Lawn help...

F

Fat Tony

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I'd like a good grassy lawn in my back garden, don't know much about gardening though. I took a photo a while back, plenty of weeds anyway :)

Any suggestions on what I need to do with it to get it in good shape, is there anything I can do this time of year or what and when will I need to work on it?

[broken link removed]
(Click pic to see fullsize)

Thanks,

G :D
 
Looks fine to me, mine is a sodden marsh at the moment, covered in leaves from my neighbours old trees!:(
 
It looks okay, but you could do a couple of things which would give it a bit of a boost.

You could scarify it - rake it vigorously with a spring-tined rake - this removes all the dead grass and moss known as thatch which collects on the surface, impeding drainage and air circulation. You may be alarmed with the patchy, bare-looking lawn that results, but it'll recover in no time come the spring growth.

After that, you could stick a garden fork in to a depth of about 6inches every 12 inches or so, and wiggle it a bit - this opens up the soil and allows better drainage. Once you've done this, you might want to dump some sand on the grass, and brush it into the grass till its gone from the surface - again this will help improve drainage.

Finally, you can put an Autumn fertilizer - this boosts root growth as opposed to summer fertilizer which boosts top growth - thus allowing your grass to race away next season with a healthy root system, enabling better drought resistance and nutrient take-up.

Edited to say try as much as possible not to walk on the grass when the ground is wet, as you'll only compact the soil, leading to worse drainage problems.
 
Thanks for replies, much appreciated.

Regarding all the weeds, is it just a matter of yanking them out or what? Also, what's the best way to get rid of the clover etc. in the lawn, will raking it out get rid of it??? :confused:

Will also do as Sherman suggests, cheers!
 
I've found that manually pulling out weeds (including the root) is as good as any approach to keeping them under control - especially if the lawn is of a reasonably small size. Still haven't managed to get the clover under control though. I suspect that it's vigorous growth may be symptomatic of some nutrient deficiency (nitrogen perhaps?) in the soil or something like that...
 
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