Lawn care ?
 

Dear All,

I have recently moved house from London down to Surrey and now have half an
acre of garden (so this may well be the first of many posts on u.r.g)

Anyway, the lawn is fairly decent, but could be better next year.....I
intend to start a thorough programme of maintenance and am looking for a
little advice.

Firstly, I intend to weed and feed it....it's about 800 sqyuare metres of
lawn. I will do this this week using a late summer mix if I can find one
(any recommendations ?)

Then, in late September I intend to firstly scarify it, then hollow tine
aerate it, then top dress it and then overseed.....phew.. makes me sweat
even thinking about it. Any advice on an overseeding mix ? I have three
children, so it needs to be a harwearing utility lawn rather than a bowling
green...

So - is this the right order (and time of year) to do these things ? Should
I do different ?


Many thanks,

Alasdair

And another couple of lawn questions:

1) I have several lumps and bumps n the lawn that I want to flatten
(currently get "scalped" by the mower). I presume the best way to flatten
these is to open up the turf on the top and remove some of the soil from
underneath, then replace the turf ?? What is the best time of year to do
this ?

2) I have one section of lawn I would like to put a formal edge on. I am
thinking of either steel or aluminium edging. Anyone have any experience
with these ? Should I buy a proprietary product or just buy some lengths of
galvanised stell and use that ?

"adm" wrote in message
...
Dear All,

I have recently moved house from London down to Surrey and now have half
an acre of garden (so this may well be the first of many posts on u.r.g)

Anyway, the lawn is fairly decent, but could be better next year.....I
intend to start a thorough programme of maintenance and am looking for a
little advice.

Firstly, I intend to weed and feed it....it's about 800 sqyuare metres of
lawn. I will do this this week using a late summer mix if I can find one
(any recommendations ?)

Then, in late September I intend to firstly scarify it, then hollow tine
aerate it, then top dress it and then overseed.....phew.. makes me sweat
even thinking about it. Any advice on an overseeding mix ? I have three
children, so it needs to be a harwearing utility lawn rather than a
bowling green...

So - is this the right order (and time of year) to do these things ?
Should I do different ?


Many thanks,

Alasdair

adm wrote:
And another couple of lawn questions:

1) I have several lumps and bumps n the lawn that I want to flatten
(currently get "scalped" by the mower). I presume the best way to
flatten these is to open up the turf on the top and remove some of
the soil from underneath, then replace the turf ?? What is the best
time of year to do this ?

Any time will do, to suit your convenience. Even during the dead of
winter if you have to, but then it'll be longer growing back, that's
all. Or just wait for the mower to stop scalping them, which will
happen if the mower doesn't surrender first.

2) I have one section of lawn I would like to put a formal edge on.
I
am thinking of either steel or aluminium edging. Anyone have any
experience with these ? Should I buy a proprietary product or just
buy some lengths of galvanised stell and use that ?

I recommend scrap bricks, laid flat or on edge according to taste. A
few halves will take you round surprisingly tight bends. Look great,
and you can run the mower over them to cut right to the edge.

[...]
Anyway, the lawn is fairly decent, but could be better next
year.....I intend to start a thorough programme of maintenance and
am looking for a little advice.

Firstly, I intend to weed and feed it....[...]
I have three children, so it needs to be a harwearing utility lawn
rather than a bowling green...
[...]

In that case, I'd do as little as possible. Weed and feed according
to the back of the packet; but even that isn't usually necessary.
Regular mowing, and maybe a feed if growth starts getting weak after
a few seasons or if it's weak soil. I'd forget about the aeration:
nearly always a waste of time and money trying to do something nature
does better.

--
Mike..

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
adm wrote:
And another couple of lawn questions:

1) I have several lumps and bumps n the lawn that I want to flatten
(currently get "scalped" by the mower). I presume the best way to
flatten these is to open up the turf on the top and remove some of
the soil from underneath, then replace the turf ?? What is the best
time of year to do this ?

Any time will do, to suit your convenience. Even during the dead of
winter if you have to, but then it'll be longer growing back, that's
all. Or just wait for the mower to stop scalping them, which will
happen if the mower doesn't surrender first.

Good point. They're not very big and the mower will definitely win in the
end

2) I have one section of lawn I would like to put a formal edge on.
I
am thinking of either steel or aluminium edging. Anyone have any
experience with these ? Should I buy a proprietary product or just
buy some lengths of galvanised stell and use that ?

I recommend scrap bricks, laid flat or on edge according to taste. A
few halves will take you round surprisingly tight bends. Look great,
and you can run the mower over them to cut right to the edge.

You are a genius. that's exactly what I need to do. My patio area has nice
brick edging anyway, so it would blend right in.

[...]
Anyway, the lawn is fairly decent, but could be better next
year.....I intend to start a thorough programme of maintenance and
am looking for a little advice.

Firstly, I intend to weed and feed it....[...]
I have three children, so it needs to be a harwearing utility lawn
rather than a bowling green...
[...]

In that case, I'd do as little as possible. Weed and feed according
to the back of the packet; but even that isn't usually necessary.
Regular mowing, and maybe a feed if growth starts getting weak after
a few seasons or if it's weak soil. I'd forget about the aeration:
nearly always a waste of time and money trying to do something nature
does better.

Thanks Mike.

--
Mike..