Can I scarify again?

That's it, mix and spread and try to get the mixture into the plug holes.
I don't know your soil type for the mixture rate but if it's clay you want a more concentrated mix of sand.
Sandy soils need less sand in the mix.

 

And now, just to torment me, my electric scarifier has been delivered. Can I resist the urge?

 

Err in haste, repent at leisure, or something like that

 

Looking fantastic.

I normally just aerate with a garden fork. Mind me asking what you used?

 

Qualtex Heavy Duty Manual Hollow Tine Garden Lawn Spike Aerator - 5-Prong https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00LZU10NA/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_cdP7vb9AAYPSC

Was great value at only a tenner! The work isn't slow really but it's taxing. I found with most of my turf I had to do a small jump on the bar with both feet together to really get it down in.

I removed it all last night by hand. Didn't have soft rake and the spring tine rake was cutting up the turf.

Its been really dry past few days so I put the sprinklers on this morning for half an hour. Gonna evaluate it at the weekend but I am tempted to scarify still. When I was down close at it last night I saw some areas that looked a little choked.

 

Thanks for that. I saw one the weekend in the garden centre for £14.99. Will go for that instead. My lawn is new this year.

How far apart did you hollow tine? Being new, the lawn has got quite compacted so need to loosen it up. :-)

Cheers

 

I did it every 6 inches or so, probably can do it close if wanted to be super dedicated but it's hard graft haha. You have to keep watching the tubes as some will spit out the soil and others will block.... its not always easy to see which one. A long screwdriver will declog any blocked prongs with a bit of force

 

Well, I couldn't resist playing with my new toy..



It is ruthless! Amazing machine. I put it on its lightest setting, going over it only once and it pulled out 10 bin bags of dried out moss with absolute ease. OH said it was so dry it looked like hay! Still no rain and none until the weekend, so I got up nice and early this morning. I put down the autumn feed (6, 5, 10) and watered it in for a little while with the sprinkler.

The plan between now and the weekend is now to over seed the whole area and top dress with a good mix of sharp sand and good quality top soil.

 

I got half a ton of sharp sand and also half a ton of top soil over the weekend. I mixed this in wheelbarrow fulls, and worked it into the lawn but it started raining half way through . I ended up with some clumps and there was an annoying amount of small stones in the soil. I tried to remove as many as possible. I also went round with a bucket and took out a lot, still some there though.. I did my best to not smother the grass with the mix. I 'fluffed up' some areas with my hands to get some grass poking through, hopefully this will help. I lightly resowed the whole area.

I also dug out a really sorry looking part at the front, seemed all dead so I dug it out and have resown that area. Hopefully it will be ok.

Should the soil and sand start moving down into the ground in a week or so?

I dont plan to cut the grass for about a month until the new grass establishes. Any advice would be greatly received, hopefully I haven't made the lawn worse!!

 

Looks great to me Zola!

If I hollow tine do I have to top soil the lawn?

 

I don't know if it's an absolute must (new to this myself!), but I think my soil was very tired and needed a boost of fresh nutrients etc.

 

Two weeks since overseed etc, most of the soil seems to have settled down... the grass is coming up well over the new soil patch but a little hard to see in these photos. It was beginning to look a bit messy, so I gave it a quick mow on the very highest setting, didnt take much at all. The bag was maybe 1/6 full.





Had a lot of dry weather over the past couple of weeks so I have had the sprinkler on here and there!

Still going to be a lot of little bumps in the lawn once recovered. Any advice on how to smooth them out? I know it will take a bit of time.