houser85 wrote:
Hi all,

I realise the need for details so I'll try to cover things but if I've
missed anything just let me know. I'm a fairly methodical person so
I'm happy to be as precise with measurements etc as possible and would
appreciate links to proper technical / scientific information rather
than the "10 things you need to have a good lawn" click-bait articles
that Google turns up.


I've recently bought a house and have started trying to take care of
the lawn. Needless to say, as a complete amateur, I'm having trouble.
I'd love some help and advice please.


Rough history:
01-June-2014 the turf was laid
Sadly I don't know the type of grass that was laid.
Watered it consistently each day for a month or so
First cut it roughly 15-July-2014
Since then I have cut roughly fortnightly and watered either twice
weekly or once if it has rained. I try not to soak the ground too
much. I always cut my grass at the highest setting which is 6cm.

I cut mine at the highest setting, which is more like 8cm. Longer helps it shade
the ground, reducing water needs.

You should try to water not much more than once a week, and you want to water
enough each time that the water goes deeply, which encourages the roots to grow
deeply. If you water lightly more often, the roots will tend to be much nearer
the surface. 2.5 cm of water/week is the usual recomendation I've seen. You can
measure with tin cans scattered over the area.

20-Sept-2014 I fed my grass with 'Evergreen Complete 4-in-1'. I fear
it's not the most suitable feed and may only serve to make the blades
grow thick and green to give a good impression, but may not contain
the nutrients my grass needs. I found it very hard to find anything
better online. Its nearly all moss killer + lawn feed.


I have notice two problems:
1) Some areas at brown. Not brown blades of grass, it looks more like
roots? I'm guessing maybe the grass got too long and even on the
highest setting, I took off more than 1/3rd of the blades. Is this
the case or could there be something else wrong? I've attached a pic
of one of the areas. How can this be remedied?

That looks like stem. You probably did go too long between mowings at some
point, and took off all the leaf, leaving stems. You should mow at least every
week during high growth times. If the grass gets higher than 50% over your mower
setting, it's time to water. It'll grow back eventually. If you rake the area
with a leaf rake using a lifting motion to stand the stems up before mowing, you
might get rid of some of the stem. Sometimes grass begins to grow stem
horizontally and this can happen then too when the stems get lifted for the
first time in a long time by the mower. A mower with lots of "lift" will help
reduce the horizontal growth pattern, but this does tend to happen.

2) I have lawn rust in certain areas - what can be done?


Fertilize and water properly. If the grass is growing fast enough, the rust will
get cut off by the mower.


It's been an unusually warm September here in Bristol, UK, but I'm
sure thats coming to an end soon. I bought an autumn/winter lawn
feed, but not sure if it contains Potassium or Potash - I hear this
is the right stuff to use at this time of year? Well again, I
struggled to find any online. it all seems to be generic crap
targetted at idiots who don't want to understand the problem.

It should be fine.


Other questions:
Should I get a soil testing kit?
I usually just aim for 20 mins or so.
Are there any good guides that cover the subject? I'd love a really
technical explanation of grass, how it grows, what it needs etc.


Thanks for any help you can give me. If I've broken any forum rules or
etiquette, point me in the right direction and I'll try again.

houser85


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