Talkback: A scorched lawn

doesn't that take all the goodness out of gardening growing your own lawn and not a artificial one. the next thing you will be putting in is artificial plants to go with your artificial lawn that is sad and boring and not gardening.i don't use weedkillers at all.i just grow grass plants and veg. my water butt's always fill up when it rains so i am happy doing a garden the old way thanks it may be harder but you do get a lot more pleasure out of it.joey.

To all,Please can you advise me URGENTLY . I have put "Dead fast sodium chloride weed killer " down 4 weeks ago on some land which I removed shrubs and plants and re-graded.

Its covered now with that special black weed cover permeable material I got from Homebase.

Do you think it will be ok to turf the area (50 sqm) end of February/March 2009, will this be ok? Do you think the weed killer will kill the grass at that time? Please advise

Hi, I'm sorry to hear about your lawn, but very impressed that you shared your mistake with the rest of us, that is the way we learn.

My lawn is green all right... but it contains a lot of moss and weeds, at first I decided to try and make it look really good but now I am just happy it is green. This time of year I also have different types of mushrooms growing and to start with I didn't like that either but now I don't really mind as long as there are not too many! A wet and cold summer caused this, so maybe next year it will be better.

When it comes to an artificial lawn, well to be honest I would have to agree with Joey, as I dislike anything artificial in the garden, a lawn that is not real would never get into mine, I would much rather have moss, weeds and mushrooms any day!

happy gardening and good luck with your lawns.

The lawn I am fed up with mine since the trees on the railway grew up so high that they blot the sun from my garden I asked the maintanence dept to cut the tops out and they informed me that I wasn't entitled to light, these trees were not here when I moved in in 1975, my gardens ruined Kay

I live in a very dry part of the country, even this year, but my grass never turns brown. I use a manual mower (no fighting with the cable or disturbing the peace with noisy machine), use the highest setting all season, never weed or feed and allow the wild flowers to grow. There aren't many weeds, despite my planting daisies & speedwell. Insects & birds love it & I have a lovely lush green lawn all year round, for less effort. George - sodium chlorate is very persistent. Allow 6 months on free-draining soil, up to a year on heavy clay, before replanting. You shouldn't need the membrane, except it hides the dead & dying herbiage. Good luck.

Yes Jude, agree with you that setting the mower as high as you dare gives the greenest result. Moss doesn't stand a chance either - just look at the average council-cut verge where the grass is cut to 2" or so. No moss in sight.

Yes the perils of the weed killer, my lawn and worms are truly content, because I never have to mow or put chemicals down, my Eco awareness now includes the Artificial lawn, so more time on the borders and the veg plot and the water in my water butts goes so much further.

Sorry to all of you who would sooner drink weed killer than put down an artificial lawn, but you are missing a very simple and satisfying alternative.