What should/can I do *now* to save my lawn?

[Diah]

Neglect and a skip has killed my front lawn, half of it is overgrown and half of it is pure moss and weeds.

What can I do now to sort it out? We got a couple of quotes to returf it but was a bigger job than I was expecting.

Been looking at buying a scarifier and winter grass seed today but might not be worth it right now? Should I just mow and scarify and put down lawn feed and weed and moss killer and see what it’s like in spring?

Quick bump before I go to buy a scarifier 😄

I'm a keen gardener but I don't know a lot about lawns. Since I've been following the monthly diaries from the lawnsmith, my lawn has improved vastly. https://www.lawnsmith.co.uk/lawn-diary. If you dive a bit deeper into the site it explains when and why to scarify, treat etc. Good luck.

Try here https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/gardening

Lawns are pretty robust and to be honest, I prefer one with moss than grass as they are more able to absorb water when the rains come.

I have a huge lawn, and have 3 main tools.

One is a robot mower.

One is a 3 claw weed grabber that you place on top of deep rooted weeds, press down with your foot and then wedge the weed out and eject it into a bucket. I work on my lawn every winter picking the biggest bad weeds out, and by spring the holes are gone and the grass started growing back together again. Best buy ever this was.

The other is a grass rake to just rake up the leaves into piles for my leaf mould bin. If you leave leaves on the lawn, the worms pull them down and help to improve the soil and it feeds the lawn the next year so I don't rake them all up, just the big ones that go slimy.

And I keep a box of grass seed for any patches.

I don't scarfiy anything. It's really hard work and unless you have an already immaculate lawn, really isn't worth it.

If no one needs to walk over your lawn for next few months, I’d lay down weed and feed to kill off moss and weeds. Then scarify. Will look a complete mess but trust the process.

then put down the seed. We chose one that had coir with it. Stopped the seeds from blowing away and less birds eating it. Thankfully with how wet it is, you won’t need to worry about watering.

if birds start coming for your seeds, you’ll need netting.

we did this for our lawn a few years ago and ultimately it looked like we had new turf laid. Beautiful full, lush green lawn.

as you have moss and weeds, after your new lawn grows in, you’ll need to keep on top of that. Scarifying (higher setting) will help reduce moss when done annually or even twice a year. We bought a scarifier and was worth it.

Please don't put moss killer on your lawn. There are enough toxins being chucked around by farmers, without domestic users adding unnecessarily.

If you mow the lawn regularly the moss will be controlled. Grass doesn't need to be fed, just mow it. The less chemical crap you put on it the healthier the soil composition will be and the grass will therefore be healthier. Reseed the bald patch and mow the rest regularly next year.

If it's only small patches of moss you can fill a spray bottle with water and a generous amount of Fairy washing up liquid and squirt it on and the moss will die.

We remove moss from paved areas by sprinkling on biological laundry powder so that it looks like a dusting of snow and leave overnight.

I've recently read about this and it's exactly what I want to do with my lawn. And no, I'm not affiliated or anything, I personally hate gardening and thought this was a perfect solution www.livingetc.com/advice/red-creeping-thyme-lawn

Scarify now and keep off it as much as possible, and have low expectations over winter. Don't fertilise now, it's pointless at this time of year.

Moss and grass like different conditions; if you poison the moss it will go for now but grass won't be happy unless you improve the drainage so you'll end up with dead moss and no grass. Aerate the mud/grass with a garden fork to improve drainage and make things happier for grass, maybe go as far as investigating lawn sand.

When things start growing again do a bit of reseeding with appropriate seed (shady if the grass area is always shady etc). Mow regularly next year. Leave weed and feed to see if you can manage without it; if you really want to use it then wait until spring when things are growing again.

Ok, I’m happy to hold off the moss killer etc.

I’ve been out and cut back the overgrown bit and raked everything and raked up a fair bit of moss with it.

This is what it looks like now - recoverable in the spring with some aeration and seed put down?

Bit late to do anything now - Mid December is the wrong time to start any repair work. It's too cold and frosty, and will probably snow soon.

So forget about it for now @Diah Just leave it, and re-seed it in late April/early May next year. Don't put weedkiller or mosskiller down. You will just end up with a big black mess all over your lawn.

Use something like this...

Gro-Sure Smart Lawn Seed Fast Start | Lawn Care | Garden Health

Leave it, it'll all come back in the spring better than ever, it's amazing how grass grows in again.

I wouldn't use any weed or moss killer at all at the moment, nor any fertiliser. What you need to do is cut all the weeds right back, and pull up any particularly big ones by hand. If you need to dig any roots out, fill the hole in with soil and level it.
Then go over the whole lawn with a rake and get rid of any loose debris, lightly loosen the impacted soil on the bare patches and sprinkle some seed over the entire lawn. Let nature do the rest.
Lawns don't grow much in the winter, but the seed can germinate if the temperature goes over about 7 degrees, so give it a chance to sort itself out. Birds will eat some of the seed (no harm in that over winter, lawn seed is cheap!) and you can put some more down if it is mild in the early spring. Wait till March and then start mowing it with the blades set high to start with.

I think it will be ok next spring and would avoid weed/moss killer as much as you can.... you're just pouring toxins into the soil.

You could chuck down some grass seed now to see how it goes as it's cheap but really it's the wrong time of year as it's cold. I tend to overseed my lawn in March and September.

In Spring next year I'd aerate your lawn and put grass seed down. Cut it with the lawnmower on a high setting as others have said as it helps the lawn thicken up and keeps it greener..... when it gets hot very short grass tends to just go brown. But overall grass is extremely vigorous so I think yours will look very different come springtime.

I also second PP's recommendation of a weed grabber. I absolutely love mine and it makes getting big weeds out of the lawn a really easy job.

This kind of thing for a weed grabber?

https://www.diy.com/departments/fiskars-xact-weed-puller/1357677_BQ.prd

Hands, knees and a pointy trowel would be just as useful and a darn sight cheaper.

It depends what you are after - I am content with a "green area" and not too fussed whether it is moss or grass or indeed the occasional weed. If you are like me then just chuck down a load of seed and wait and see.