lasors wrote:

I have a lawn that needs some (ok, a lot) of help, although it's not
beyond repair. It has significant moss growth and thatch and dries out
too readily. My thoughts so far involve scarifying, hollow tine aeration
and top dressing/lawn sand brushed in, with new seeding.

What I would like to know is, does it matter in which order this care is
done? Can it be done all together to keep the time taken down to a
minimum?

Many thanks.

there are many potential factors in this so
it is really best for you to find a local lawn
person who can come and look at your site and
determine what is going on.

the rest of this is a general guide, but some
of it may not apply to your situation.

new construction often doesn't include very
much topsoil. even if they put down sod you
may find only a few inches of topsoil underneath.
which means it really cannot support long term
grass growth if the grass is cut and removed.
over time the grass thins as the soil gets
compacted and then the weeds take over because
there are spots for the weed seeds to easily
germinate. this can be counteracted by aerating
and adding compost as described below and using
a mulching lawn mower. you do not need to weed
kill or reseed if the species of grasses are
suitable for your area and sunlight. just mow
regularly and keep adding compost in thin layers
and the grasses will recover and smother out most
weeds. if there are specific areas after a bit
that are full of nothing but weeds then you can
spot treat those areas, but reseeding is usually
not very good because the reseeding might have
different grass species in the mix and then the
lawn looks even worse. just tug weeds out as
you can and the surrounding grasses will recolonise
the area.

it is very unlikely you have a thatch problem
if i dries out very quickly. more likely you
have a poor compacted soil problem, not enough
light, wrong grass species, or cutting it too
short and removing the clippings instead of
using a mulching mower.

all of these can be dealt with in various ways.

poor soil can be aerated and then amended with
a thin layer of compost (1/4") at a time until
the compost gets broken down, then repeat as
needed during the growing season, but ease off
when cooler and wetter weather returns.

the lack of light may need some tree thinning
or different species of grasses.

some areas may be better off turned into shade
gardens.

if you are cutting the grass and bagging the
clippings instead of letting them break down on
the lawn, then you're stripping nutrients from
the soil over time. use a mulching mower set on
a fairly high setting often enough that there
aren't lumps collecting on the surface to smother
the grass.

compacted soil and pH adjustments may help the
moss problem, but aerating, getting enough light
and adding compost and mowing higher will give
the grass a better chance to smother the moss.

moss spores are constantly floating in the air.
you cannot get rid of it, you can only make the
conditions more favorable to grass so that any
mosses won't be able to do much.


songbird