On Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:02:21 +0100, Another John
wrote:

Our lawn is pretty rubbish now, especially after the soaking summer up
here (near Hadrian's Wall). The soil is clay. The lawn is old (35+
years), but gets pretty well cared for.

The moss is grabbing an early hold this year. I could rake it out, but
there are a good 4 months before the grass can fight it off again....
should I bother treating and raking moss at this time of year?

I'd like to give the lawn some treatment this Autumn, **if it would do
any good**. I'm *very* well aware that the Garden Centres market
"Autumn Dressing" at this time, but I'm always suspicious that these
things are more in the interest of profits than gardens. (Am I
over-sceptical?)

It's not just the moss I want to get rid of: I'd like to raise the
general health of this, one of my favourite parts of our garden. Do I
wait until next Spring?

Cheers
John

I have never applied autumn feed to a lawn - I simply stop feeding it
at the end of August. At this time of year, all I do is scarify it.
You can do this with an ordinary spring tine rake but there are
special rakes that do the job better - I have one for my Wolf
multi-tool system. It's a bit of effort but it all helps to keep the
waist smaller Getting rid of thatch and allowing the grass to
breathe is, IMO, the best thing for now. Some people aerate the lawn
at this time of year, either with a hollow tine fork or a normal
garden fork, but I leave this till spring.

(FWIW, before anyone says anything, I used to have an electric
scarifier. Manual's much better IMO.)

Moss is not a problem but a symptom. Poor drainage , compacted soil or
shade are the usual problems that moss indicates. Apply some effort to
those in the spring - sow a shady seed mix, improve drainage, relieve
compaction.

Use winter to plan your attack. Will you need to sow some seed in bare
areas? You can't use lawn weedkillers for a year on newly sown areas.
So if you need to, apply a weed and feed in, say, late March/early
April. Evergreen Complete Soluble is a good option and, IMO, better
than any granules you apply - even with experience it's difficult to
get an even spread with granular products.With luck you'll be able to
rake out the dead moss in early May and you can then sow seed in May -
not too late as long as you keep it watered and stay off the area
while it grows.

You can use a liquid feed like Lawn Magic about every 3 weeks (with a
hose end feeder its easy to apply) straight after sowing seed. With an
established lawn, feed monthly about 2-3 days after mowing.

If you really love your lawn, have a think during the winter about any
layout issues you can deal with. Do you have a rotary clothes airer
thing in the middle of the lawn or a clothes line running across it?
Sinking some stepping stones into the lawn might help to reduce the
"path creation effect" and can look quite attractive. If you want an
"invisible" solution there are plastic mesh things that you can sink
into the ground to reinforce a walkway - this avoids the compaction
effect. If there's a really shady spot, can you either open up
whatever is causing the shade or think about re-configuring the lawn
to take the overly-shaded bit out and grow some shade loving plants
there instead? Even ask yourself the question - is it actually worth
keeping the moss? Often it'll stay green in drought when grass browns.
My late mother's lawn was 60%+ moss. It always looked green and the
moss wasn't that apparent until you got close up and even then it was
lovely and soft to walk on in bare feet. I have a shady area where I
leave the moss alone.

Cheers, Jake
================================================== ===========
URGling from the less wet end of Swansea Bay where it's about
the same moisture-wise as the more wet end.

The cat's web site is at www.pillie.me.uk.