moss on the lawn

i have a problem with a very mossy lawn, what is the best way to deal with this?

I too have a very mossy lawn which has been neglected for some years (we moved here last autumn) - I do not want to use chemicals to kill the moss as we have resident frogs, hedgehogs etc.

I am collecting the grass when we cut the lawn rather than leaving it on the surface, and making sure that we don't cut the grass too short..

I am raking the lawn vigorously whenever I get the chance (really good for toning the waistline and bingo wings and much more fun than the gym), gathering up the moss and thatch of dead grass and putting it on the  compost heap, and I am spiking  the lawn as deeply as I can with a fork to improve aeration and drainage. 

In the autumn I plan to rake and spike thoroughly and then sprinkle the lawn with a mixture of sand and a variety of grass seed which will perform better in shade.

Fingers crossed that ought to improve things a bit 

A mossy lawn is usually a sign of poor drainage-for a quick fix apply lawn moss- killer and lawn-feed that you can buy in lots of places-within quite a short time the moss will turn black and can be raked out-the feed will help the grass fill in the bare patches.

In the long term you should spike the lawn to aerate,don't cut to short, apply an autumn feed -in the autumn-that will strengthen the grass roots and with a bit of work it will improve.

Depends on how important the lawn is to you as to how muchwork/money you wish to spend

We also had a problem with parts of our lawn . Ours sits on clay pockets so we dug some sumps and filled with gravel but I agree with Sotogeoff - it depends on what effort you wish to put into it.

We also installed a land drain but still have problems with a shady bit which we are turning into a bog garden.

Sometimes it's better to work with nature rather than work against it !

Sotongeof is correct and the problem is once it is there you do need chemical to get rid of it.
Dove is doing the right things apart from spreading the moss when raking so it never totally gets rid of it.
What happens is the lawn grass roots grow up into the moss thatch and the problem with that is in dry weather it dries out fast because the thatch will not hold the water as the original loam would you end up with a dried out brown lawn.
Lawn feed and weed can go down after the frogs have left and must be watered in if it does not rain within 24 hours, I used feed and weed early in the year when the lawn is growing well and late in the year as a winter feed and weed. That one is a very slow release but will be gone before the frogs return to spawn.
Having once helped look after a bowling green lawn I know it is constant attention and even with that we got moss, who said lawns were easy.

Frank.

You can also put autumn feed down in spring as that one strengthens the roots if the grass is sparse and more grass means less weeds and moss.

i have had mossy lawn for years as always in the shade.. i did in the end go to Green Thumb..and for my large lawn(63ft x 45ft) cost me £15.00 a treatment.. which is the strong chemical treatment.. only they a registered users can use.. and a feed treatment.. killed all my moss and now i have them come 4 times a year..

much cheaper than buying the stuff in shops..