View Single Post
  #1   Report Post  
Old 12-06-2012, 12:59 PM
Dr Mike Oxgreen Dr Mike Oxgreen is offline
Registered User
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: May 2012
Location: Woking, UK
Posts: 3
Default Eliminating coarse grasses

I have a lawn of about 300 square metres, which is in reasonable health except that large areas of it are dominated by really coarse, ugly weed grasses. I'm 90% sure that the worst offender is "Yorkshire Fog" as it's known in the UK - a Holcus species.

I'd like to know what lawncare regime I should be following to make life as difficult as possible for the coarse grasses and encourage the finer ones - with a view to shifting the balance of power and gradually ending up with a nicer lawn. None of the books I've found go into much detail about this.

The only thing I've read consistently about Yorkshire Fog is that it doesn't like being over-grazed - and therefore I've decided to mimic this by mowing as frequently as I can during this summer: every third day if possible, mowing at a moderate height (not too short). Will this work?

Some time in September I plan to spend a weekend scarifying, aerating and then overseeding with fine grasses. I did this last year in the spring, but I think I understand now that autumn is better. I also think I could scarify a bit more aggressively.

So... do you think this regime will have a significant impact on shifting the balance in favour of the finer grasses?

I don't think I feel brave enough to glyphosate the whole lot and seed it from scratch. Or is that what I should do?