On Saturday, July 28, 2018 at 6:24:42 AM UTC-4, EH11 wrote:
Hi,
New to the forum and looking for some assistance with lawn care. I have
a front and back lawn that I need to treat roughly twice a year for
weeds and to fertilize. I generally use evergreen 4 in 1 and it seems
to be largely ok. I do get a fair bit of moss in one area, due to the
drainage - not bad enough however that I want to dig in a drain.
Anyway, I would like to seed up the lawn as it's bare in patches,
primarily as it hasn't been seeded up for a while and previous attempts
to seed up haven't been great.
I want to apply the 4 in 1 and also seed up but not sure what order I
should do each job. I live in Scotland and don't want to wait until
September when the temperatures can drop a fair bit.
Is it acceptable to apply the evergreen 4 in 1 in early August then wait
a couple of weeks before scarifying and aerating the lawn. At this
point, I was going to try and rough up the bare spots on the lawn then
apply a pre seed fertiliser and a mix of top soil and seed to seed up.

IDK what exactly all the parts are that make that stuff, 4 in 1, but I
see it's fertilizer and weedkiller. Similar products, you have to wait
at least a month before seeding because of the weedkiller. The bag or
website should have info on that. Cooler temps are your friend, but IDK,
what the weather is like in Scotland. NYC area Sept is ideal for seeding,
you can do it as late as mid Oct. You want days in the 60s and 70s, not
upper 70s to 90. Fall there is less competition from weeds, less water
needed so it's easy to keep it moist.

I would not do your scarification and aeration. I'd do one or the other,
Either damages the existing grass to some extent. If you do either,
you can seed and it should be fine. IDK what eqpt they have over there,
but here in the states you can rent a over-seeder, also known as a slice
seeder. It's a powered machine, about the size of an aerator, that has
rotating disks that cut grooves in the soil and drop seed behind it.
If you aerate, the machine leaves plugs of the soil it removes, just
spread the seed around and a good rain, the plugs dissolve and start to
cover the seed. Make sure you keep it constantly moist, then as it takes
hold, slowly reduce the watering to go longer and deeper but less often.







Any guidance would be appreciated. As I touched on, previous attempts
to seed up have been underwhelming.
One positive, I aerated the lawn in spring, simply using a fork and
wiggling it to make decent size holes.

Probably a waste of time. A real aerator takes out plugs that are about
5/8" in diameter, s few inches long. That opens up the soil by removing
some of it. Your method, you're just pushing the compaction around, not
removing anything to relieve it. That's assuming compaction is a problem
to begin with.



I didn't do the full lawn and
it's absolutely amazing how much healthier - thicker, greener the
aerated piece of lawn is compared to the no aerated. I'll try and do
this across the lawn in spring and autumn in the future.
Thanks in advance for any help.


Well if it works, I'd rent a real aerator and do the whole thing in a
couple hours.







--
EH11