More re my new house and garden:

The last occupants has 2 dogs and a cat which seem to have enjoyed using the
lawn as a toilet as there are many bare patches on the lawn at the moment
(at leat this is my diagnosis). How do I deal with this? I'd like the lawn
to remain. can i patch it with seed rather than start again? If so, what
should I use use and how should I apply it to ensure the birds don't eat it
before it gets started?

The people before also laid down some kind of membrane with bark pieces on
top. I'd like to lift it and dispose of it. is there any reason why I
shouldn't do this now rather than wait til spring?

Thanks

xiv

"louisxiv" wrote in message
...
More re my new house and garden:

The last occupants has 2 dogs and a cat which seem to have enjoyed using
the lawn as a toilet as there are many bare patches on the lawn at the
moment (at leat this is my diagnosis). How do I deal with this? I'd like
the lawn to remain. can i patch it with seed rather than start again? If
so, what should I use use and how should I apply it to ensure the birds
don't eat it before it gets started?

The people before also laid down some kind of membrane with bark pieces on
top. I'd like to lift it and dispose of it. is there any reason why I
shouldn't do this now rather than wait til spring?

Thanks

xiv
If you leave the lawn as it is the grass will recolonise the bare patches
eventually along with a few weeds.
A more instant solution is to "borrow" a few plugs of grass from other parts
of the lawn and plant them in the middle of the bare patches.
You can use seed and prevent the birds getting it by placing plastic cloches
over the top until the seed has germinated.
The membrane thingy you mentioned can be removed at any time but it may be
covering a multitude of sins.

"H Ryder" wrote in message
...
...seem to have enjoyed using the
lawn as a toilet as there are many bare patches on the lawn at the moment

it may not be the dog and cats - in my experience cat urine does not kill
grass, and I think that dog urine (as opposed to bitch urine) doesn't
either. It may be leatherjackets (baby crane flies) causing the problem.
As
the previous poster said you could just leave it, alternatively just scrap
back the dead grass from the patched and sprinkle on some general purpose
grass seed mixed with compost but wait for a few weeks first till it
starts
to grow properly.

Hayley
(gardening on well drained, alkaline clay in Somerset)


It's the number two that does the damage:-)

...seem to have enjoyed using the
lawn as a toilet as there are many bare patches on the lawn at the moment

it may not be the dog and cats - in my experience cat urine does not kill
grass, and I think that dog urine (as opposed to bitch urine) doesn't
either. It may be leatherjackets (baby crane flies) causing the problem. As
the previous poster said you could just leave it, alternatively just scrap
back the dead grass from the patched and sprinkle on some general purpose
grass seed mixed with compost but wait for a few weeks first till it starts
to grow properly.

Hayley
(gardening on well drained, alkaline clay in Somerset)

H Ryder wrote:
...seem to have enjoyed using the
lawn as a toilet as there are many bare patches on the lawn at the moment

it may not be the dog and cats - in my experience cat urine does not kill
grass, and I think that dog urine (as opposed to bitch urine) doesn't
either.

If they were bitches then you heed do nothing, the patch will come back
greener and healthier than the surrounding grass! We have two bitches
and lots of 'green patches' that need cutting a week before the rather
poor lawn.

In message , Derek
Turner writes
H Ryder wrote:
...seem to have enjoyed using the
lawn as a toilet as there are many bare patches on the lawn at the moment
it may not be the dog and cats - in my experience cat urine does
not kill
grass, and I think that dog urine (as opposed to bitch urine) doesn't
either.

If they were bitches then you heed do nothing, the patch will come back
greener and healthier than the surrounding grass! We have two bitches
and lots of 'green patches' that need cutting a week before the rather
poor lawn.
Pity there's no way of catching it, then you could 'water' the whole
lawn.
--
June Hughes

On Tue, 7 Mar 2006 17:56:13 +0000, June Hughes
wrote:

|In message , Derek

|If they were bitches then you heed do nothing, the patch will come back
|greener and healthier than the surrounding grass! We have two bitches
|and lots of 'green patches' that need cutting a week before the rather
|poor lawn.

|Pity there's no way of catching it, then you could 'water' the whole
|lawn.

Hmmm Now that's a thought ;-)
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk
Freedom of Speech, Expression, Religion, and Democracy are
the keys to Civilization, together with legal acceptance of
Fundamental Human rights.

On Tue, 7 Mar 2006 16:55:48 GMT, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

There's a useful weekly help post called abc for newcomers.

I NEVER see the ABC for newcomers.
Can anyone suggest why, please?

Pam in Bristol

"Pam Moore" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 7 Mar 2006 16:55:48 GMT, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

There's a useful weekly help post called abc for newcomers.

I NEVER see the ABC for newcomers.
Can anyone suggest why, please?

