Tilling the garden for a new lawn

I bought pH papers (like we used to use in chemistry at school) very cheap on eBay. I test them against vinegar and bleach and they seem roughly ok. I use it for checking my agar solution for orchid germination.

 

I can’t weigh this up, I’m going to buy a different bottle of vinegar and see what comes of it,

Funny it measured the vinegar at 7.5-8pH but at one spot in my garden it showed a reading of 5pH, so it’s able to show a low reading

 

You wrote this a month ago. How have the seeds germinated and the grass grown under the fleeces?

 

@LawnAnsOrder

They are a bit sporadic, there are a few grass shoots coming through but not as many as I had hoped for by now, I’m watering the seeds once a day for approx 30 to 40 minuets on a low sprinkler setting and with the tester thing from Lidl it shows the ground to be very well most, how reliable it is after the pH issue I have no idea

I don’t know what result I was expecting from using a different vinegar but it made no difference to the reading, back to Lidl the thing goes



I’ve started on setting up the mist sprayer, but 4 mist sprayers won’t cover the area so I’llll use both types of sprayers to get a full coverage







In passing, I like the fleece being over the seeds as it helps me sweep off the leaves without disturbing the seeds, any opinions how long before I should remove the fleece?

 

Thank you for the details. I am keen to know how well fleeces work, as I intend to try them next spring.

At the moment, conditions are unfavourable for germination: poor light, short hours, comparatively low temperatures. Moisture is clearly not a problem. See what transpires!

Good idea re raking leaves without harm to seedlings. Not sure how long to keep the sleeves down in winter; they could stunt and kill the young grass (?).

All the best.
Lao

 

@Mollydog that was reading 2 on pH so that's ok.

 

Sorry to disagree @CarolineL the topscale is light, the middle moisture and the bottom one is pH.
So the reading is light 2000, moisture 2, pH 7.

 

NigeIJ is correct CarolineL, the pH reading is the bottom one of the three, I wish you were right

 

Oh poo - I thought it was the middle! Yes, definitely the wrong reading

 

I would think by now, the seeds that have germinated have sprouted and the gaps that can be seen will need reseeding next spring





This is two days worth of leaves that fall on the fleece



At first I used a garden rake (I bought from Lidl)





Now I use the air blower, much safer on the fleece and quicker, the rake if not very careful would easily rip the fleece, the air blower makes a quick job of the work, I did try our leaf vacuum/sucker but it make hard work of the job, admittedly the leaf vacuum would remove the leaves altogether but still hard work



My next task, if my son is free this weekend is to trimming back two of our trees, this one is a good 10M / 12M high



And then make a start on thinning out our cherry tree,





My DIY garden cart is coming really handy around the garden



For now I’ve only used it for moving garden tools from and back to the garden shed, saves making half a dozen trips, I could of done with it when I was moving the soil from the bags on the driveway last summer, it would of cut down the trips by 4, my wheel barrow holds 90L while the brown bin holds (held before I cut it open) 260L

 

Your cart is looking good @Mollydog . But it must be pretty heavy with that substantial framework!