John Hutchison wrote:

Yes, it's a little early to be thinking about the lawn in my part of
Scotland, but I've been reading the little RHS guide about lawns and
groundcover...

I have several patches of quite coarse grass in my lawn, where the flowering
stalks get pretty long very quickly. My cylinder mower just runs over the
top of these flattening them, and the result is a lawn with little spikes
sticking up all over it!

The RHS guide mentions slashing and raking the grass, but what exactly does
this entail?

Any other ways I can deal with the coarse stuff (bearing in mind that daily
mowing is not an option!)?

Thanks,


John

How big an area? Slashing is just that. On a very small area just keep attacking
the coarse grass with an old kitchen knife slashing vertically an inch or so
into the soil criss crossing in all directions cutting grass and roots - the
fine grasses can tolerate this, the coarse ones don't like it. On a large scale
various machines are available - sizes and prices according to taste and scale.
Vigorous scarifying with a spring rake helps but the kitchen knife works best
on the really tough stuff.
--
Rod
http://website.lineone.net/%7Erodcraddock/index.html
My email address needs weeding.