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Lawn help

Hello all,

First post here, hope I can get some good advise.

I recently bought a house which came with an overgrown lawn which was possibly not moved for the last two seasons. Below is the picture of that lawn which I have started to move now. (I know I know... its horrible)

 

image

 The problem I am now facing is that as you can see I have moved the lawn back a bit but it has been overgrown with weeds and moss. There are a few dead patches on the left hand side but mostly the main problem is that it has too much weed, moss and all sorts of impurities and also dead grass which has turned yellow/brown as you can see in the pic.

There is a solution to this which is to take the whole topsoil out and fill back with a new one, re-seed the lawn and wait for it to grow without impurities. 

This option is costly considering I have a lot of moving cost on my hands already. (Including building a replacement shed for a stolen one in the far corner)

Would it be useful to spray the lawn with weed killer and the lawn feed with plenty of water and possibly re-seed it with the same topsoil?

Can anyone help me with advise on how to get rid of these impurities in my lawn, improve it and make it more greener?

Thanks

Regards

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,139

    I absolutely agree with Edd image  There's no need for a new lawn - ours was much worse than yours when we moved in - I think the last owner only mowed once a year!!!

    Apply a Weed & Feed type treatment according to instructions on the pack - mow once a week - initially on a high setting but as the lawn improves you can take it down a notch, but never mow short.  Two cuts a week are better than one which scalps the lawn.  That is when the weed seeds take hold. 

    If you do that you'll have a lawn to be proud of by July - any queries come back to us image


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ours wasnt much better... lots of feed and weed, lots of backbreaking scarifying, lots of regular cutting, but not too short, and its looking fab this summer!

  • SubtleSubtle Posts: 4

    Thanks everyone. I went on to buy the 4 in 1 lawn feed and weed. I have now started to rack the whole lawn as much as I can and no surprise it just dead brown grass that is covering most of my lawn. 

    I would say that only 5% of my lawn is covered with green grass but the rest is either weed/moss or dead grass. There are even some dead patches with nothing but soil.

    image

     

    image

     

    image

     These above are the pictures where you can see the dead patches, weeds (I can't figure what type of weed that is) and also the overall condition of the grass where it its only like I said approximately 5% of the grass to the whole area.

     

    My question is, if I still go ahead and apply the 4 in 1 lawn feed and weed as according to its direction on the box, I know the weeds and moss will start dying but will those dead patches start to get green? Will the lawn start reseeding itself and getting thicker or do I need to buy some lawn seed and sow first?

    Please let me know if you need any further information.

    Thanks

    Regards

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,139

    I know that grass looks dead, but I'll bet the roots are still alive.  It's gone brown like that because it was allowed to grow too long and now it's been mowed it looks awful.  

    Most of those weeds are dandelions and when the soil is soft you fcan take them out with a daisy-grubber if the Weed & Feed doesn't finish them off - it usually does.

    Check the local weather forecast before you apply the treatment - if I remember correctly you shouldn't use it if there's a frost forecast.  

    And either do it when rain is due, or you'll need a hosepipe to give the gtreated  lawn a thorough watering.  A watering can will not soak it enough. 

    Looking forward to seeing photos of a much improved lawn.

    If you're left with a few bare patches you can  sprinkle a little grass seed on them in a while - not yet. 

    Good luck. image


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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