Lawn care
 

Hi,

Back in August when it was still wet, I sowed lawn seed in my front garden,
covered the lot in 'fleece' and watered daily (if required).

After about 10 days, I replaced the 'fleece' with a netting (the fleece and
netting was to prevent birds eating the seeds and foxes digging/doing their
business).

After a short holiday, I returned to find the grass quite long (almost like
a deep green luxury pile carpet) - I mowed it with the mower on its highest
setting.

A week later, it was getting a bit untidy so I mowed it at the next height
setting down.

Since then (about a month) it seems to be growing in patches - some patches
are much longer than others whilst others seem to remain quite short. The
shorter areas are also showing a bit of yellowing.

From a distance it still looks very nice but close up I am worried. Perhaps
the second cut was a bit too short/close?

Any ideas of how to get the whole lawn growing at the same speed and how to
stop the yellowing?

Thanks in advance,

Kroma

Lawn care
 

"Kroma" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Back in August when it was still wet, I sowed lawn seed in my front
garden,
covered the lot in 'fleece' and watered daily (if required).

After about 10 days, I replaced the 'fleece' with a netting (the
fleece and
netting was to prevent birds eating the seeds and foxes digging/doing
their
business).

After a short holiday, I returned to find the grass quite long (almost
like
a deep green luxury pile carpet) - I mowed it with the mower on its
highest
setting.

A week later, it was getting a bit untidy so I mowed it at the next
height
setting down.

Since then (about a month) it seems to be growing in patches - some
patches
are much longer than others whilst others seem to remain quite short.
The
shorter areas are also showing a bit of yellowing.

From a distance it still looks very nice but close up I am worried.
Perhaps
the second cut was a bit too short/close?

Any ideas of how to get the whole lawn growing at the same speed and
how to
stop the yellowing?

Thanks in advance,

Kroma

I think that you will find that the difference in grass texture is due
to the soil conditions. Do the yellow patches suffer from poor
drainage, soil compaction or both?

Regards,
Emrys Davies.

Lawn care
 

On Oct 10, 12:31 am, "Emrys Davies" wrote:


I think that you will find that the difference in grass texture is due
to the soil conditions. Do the yellow patches suffer from poor
drainage, soil compaction or both?



My lawn has pretty much all the same conditions as the soil was
"new". It has patches and I think it's because of the grubs.

Lawn care
 

On 10/10/07 17:53, in article
, "adder1969"
wrote:

On Oct 10, 12:31 am, "Emrys Davies" wrote:


I think that you will find that the difference in grass texture is due
to the soil conditions. Do the yellow patches suffer from poor
drainage, soil compaction or both?



My lawn has pretty much all the same conditions as the soil was
"new". It has patches and I think it's because of the grubs.


Is the lawn new because it's a new build house? Builders or renovators
could have left bricks, cement etc. lying around in odd corners and then
just covered them with topsoil.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Lawn care
 

The house is about 20 years old and I believe that the first owner had lawn
here. The second owner replaced it with tiny stones (which seemed to attract
the local cats). We got rid of the stones, dug over the underlying soil,
added more soil and finally seeded it.

I don't think that drainage is a problem and it shouldn't be particularly
compacted - in fact when mowing, the soil felt rather spongy.

I do have some soluble lawn feed - would it possibly help or is the lawn
likely to be too young for this?

Thanks,

Kroma


"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
On 10/10/07 17:53, in article
, "adder1969"
wrote:

On Oct 10, 12:31 am, "Emrys Davies" wrote:


I think that you will find that the difference in grass texture is due
to the soil conditions. Do the yellow patches suffer from poor
drainage, soil compaction or both?



My lawn has pretty much all the same conditions as the soil was
"new". It has patches and I think it's because of the grubs.


Is the lawn new because it's a new build house? Builders or renovators
could have left bricks, cement etc. lying around in odd corners and then
just covered them with topsoil.

Lawn care
 

On 10/10/07 22:58, in article ,
"Kroma" wrote:

The house is about 20 years old and I believe that the first owner had lawn
here. The second owner replaced it with tiny stones (which seemed to attract
the local cats). We got rid of the stones, dug over the underlying soil,
added more soil and finally seeded it.

