several cuts in the winter. Like all seeds there's a high proportion of waste. As the old farmers said; "One for the rook, one for the crow, one to rot and one to grow.