Marko wrote:
I would be grateful for any sound advice to my current garden issue. I
moved into my property 18 months ago and the garden had been poorly
maintained, overgrown and heavily populated by weeds. Last year I
trimmed and mowed and added evergreen complete using the push along
seed disperser, this had mixed results. Despite following the
instructions to the letter and regular watering and mowing the lawn
was just did not meet expectations. I have purposely left the lawn so
far this year to see what I am up against.
Perhaps this is incorrect but seem to recall May being perfect for
undertaking gardening work. I am hoping to get started this week and
have a lawn fit for my young children to enjoy throughout summer. Any
recommendations for archiving the best results are very welcome. I am
open to using pesticides (or perhaps not?).
At my previous address I had a similar problem, to remedy I stripped
the turf, rotovated, allowed regrowth and treated before adding top
soil and turf. I was very happy with the results but it was tough
work and extreamly time consuming. Although this garden is much
smaller my time is sparse with a young family. This said I'm not shy
of getting stuck in, if returfing or reseeding is the only way, so be
it. I have tried to attach some photos, if not here I will post
later. Many thanks for any suggestions.
Marko.


Below is what I have found effective in Seattle Washington, where it is quite
wet for at least half the year. YMMV.
..
You'd be surprised what some fertilizer and water and MUCH longer mowing would
do. Without reseeding, it will take awhile to fill in, but will begin to look
better over the summer. Mowing it 3" deep (A finger length?) will help the roots
not dry out so much, and supply a lot more energy to the roots to grow. The
longer grass will look greener just because it's longer too. I set my mower at
its highest setting.

Fertilize it now, then wait a few days if you use a weed-n-feed type fertilizer,
or right away if you use a non-weed killer fertilizer, water it well - at least
an inch of water. Then water it an inch a week or so for the summer and see what
happens. Watering the lawn more, less often, will motivate the roots to grow
deeper looking for water during the dry spells, resulting in more drought
tolerant grass. Use a spreader to spread the fertilizer. If you get it too haevy
in areas, that will kill the grass there.

I usually fertilize at 1/2 the recommended rate of fertilizer a few times a year
and have very good results. Fertilizing in the fall (with a "fall" fertilizer)
is said to be the most important application, as it helps the grass roots grow
and spread during the wet season, and the lawn will take off in the spring.

For weeds, I use a hand held trigger sprayer to spray just the weeds with
weed-b-gon or similar lawn weed killer, rather than broadcasting it or
weed-n-feed all over the lawn. If you keep the grass growing well, the weeds
will not invade as much.

If you want to overseed:
Rake the surface on all the bare spots to loosen the surface soil a bit, add
some lawn starter fertilizer over the whole lawn, and spread seed, rake gently,
or sprinkle enough soil over the seed to just hide it, then keep it constantly
damp, not wet until the seed sprouts and gets an inch or more high. Setting a
sprinkler timer to water it for 5 minutes 3 times during the day hours has
worked well for me. The important thing is not to let the seed dry out until it
has sprouted and rooted a bit. Then you start watering with more water, but much
less often, working down to 1" or so once a week or so. Do not use a general
lawn fertilizer too soon after seeding. Wait until the new grass has grown to
3" or so.