The last one was on the 4/3/06, but it did get caught in all the rubbish
that idiot child was posting at the same time, so it is qite possible that
it was deleted!

Alan


Pam in Bristol

"Dave Fawthrop" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 7 Mar 2006 17:56:13 +0000, June Hughes
wrote:

|In message , Derek

|If they were bitches then you heed do nothing, the patch will come back
|greener and healthier than the surrounding grass! We have two bitches
|and lots of 'green patches' that need cutting a week before the rather
|poor lawn.

|Pity there's no way of catching it, then you could 'water' the whole
|lawn.

Hmmm Now that's a thought ;-)

You could catch your own and dilute it to spread around!

Alan


--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk
Freedom of Speech, Expression, Religion, and Democracy are
the keys to Civilization, together with legal acceptance of
Fundamental Human rights.

"Pam Moore" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 7 Mar 2006 16:55:48 GMT, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

There's a useful weekly help post called abc for newcomers.

I NEVER see the ABC for newcomers.
Can anyone suggest why, please?

Pam in Bristol

According to Google Groups it was last posted on Feb 24th
but as has been pointed out elsewhere, it may have been
swamped by the nonsense posts.

quote
__________________________________________________ __________________

abc for newcomers to uk.rec.gardening

From: sysop
Date: Fri, Feb 24 2006 12:38 pm
Email: "sysop"
Groups: uk.rec.gardening

For detailed information on this newsgroup you are recommended to
read the charter for uk.rec.gardening at:

http://www.usenet.org.uk/uk.rec.gardening.html


There are a number of FAQ files (answers to Frequently Asked
Questions) which have been put together by the contributors
to this group and are available at:


http://www.tmac.clara.co.uk/urgring/urgfaqs.htm


If you are new to this group and have a particular question you
want to ask, do take a look at the FAQs first to see if your
question has been covered. The FAQs will usually give a more
comprehensive answer than is possible in a newsgroup article.


Now a little more information about the aims of uk.rec.gardening,
which we would ask you to read whether you are new to newsgroups
or an old hand. Note particularly the request not to post photographs.


Uk.rec.gardening is based in the British Isles for the discussion
of gardening within those islands. Some here are quite experienced
gardeners, others are (or were when they first joined urg) complete
beginners. It is an unmoderated self-help group and is not owned or
dominated by anyone.


If you are a newcomer (newbie) or a "lurker" (someone who reads but
has so far not posted anything), you are invited to introduce
yourself (though don't make it a reply to this thread - start a new
thread). Please do not feel any obligation to do this, but telling us
a little about yourself and, roughly, where you live, will help those
trying to answer your questions to give the best advice. Don't be
afraid of asking a question that you may fear is naive - remember,
we were all beginners once!


Sometimes people feel a little disappointed when they don't get an
answer to a question. There may be several reasons for this, the most
common ones being (1) no-one has the answer, (2) you didn't give a
clue in the subject header what your question was about, and (3) for
some reason the message did not get through. The best thing in the
last situation is to post the message once more. Urglers do try to
respond to new posters and no-one is deliberately ignored.


You may be puzzled by references to "urg" and "urglers". It's simply
an acronym and means this newsgroup and contributors to it!


Contributors from outside the British Isles are not discouraged but,
because this newsgroup is intended to help gardeners in the British
Isles, it should be remembered that all questions and answers should
relate to a climate similar to that found in the British Isles. We
thank you for your cooperation in this.


Here are one or two pointers to help you if you are not familiar with
newsgroups:


(1) NEVER post binaries (photographs or illustrations) in urg. They
will be cancelled automatically by the Usenet watchdogs! The reason
is that many will complain about the length of time taken to download
such files. If you want people to see your photograph then post it on
your own web page and put a message in urg telling people where to find
it.


(2) When you are replying to a message, it's a good idea to edit down
your quotes (snipping) to the point(s) that you are actually addressing,
but be sure that you have kept enough in to make it intelligible!


(3) Think out what you want to say and try to make it as concise as
possible. A long message in a busy newsgroup runs the risk of losing the
attention of readers.


Thank you for reading this and we hope that you will find
uk.rec.gardening a very helpful forum.
__________________________________________________ _____________________


/quote

On Thu, 9 Mar 2006 michael adams wrote:

There's a useful weekly help post called abc for newcomers.

I NEVER see the ABC for newcomers.
Can anyone suggest why, please?

According to Google Groups it was last posted on Feb 24th
but as has been pointed out elsewhere, it may have been
swamped by the nonsense posts.

I'm afraid that I've had problems with my software not being reliable
about posting it regularly. I've just changed over to different software
(and a different computer) so I'm hoping it will be a bit more reliable.

David

--
David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk
Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Caversham, Reading, UK