My current house was advertised as being without a garden. I've been
making a partially successful effort to change that.

I set out to grass an 8M x 5M hard standing area in front of the house
that was previously slabbed I bought in some "top soil" advertised in
the local paper. It's now laid about 15cm deep on top of a thin layer
of sand, which is covering hardcore.

Not being a knowledgable gardener I've really taken time and trouble
over this job in an effort to get it right but the current state of
the grass is poor. I don't know what the cause of the problem is, so
I've gone in for a lengthy, descriptive post here. Apologies for that.

The new soil was disappointing in quality. It arrived in a dry-ish
granular form that seemed quite friable, but after it was laid and had
been rained on a couple of times it turned into something a lot like
concrete, that is, hard and containing about 50% chunky aggregate.
After some further consideration it appears to be similar to the stuff
that is dug out of footing trenches after the top soil has been
removed

My wife and I had one of our "know better next time" sessions after
which she suggested, perhaps sensibly, that we just scatter grass
seed and hope for the best.

Wanting to improve the odds on a happy outcome I dug up the soil and
riddled it, replacing the stones with some soil from another part of
the property. I then mixed in a couple of large bags of plant
friendly stuff containing a high percentage of peat from B&Q. This
was followed by the raking in of a carefully measured application of
Growmore pellets as suggested on the box of grass seed.
The seed we decided on was "Evergreen, Fine Lawns, without rye grass".

After the first careful application of seeds there were a couple of
rainstorms which may have washed the seed into the low areas, so the
grass came up leaving bald patches. A second application of seeds had
most of the bald patches recovering. By this time the grass, where it
existed was becoming so long it was falling over, so I cut it with a
hover mower. Soon after, there was a week of heavy rain (this is
Scotland) and now it's begun to desaturate there are many saucer sized
small brown or grey dead patches accompanying the few remaining bald
patches.

Any advice on what might be making it so difficult to grow a lawn here
would be deeply appreciated.

Is it likely to be a residue of crass clippings from the first mowing
that caused the small dead areas?

--
Tony Halmarack

Drop the EGG to email me.

I'm not an expert on this, however i did seed my own lawn in the back, under
similar conditions - poor soil, and in a shaded area too.

I'd say wait. Mine came up patchy too, but over time it thickened out.
I've had fantastic results this year feeding it more growmore ( altho that
did cause scorching so i no better next time ) but it's starting to become a
proper lawn now... You can always throw some more seed on if you like, by
the sounds of it there's nothing else you need to do!

Dan

"Tony Halmarack" wrote in message
...
My current house was advertised as being without a garden. I've been
making a partially successful effort to change that.

I set out to grass an 8M x 5M hard standing area in front of the house
that was previously slabbed I bought in some "top soil" advertised in
the local paper. It's now laid about 15cm deep on top of a thin layer
of sand, which is covering hardcore.

Not being a knowledgable gardener I've really taken time and trouble
over this job in an effort to get it right but the current state of
the grass is poor. I don't know what the cause of the problem is, so
I've gone in for a lengthy, descriptive post here. Apologies for that.

The new soil was disappointing in quality. It arrived in a dry-ish
granular form that seemed quite friable, but after it was laid and had
been rained on a couple of times it turned into something a lot like
concrete, that is, hard and containing about 50% chunky aggregate.
After some further consideration it appears to be similar to the stuff
that is dug out of footing trenches after the top soil has been
removed

My wife and I had one of our "know better next time" sessions after
which she suggested, perhaps sensibly, that we just scatter grass
seed and hope for the best.

Wanting to improve the odds on a happy outcome I dug up the soil and
riddled it, replacing the stones with some soil from another part of
the property. I then mixed in a couple of large bags of plant
friendly stuff containing a high percentage of peat from B&Q. This
was followed by the raking in of a carefully measured application of
Growmore pellets as suggested on the box of grass seed.
The seed we decided on was "Evergreen, Fine Lawns, without rye grass".

After the first careful application of seeds there were a couple of
rainstorms which may have washed the seed into the low areas, so the
grass came up leaving bald patches. A second application of seeds had
most of the bald patches recovering. By this time the grass, where it
existed was becoming so long it was falling over, so I cut it with a
hover mower. Soon after, there was a week of heavy rain (this is
Scotland) and now it's begun to desaturate there are many saucer sized
small brown or grey dead patches accompanying the few remaining bald
patches.

Any advice on what might be making it so difficult to grow a lawn here
would be deeply appreciated.

Is it likely to be a residue of crass clippings from the first mowing
that caused the small dead areas?

--
Tony Halmarack

Drop the EGG to email me.

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 19:56:49 GMT, "Connor T"
wrote:

I'm not an expert on this, however i did seed my own lawn in the back, under
similar conditions - poor soil, and in a shaded area too.

