On Sun, 27 Oct 2002 18:21:03 +0000, Peter Lewis
wrote:


On Sun, 20 Oct 2002 19:30:27 +0100, " Emrys Davies"
wrote:

Best if you hire an industrial strimmer or the like and get rid of all
of the overgrown grass down to about an inch or so. Then, in the
spring, treat the lawn to a good weed and feed fertilizer. Give it
regular mowings, water during dry spells, and you will be amazed how
quickly your lawn will recover itself and start to look good again.

When the grass is under control you could re-mark your borders by using
a hosepipe as a guide and in that way you can have nice scalloped edges
of your choice and widish borders in which you can plant shrubs,
perennials, small conifers, annuals and even a small tree or two.

The advantage of this method is that the wild and feral grasses
making up your newly revived lawn will be species that are
especially well adapted to your particular combination of soil,
climate, and maintenance regime. Wild grasses will usually take
over your lawn eventually, no matter what you do, so you might as
well encourage them from the start. Doing so avoids a lot of
unnecessary expense and worry, to say nothing of the heartbreak
of having an unfashionable lawn.


Thanks folks.

I've bought a strimmer which (after some fun!) managed to cut most of it
down. Next weekend I'm planning to give it some feed/fertilizer and see how
it copes. I'm not in a rush, so next spring, if it really doesn't look like
it's improving, I'll go for the 'start again' method!

Cheers.

Pete.

You'd be wasting your time and money if you put fertiliser on your
lawn now. It would just get washed away by the winter rains. Note
what Emrys actually wrote:

"Then, in the spring, treat the lawn to a good weed and feed
fertilizer."

You say you're not in a rush. Well, next year follow Emrys's advice
(as contained in the first two paragraphs quoted above) right through
next spring, summer and autumn and THEN judge whether your lawn has
improved. You are highly unlikely to see any improvement between now
and next spring -- in fact, probably the opposite.

Norman Tulloch