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Been sorting out the house we bought 18 months ago and next on the hit list is the lawn. It's a bit crap. It's a pretty even mix of grass, moss and clover with a sprinkling of thistles, daisies and other random weeds. I basically want to nuke it and start again.
Any ideas on the best way? I've got 5 and 3 year old kids so would like to try and sort it and get some lawn back before the decent whether so they can play on it.
We picked up some liquid glyphosphate weed killer in aldi today. Is it possible to just spray the lot with that, leave until it dies (will it die?) and then re-seed?
I'm not really aiming for a bowling green standard lawn. Just a good even covering of grass without the other weeds.
Cheers
Seed needs a soil temperature of 7deg Celsius to germinate.
You could try weed and feed from a professional
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/a1lawn?_trksid=p2047675.l2563
Bought from this guy before quality products!
I'm sat next to Scottish Young Greenkeeper of the Year 2002 and runner up in UK Greenkeeper of the Year. He says getting rid of moss & clover is best done with lawn sand. This kills the moss. When it goes black, rake out and re-seed. Make sure you use the same type of grass to do so. I didn't consider this and am now stuck with various shape blades and differing growth rates. He never told me this bit.
It depends how good the gylphosate from aldi is but yes if that's the route you want to go spray the lot leave for a few weeks then rotovate the whole area and rake it into a nice tilth, tread down and rake again then seed and don't expect to walk on it for another 4 weeks after that or turf instead.
Chances are, the glyphosate will kill the grass, but the thistles and weeds will survive (unless it's the proper, strong stuff).
How about: Moss killer (turns the moss black, so it will need raking out); 'Feed and weed' or something similar which will target the weeds (and clover?? not sure) but spare what grass you have; and regular mowing. Spot treat any stubborn weeds that don't yield...?
[quote=The Flying Ox ]Make sure you use the same type of grass to do so. I didn't consider this and am now stuck with various shape blades and differing growth rates.
You need to move the grass around so it's more even then. It's a bugger of a job but I know someone who could do it for you........
The Lawn Arranger.
I would hire a turf cutter and lift the lawn, get rid in a skip, light coat of top soil to even it out and lay some nice quality new turf. Instant, no messing about waiting for seed to establish, no mucky rotovating and struggling to get an even surface again.
When weeds reappear, a single spray application of selective will see to them.
You've already got a lawn, it's just got some unwanted stuff in it.
Rather than starting again I'd be spraying, applying lawn sand,etc. to remove the moss and weeds. This approach will be easier, cheaper and will probably give you more satisfaction as you watch it improve over the summer.
If you start again you may not have a lawn for the kids to play on for a couple of months at least - I can't see that going down too well.
A deeply scarified and seeded lawn needs to be left alone for much longer than a newly turfed one.
Having tried pretty much everything mentioned in the past 10 years (and thrown £££ at it) I concur with Glasgowdan-although you must keep up the garden maintenance otherwise it'll revert to type again.
A deeply scarified and seeded lawn needs to be left alone for much longer than a newly turfed one.
I'm sure you're right, but I'm not sure that blitz was planning on the expense of a complete strip and returf - it certainly wasn't mentioned in the OP.
It all depends how big the lawn is. If you want to go down the treatment route you'll at least need to pay for lawn sand, plus a scarifier hire for a day, plus the seed, plus a couple of weed treatments during the season afterwards and you'd still have a lawn that can't be used by the family for 10-12 weeks while all the new seed germinates and establishes.
Decent turf can be had for £2 a m2, turf cutter £40 for a day and a mini skip £80. Kids can get playing on it after 4 weeks or so. All depends on priorities, but the OP did say nuke and start again 🙂
I get lawn treatments from Green Thumb.
[url= https://www.greenthumb.co.uk/ ]https://www.greenthumb.co.uk/[/url]
The Mrs was recommended it by a neighbour. I was very cynical and thought it was an expensive rip off, but it did get rid of the unwanted weeds and stuff on the lawn. I googled it and it turns out it's cheaper than buying the chemicals yourself.
Worth a pop?
hard to say without pic's ! usually we get lawns without asking for them and bent metal objects obscuring the view
i reckon with gardens trying to fix up existing weedy stuff is a waste of time, whenever tried just got more rubbishy weedy stuff and more work, just spray and dig out the offending (right down for dandelions) and start from scratch - seeding a lawn is a pain - sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't - turf isn't that easy to get level but if you do the grunt clearing early enough and water it like no tomorrow when laid then you will have a proper lawn for the summer hols - with seed you might have some random grass
^^use greensleeves pretty much the same and I don't reckon can buy the chemicals for what it costs - only really for established lawns though (and not for daisy lovers)