I don't think that drainage is a problem and it shouldn't be particularly
compacted - in fact when mowing, the soil felt rather spongy.

Ummm. I'm no lawn expert but spongy usually means wet. Could something be
preventing drainage in that area? Not many plants - including normal lawn
grass - like to have their roots permanently damp. That's why worms in a
lawn are so important and why golfers have spikes on their shoes etc. etc.
All help to aerate and drain the soil under the grass.

I do have some soluble lawn feed - would it possibly help or is the lawn
likely to be too young for this?

The generally received wisdom is not to feed a sick plant. To revert to the
old days "the answer lies in the soil" - I'd suggest digging up that
particular area of lawn and seeing what is underneath it and dealing with
that first before going into expensive treatments which might do more harm
than good. IF you have a boggy area that won't drain well, you can make a
bog garden, for example. But have you asked any neighbours to either side
of your area if they have a similar problem? It may go with the territory.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Lawn care
 

I was thinking that the sponginess was due to the soil being fairly new and
not really walked upon. Would this not be the case?

The lawn was watered extensively for the first few weeks without any sign of
distress, only after the second cut did anything untoward start to happen.

BTW, the area of the lawn is quite small - less than 20 square metres.

Kroma


"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...


The generally received wisdom is not to feed a sick plant. To revert to
the
old days "the answer lies in the soil" - I'd suggest digging up that
particular area of lawn and seeing what is underneath it and dealing with
that first before going into expensive treatments which might do more harm
than good. IF you have a boggy area that won't drain well, you can make a
bog garden, for example. But have you asked any neighbours to either side
of your area if they have a similar problem? It may go with the
territory.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Lawn care
 

On 10/10/07 23:30, in article ,
"Kroma" wrote:

I was thinking that the sponginess was due to the soil being fairly new and
not really walked upon. Would this not be the case?

Not that I know of - a lawn expert might tell you otherwise.

The lawn was watered extensively for the first few weeks without any sign of
distress, only after the second cut did anything untoward start to happen.

It's certainly possible you cut it too close but then why didn't the rest of
the lawn react the same way?

BTW, the area of the lawn is quite small - less than 20 square metres.

The builders could still have plonked spoil in one place OR you could have a
naturally boggy area there. Is it remotely possible there's some sort of
drain or pipe that's broken just under the surface there?

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Lawn care
 

I suppose there is a slim possibility that there's a drain etc underneath
although, after the stones were removed it laid dormant as just soil for a
while and appeared to have the moisture content which I would have expected.

It would seem that the yellow tinge is spreading throughout the lawn now -
just the tips in some areas. It's not all bright yellow by any means -
still looks really nice from a distance.

Kroma

"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...

The builders could still have plonked spoil in one place OR you could have
a
naturally boggy area there. Is it remotely possible there's some sort of
drain or pipe that's broken just under the surface there?

Lawn care
 

On 11/10/07 09:12, in article ,
"Kroma" wrote:

"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...

The builders could still have plonked spoil in one place OR you could have
a
naturally boggy area there. Is it remotely possible there's some sort of
drain or pipe that's broken just under the surface there?


I suppose there is a slim possibility that there's a drain etc underneath
although, after the stones were removed it laid dormant as just soil for a
while and appeared to have the moisture content which I would have expected.

It would seem that the yellow tinge is spreading throughout the lawn now -
just the tips in some areas. It's not all bright yellow by any means -
still looks really nice from a distance.

Kroma

(we tend not to top post in this group, so I've realigned your post)

It's beginning to sound as if there's something in the soil - chemical?,
mineral? - that's affecting that particular area, don't you think? I wonder
if you could take some samples and get them analysed. Do any neighbours
have this problem? You don't have a dog that 'goes' in one area do you?
;-)

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Lawn care
 

"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...

