In message
,
Another John writes
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?

Scarifying is a regular autumn maintenance activity. It's probably too
late now to sow grass seed on any bare patches, leave that that to the
spring now.
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?)

Autumn fertiliser is a different make-up to normal - less nitrogen, more
phosphates and potassium. This is to promote root growth but not top
growth. Should be used every year.
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?

A good autumn top dressing is very helpful. You can also aerate the
lawn. However I have found that hollow tine aerators do not work very
well on clay -it simply blocks up the holes. Depending on size of your
lawn you may wish to hire a slit aerator before top dressing.

But remember, one of the major causes of problems with lawns is cutting
the grass too short. If you are keen to develop a good quality lawn I
can recommend "the New Lawn Expert" by Dr D G Hessayon ISBN
0-903505-48-7
John

--
hugh