George.com wrote:
"Sacha" wrote in message
id...

On 14/3/06 11:36 am, in article

,

"Gill Passman" wrote:


Sacha wrote:

On 14/3/06 10:57 am, in article

,

"Gill Passman" wrote:



Hi All,

First time poster here, live in the South East of England...bit noisy
around here but hey,ho....

My lawn has been ravaged by the dog running up and down, kids playing
and shrubs overgrowing one side...this year it does not look as if it
will make its usual recovery so I've decided to reseed.

The plan is to cut back the shrubs - the main offender is a Potato

Shrub

(Solanum Rantonnetii) - so the first question is whether it would be a
good time to prune this (hack it - I think is more the description)?

The

other offender is a Red Dogwood. Now I don't want to kill them off and
we are still getting quite severe frosts (no snow at all this winter
though). So should I wait, or would I be safe to go out and cut these
back now?


He also suggests
covering it with horticultural fleece to keep the birds off even more
effectively and to give it a little warmth and encouragement. Peg the
corners down or weight them with stones.


that last tip is a good one because it also keeps moisture in the soil when
you are laying down seed and reduces the need to water as frequently. I
reseeded a part of my lawn and pegged down lightweight frost cloth. It kept
moisture in and the sun out until germination. I could easily remove it to
allow the sun in.

rob




What time of year did you do this? (Meaning using the frost cloth)

Thanks
Gill

"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...
George.com wrote:
"Sacha" wrote in message
id...

On 14/3/06 11:36 am, in article

,

"Gill Passman" wrote:


Sacha wrote:

On 14/3/06 10:57 am, in article

,

"Gill Passman" wrote:



Hi All,

First time poster here, live in the South East of England...bit noisy
around here but hey,ho....

My lawn has been ravaged by the dog running up and down, kids playing
and shrubs overgrowing one side...this year it does not look as if it
will make its usual recovery so I've decided to reseed.

The plan is to cut back the shrubs - the main offender is a Potato

Shrub

(Solanum Rantonnetii) - so the first question is whether it would be
a
good time to prune this (hack it - I think is more the description)?

The

other offender is a Red Dogwood. Now I don't want to kill them off
and
we are still getting quite severe frosts (no snow at all this winter
though). So should I wait, or would I be safe to go out and cut these
back now?


He also suggests
covering it with horticultural fleece to keep the birds off even more
effectively and to give it a little warmth and encouragement. Peg the
corners down or weight them with stones.


that last tip is a good one because it also keeps moisture in the soil
when
you are laying down seed and reduces the need to water as frequently. I
reseeded a part of my lawn and pegged down lightweight frost cloth. It
kept
moisture in and the sun out until germination. I could easily remove it
to
allow the sun in.

rob




What time of year did you do this? (Meaning using the frost cloth)

late summer (indian summer time) I think or mid spring. It was 2-3 years ago
so can't exactly remember. The frost cloth was not to keep frosts off, it
was just something I had around which did the job nicely. Frosts come here
usually once winter has been around a few weeks, June going into July.

rob