It's beginning to sound as if there's something in the soil - chemical?,
mineral? - that's affecting that particular area, don't you think? I
wonder
if you could take some samples and get them analysed. Do any neighbours
have this problem? You don't have a dog that 'goes' in one area do you?
;-)

Whoops - sorry for the top posting - I'm normally very good about such
things but am obviously out of practice! :)

The soil (well, apart from the very deep layer of soil which was originally
beneath the stones and which we had to dig over) is new and all from the
same source. All of our neighbours seem to have tarmacked over their front
gardens to allow parking for multiple cars. We, on the other hand actually
use our garage and still have space on our driveway for another car so we
thought that we'd return our garden to the 'green' variety (although it's
more of a yellow)!

No dogs. Maybe I'll try to take a snap later on which should speak a
thousand words.

Kroma

Lawn care
 

On 11/10/07 09:53, in article ,
"Kroma" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...

It's beginning to sound as if there's something in the soil - chemical?,
mineral? - that's affecting that particular area, don't you think? I
wonder
if you could take some samples and get them analysed. Do any neighbours
have this problem? You don't have a dog that 'goes' in one area do you?
;-)

Whoops - sorry for the top posting - I'm normally very good about such
things but am obviously out of practice! :)

Don't worry about it - different groups go about things different ways! URG
has tended always to bottom-post as it makes it easier for others to follow
a thread as they would a conversation.

The soil (well, apart from the very deep layer of soil which was originally
beneath the stones and which we had to dig over) is new and all from the
same source. All of our neighbours seem to have tarmacked over their front
gardens to allow parking for multiple cars. We, on the other hand actually
use our garage and still have space on our driveway for another car so we
thought that we'd return our garden to the 'green' variety (although it's
more of a yellow)!

No dogs. Maybe I'll try to take a snap later on which should speak a
thousand words.

Kroma




--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Lawn care
 

On 11/10/07 10:00, in article
, "Sacha"
wrote:

On 11/10/07 09:53, in article ,
"Kroma" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...

It's beginning to sound as if there's something in the soil - chemical?,
mineral? - that's affecting that particular area, don't you think? I
wonder
if you could take some samples and get them analysed. Do any neighbours
have this problem? You don't have a dog that 'goes' in one area do you?
;-)

Whoops - sorry for the top posting - I'm normally very good about such
things but am obviously out of practice! :)

Don't worry about it - different groups go about things different ways! URG
has tended always to bottom-post as it makes it easier for others to follow
a thread as they would a conversation.

The soil (well, apart from the very deep layer of soil which was originally
beneath the stones and which we had to dig over) is new and all from the
same source. All of our neighbours seem to have tarmacked over their front
gardens to allow parking for multiple cars. We, on the other hand actually
use our garage and still have space on our driveway for another car so we
thought that we'd return our garden to the 'green' variety (although it's
more of a yellow)!

No dogs. Maybe I'll try to take a snap later on which should speak a
thousand words.

Kroma



Tsk. I hit 'send' before I meant to! I wonder if there could be some
effect on your lawn from your neighbours' tarmac? You can probably tell I'm
getting desperate here! If the very worst happens, perhaps you could pave
or gravel your current lawn area, put in a small pond or bubble fountain and
some attractive pots or a raised bed and be the envy of those who have bowed
to the great god Auto. ;-)
If you take a photo and put it up on tinypic you'll probably get plenty of
ideas.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Lawn care
 

The house is about 20 years old and I believe that the first owner had
lawn here. The second owner replaced it with tiny stones (which seemed to
attract the local cats). We got rid of the stones, dug over the
underlying soil, added more soil and finally seeded it.

I wonder why the previous owner put tiny stones down. Perhaps they had
similar problems.
Just a thought Probably not a very good one .
JOHN

Lawn care
 

On 11/10/07 17:51, in article , "John
White" wrote:



The house is about 20 years old and I believe that the first owner had
lawn here. The second owner replaced it with tiny stones (which seemed to
attract the local cats). We got rid of the stones, dug over the
underlying soil, added more soil and finally seeded it.

I wonder why the previous owner put tiny stones down. Perhaps they had
similar problems.
Just a thought Probably not a very good one .
JOHN


I think it's a very good thought - stones help with drainage!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'