On Jun 26, 11:56*am, "Bob F" wrote:
Mottsey wrote:
Good afternoon all.

I'm very much a beginner at the whole gardening scene as I have always
lived in an urban area with very little opportunity to get my fingers
green.

However, we have moved into a semi detached house which has an 85ft x
35ft rear garden. There is decking covering 7ft x 35ft at the rear of
the house with a small rectangular pond. The rest has been turfed.

What I need it some advice on how to bring this lawn to life. The
garden does feel lumpy and bumpy under foot. We have a 3 year old
daughter who I want to spend the majority of her time enjoying and
taking advantage of such a big open space and make it as nice and
child friendly as possible for her.

The grass isn't very green and hasn't been maintained at all. What
can i do to improve the lawn? as you can see if the images below, the
grass seems very dull. *What products should i use and when should i
use them?

[image:http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8.../4fa031e0.jpg]

[image:http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8.../6e075a64.jpg]

[image:http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8.../b102abf8.jpg]

Fertilize it, water it, and set the mower to the highest/longest cutting setting
it has. Mow often enough that you are not taking off more than 1/3 of the grass
leaf at a mowing.

It has been mowed way too short. You need to allow the grass to show some green
blade. The more the better.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It also looks like a large part of it is either dead or dormant. If
it's been getting a reasonable amount of water, then that
part is dead. I would go with Bob's advice for now and then
in mid Aug reevaluate. You could prepare then for either
overseeding the whole thing in early Sept or just killing off
everything and re-seeding. Which you want to depends on
what you have in Aug and how uniform a look you want. If it
were me and I had to seed large dead areas, I'd just
Roundup/glyphosate the whole thing and start over with a
high quality grass for the whole thing.

You should also evaluate the soil composition. If it's
compacted, using a core aerator when you're seeding
in Sept would be a good thing. You could also spread
a light top dressing of compost material at the same time.
Get the soil tested and adjust the PH if needed too.

When you're watering, you want to water it deeply, about
2 times a week. About 3/4" to 1" of water. At night so the
watering ends at dawn will use the least water and leave
the grass wet for the shortest time, which helps prevent
fungus.