As the header says, is it now too late to scarify my lawn this year ? We had
the first frost (South Surrey) yesterday and I have been told it needs to be
done by then by some, and that it doesn't matter by others....

adm wrote:
As the header says, is it now too late to scarify my lawn this year ? We had
the first frost (South Surrey) yesterday and I have been told it needs to be
done by then by some, and that it doesn't matter by others....


Aside from the issue as to whether it's right to scarify before or after
first frost, I think if I scarified now (that the ground is fairly soft
after the rain we've had) there wouldn't be much "lawn" left - I think
the scarifying rake would tear out too much of the grass... I wouldn't
have the nerve and would rather wait till the live grass has a bit more
anchorage before trying to remove the dead stuff.

Ian Keeling wrote:
adm wrote:
As the header says, is it now too late to scarify my lawn this
year
? We had the first frost (South Surrey) yesterday and I have been
told it needs to be done by then by some, and that it doesn't
matter
by others....


Aside from the issue as to whether it's right to scarify before or
after first frost, I think if I scarified now (that the ground is
fairly soft after the rain we've had) there wouldn't be much "lawn"
left - I think the scarifying rake would tear out too much of the
grass... I wouldn't have the nerve and would rather wait till the
live grass has a bit more anchorage before trying to remove the
dead
stuff.

It's your lawn, not mine; but are you sure you need to scarify at
all? I suppose your lawn has a bad case of thatchy stuff or moss
interfering with the green bits. Otherwise, there must be more useful
ways of getting exercise.

--
Mike.

On Tue, 15 Nov 2005 17:10:22 -0000, "adm" wrote:

As the header says, is it now too late to scarify my lawn this year ? We had
the first frost (South Surrey) yesterday and I have been told it needs to be
done by then by some, and that it doesn't matter by others....


Scarifying when done well is a pretty brutal process, and your lawn
will look awful afterwards. But it recovers quickly enough when the
grass is still active. But it's a bit late, as the grass won't be
growing much now the cold weather's here. Best done in September,
which is when I did mine. Took off about three times as much grass
compared to a normal cut!


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

"Ian Keeling" wrote in message
...
adm wrote:
As the header says, is it now too late to scarify my lawn this year ? We
had the first frost (South Surrey) yesterday and I have been told it
needs to be done by then by some, and that it doesn't matter by
others....
Aside from the issue as to whether it's right to scarify before or after
first frost, I think if I scarified now (that the ground is fairly soft
after the rain we've had) there wouldn't be much "lawn" left - I think the
scarifying rake would tear out too much of the grass... I wouldn't have
the nerve and would rather wait till the live grass has a bit more
anchorage before trying to remove the dead stuff.

Thanks. I wouldn't actually have done it until the ground was less
waterlogged anyway, but your point is well taken.

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Ian Keeling wrote:
adm wrote:
As the header says, is it now too late to scarify my lawn this
year
? We had the first frost (South Surrey) yesterday and I have been
told it needs to be done by then by some, and that it doesn't
matter
by others....


Aside from the issue as to whether it's right to scarify before or
after first frost, I think if I scarified now (that the ground is
fairly soft after the rain we've had) there wouldn't be much "lawn"
left - I think the scarifying rake would tear out too much of the
grass... I wouldn't have the nerve and would rather wait till the
live grass has a bit more anchorage before trying to remove the
dead
stuff.

It's your lawn, not mine; but are you sure you need to scarify at
all? I suppose your lawn has a bad case of thatchy stuff or moss
interfering with the green bits. Otherwise, there must be more useful
ways of getting exercise.

:-)

Yep - lots of thatch and quite a bit of moss in some areas. Some of it is
good, but some of it is very springy and thatchy.

Anyway - I think I'll leave it until spring. And hiring a petrol scarifyer
is a definite - there's 800 square metres to do.


--
Mike.

Chris Hogg wrote:
Took off about three times as much grass
compared to a normal cut!


That's about what I get as well. 3 times is a lot of green stuff to get
rid of - I don't put it on the compost, it goes over the hedge ;-)


--
Tim C.

martin wrote:
On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 08:58:53 +0000, "Tim C."
wrote:

Chris Hogg wrote:
Took off about three times as much grass
compared to a normal cut!

That's about what I get as well. 3 times is a lot of green stuff to get
rid of - I don't put it on the compost, it goes over the hedge ;-)

With the humanely disposed of slugs and snails?

Er, yes. :-) I throw the larger snails as far as I can into the
cornfield ... slugs normally get sliced and composted.

--
Tim C.