back grass
 

we just moved in last September but have noticed bad drainage a lot of moss and a few bumps and hollows as well as a few bare patches on the grass. It is at the back out of site however i still want to make it as good as possible the moss i was going to treat with moss killer the bumps i was going to dig up and restore but what about the hollows if i put compost on top of the grass will the grass come through or how should i treat my grass any suggestions appreciated thank you

gramgill wrote:
we just moved in last September but have noticed bad drainage a lot
of
moss and a few bumps and hollows as well as a few bare patches on
the
grass. It is at the back out of site however i still want to make
it
as good as possible the moss i was going to treat with moss killer
the
bumps i was going to dig up and restore but what about the hollows
if
i put compost on top of the grass will the grass come through or
how
should i treat my grass any suggestions appreciated thank you

I'm not sure I'd bother with moss-killer: the stuff will come back if
the conditions are right for it. The best defence against moss is
healthy grass; a combined moss-killer and fertilizer will help get
the grass going, though.

Just chop the bumps off, and reseed. Or take off the turf, slice out
excess soil, replace the turf. The traditional thing with hollows is
to raise them gradually with a half-inch top-dressing every year. But
if they're bad, you can use what you chop off the bumps to fill them;
but this will usually kill the grass underneath, so you'll need to
reseed there, too.

Bad drainage is only worrying if you can hear it squelching when you
walk on it in moderately dry weather.

Mike.

"gramgill" wrote in message
...

we just moved in last September but have noticed bad drainage a lot of
moss and a few bumps and hollows as well as a few bare patches on the
grass. It is at the back out of site however i still want to make it as
good as possible the moss i was going to treat with moss killer the
bumps i was going to dig up and restore but what about the hollows if i
put compost on top of the grass will the grass come through or how
should i treat my grass any suggestions appreciated thank you

To level large bumps, cut the turf in a cross, then peel back the four
triangles and remove some soil, then fold the turf together again.

You can do the same to fill large dips (adding soil instead of removing.

To level small dips, you can (IIRC) add some 'sand + loam + grass seed'
mixture which will settle into the dip. Some of the grass will grow through,
and the seed should fill in any gaps.
You need to do this in stages, or you will kill the grass underneath.

However, as you seem to have bad drainage then it might be advisable to sort
this out first.

It would be better in the long run to dig the lawn up, sort out your
drainage, then reseed or returf.
This would get it all over and done with in one season.
If you have a major drainage problem you could spend years patching and
fixing and never get a good lawn.

HTH
Dave R

thank you for your comments
i will try these
i just found this site and have found it very helpfull and interesting

"gramgill" wrote in message
...

snip
However, as you seem to have bad drainage then it might be advisable to
sort
this out first.

It would be better in the long run to dig the lawn up, sort out your
drainage, then reseed or returf.
This would get it all over and done with in one season.
If you have a major drainage problem you could spend years patching
and
fixing and never get a good lawn.

HTH
Dave R

thank you for your comments
i will try these
i just found this site and have found it very helpfull and interesting

I keep reading posts and then realising I may not have been clear :-(

What I meant to say is IF you find you have a major damp problem THEN it is
better to sort it out (including where necessary quite major reworking)
instead of patching up the symptoms.
However if it is a minor localised problem, easily sorted, then please don't
dig up the whole lawn :-)

Cheers
Dave R