I'd say wait. Mine came up patchy too, but over time it thickened out.
I've had fantastic results this year feeding it more growmore ( altho that
did cause scorching so i no better next time ) but it's starting to become a
proper lawn now... You can always throw some more seed on if you like, by
the sounds of it there's nothing else you need to do!

Dan

Thanks for the reply Dan.
I was a bit disappointed that after two careful attempts at evenly
distributed seeding, there were still very sparse and even bald
patches. The whole area gets plenty of sun and rain.

What really got me were the multiple, small roundish patches of
brown/dead grass that were appearing. I think this is caused by cats
(including our resident one). Yesterday there were a couple of very
indicative scratched up areas
I was holding off the serious mowing until the grass was better
established but I read in the NG archive that short grass isn't so
attractive to cats.

I spent yesterday evening searching the Web for d-i-y cat deterrent
systems. The problem is significant enough to justify the
50 or 60 quid required to purchase one of the commercial versions but
I wasn't impressed by the many reports of early equipment failure.
I prefer the water to the ultrasonic option.
Here's a link to the only d-i-y system I found. It's a PDF file
http://makeashorterlink.com/?V34A15119
--
Tony Halmarack

Drop the EGG to email me.

"Tony Halmarack" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 19:56:49 GMT, "Connor T"
wrote:

I'm not an expert on this, however i did seed my own lawn in the
back, under
similar conditions - poor soil, and in a shaded area too.

I'd say wait. Mine came up patchy too, but over time it thickened
out.
I've had fantastic results this year feeding it more growmore ( altho
that
did cause scorching so i no better next time ) but it's starting to
become a
proper lawn now... You can always throw some more seed on if you
like, by
the sounds of it there's nothing else you need to do!

Dan

Thanks for the reply Dan.
I was a bit disappointed that after two careful attempts at evenly
distributed seeding, there were still very sparse and even bald
patches. The whole area gets plenty of sun and rain.

What really got me were the multiple, small roundish patches of
brown/dead grass that were appearing. I think this is caused by cats
(including our resident one). Yesterday there were a couple of very
indicative scratched up areas
I was holding off the serious mowing until the grass was better
established but I read in the NG archive that short grass isn't so
attractive to cats.

I spent yesterday evening searching the Web for d-i-y cat deterrent
systems. The problem is significant enough to justify the
50 or 60 quid required to purchase one of the commercial versions but
I wasn't impressed by the many reports of early equipment failure.
I prefer the water to the ultrasonic option.
Here's a link to the only d-i-y system I found. It's a PDF file
http://makeashorterlink.com/?V34A15119
--
Tony Halmarack

Drop the EGG to email me.

******

Here's a couple of topics which might amuse or be of interest.
1. An American person of wealth visited friends in England. They
happened to take him to their Crown green bowling club to introduce him
to the game.
The American was very impressed with the smooth finely-cut turf and he
had a chat with the grounds. He praised the perfect condition of the
Green then said he wanted one back home, so what do you have to do to
grow one of this quality.
The Groundsman said, "You prepare the foundations properly then sow the
grass seed and after that you just tend it well". The American asked,
"So how long does it take to get it to look like yours?".
The Groundsman said, "Oh, only about fifty years!".
2, In a previous post I mentioned a beautiful lawn I had many years
ago. It was almost like a sea-washed grass lawn.
I took the advice of the local Corporation Groundsman boss and, since it
would be a lawn not subjected to childrens' play he recommended equal
grass seed quantities of New Zealand Browntop and New Zealand Fescue. It
was a beautiful lawn but I ruined it later by worming it. So never worm
your lawn.
To get rid of wormcasts do what the Groundsmen do, - use a besom and a
light water hose . Squirt the hose - with a rose on the end (that
attachment with the holes in, - not the flower!).
The (important), method is to wet the grass then swish the besom
*horizontally* back and forth in a small arc fashion thus dispersing the
earth casts by spreading them flatly back into the grass.
BTW, - Some Greenkeepers make up their own swisher. They use a long
cane about 1 inch thick and about the same length as a brush handle -
( maybe a bit longer). They slit thinner canes about 1foot six- inches
lengthwise and bunch them up flatwise around the bottom of the shaft
and tie the bunch on tightly with wire or heavy string.
Since my lawn is relatively small I use the common-or-garden flat besom
similar to the ones used by the Negro house- servants in the Deep South
of the USA in the filums. (Gone with the Wind, - and all that!). In
1980 I brought two back with me when I visited Radio-Ham friends in
Atlanta, but I can buy them now from my local Ironmonger's shop.
Doug.
******

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 08:05:06 +0100, "Doug."
wrote:

Some entertaining encouragement. Thanks.
--
Tony Halmarack

Drop the EGG to email me.