How to bring life back into my grass

[essieestherson]

I am a useless gardener. My grass is in a bit of a state (I have attached a picture) and I was just looking for some advice on how to revive it for the summer.

I was planning on buying some good quality grass seed, sprinkling it everywhere and watering daily.. would that do the job or is the process a lot more complicated?

You should give it something to grow in ! Think grass as a plant. You wouldn't just put a plant on top of a plant and expect to to grow. Ideally you would scarify the grass. Take up the results , using a gardening fork go over the grass making lots of holes sprinkle down sand/ compost mix then put down grass seeds and water etc.

Is the grass in shade for most of the day?

It is in the shade for at least half of the day annoyingly.

Thanks for the advice. I am a bit nervous to take up all the grass in case it doesn't work but if that's the best way then I'll give that a go!xx

I don’t think Namethecat is suggesting you take up your lawn! Scarify it i.e. give it a good rake to ‘comb’ out all the thatch (dead bits) and throw that away. Take your gardening fork and make holes all over your lawn by prodding it into the grass (like making holes in cling film before microwaving something) Then put a sand/compost mix into the little holes - brush it in - then put down grass seeds and water as necessary.

Yes, it needs a good rake (if you don't have access to a scarifier, use a spring tine rake) to get rid of all the dead thatch. As others have said, prick it in regular intervals with a garden fork to improve drainage - go down about 6 inches. You could use a feed and weed treatment. Finally, use a half moon cutter to neaten up the edges. If you don't have one, either a very sharp kitchen knife (but be careful) or a streamer (but results aren't as good).

OP as far as I'm concerned grass is one of the hardest plants to look after .
Having a lawn is really difficult ,please don't equate a scrubby lawn with you being a rubbish gardener .

IME all that poking with a fork ,brushing in sand etc is boring ,hard work and not always succesful .

You need sun ,good drainage and again IME no one walking on it .And no dogs .

I'm actually trying to cheer you up because it's not your fault your haven't got a green sward !

I'm sure anything you do will improve it ,and poking with a fork won't be that bad as it's not a huge area .

When you put down the grass seeds, spread a very thin layer of compost on them and tread over the whole lawn, to increase contact between the seeds and ground and to cover the seeds, which will encourage them to germinate. Also (hopefully) will keep the seeds from sight of birds. Then, if it doesn't rain a lot, water everything with a fine spray so as not to displace the seeds.

Avoid mowing for a while (4 to 6 weeks?) as a rotary blade mower will suck up and destroy the seedlings. Give them a gentle pull to see if they've rooted well enough.

There's shade tolerant mixes of seeds, but I'm not so much of an expert on using those/what they are.

There are a few YouTube videos of people showing how to do this, the garden fork aeration, how to use a strimmer (borrow one from a neighbour?) or half moon cutter, etc.

I'd use dwarf perennial eyeglass as it is fast to establish. Deep aeration ,using a garden fork is always beneficial. Put the fork tines in about 2/3 of their length then lever back to relieve the compaction. Every 150mm do it again. This will improve surface drainage and the health of your lawn. A general feed, 7-7-7 grow more is a more cost effective feed for domestic lawns than the over-hyped three, or four in one weed,feed,mosskill type of product. Growmore can be bought loose in good garden centres. 25g/m2 will be plenty.

Thats interesting about the perennial dwarf ryegrass ,it gets good reviews . Would it do ok in light shade do you think ?

If it's used to overseed would it create a patchy effect ,being different in colour from the orginal ? Does it spread and take over the weaker grass in time ?

My grass needs help ,but I fear parts of it are on poorly drained soil ,suspect the base of a broken up hardstanding/path .

Green Thumb is the answer to your prayers. We have our lawn treated 4 times a year and have got the best lawn we've ever had since living here. All pet/child friendly. Costs around £35 a treatment I think, but we've noticed it's the autumn and winter ones that seem to make the difference.

Peredito. Ryegrass will assimilate Intel a lawn sward easily. The likelihood is that you have a mix of Yorkshire fog , annual headmistress and some form of eyeglass. It doesn't spread, as like most grasses it isn't stoloniferous. Overseed the whole area, seed is a matter of pence/m2. It will withstand wear better than most grasses so will gradually dominate.

Thanks onesmallstep , that makes sense about the ryegrass/eyeglass .

If I overseed I guess I can't walk on the grass ? Which would be tricky ,wouldn't be able to get to the beds etc ...And when could it be cut ? Mown .

annual headmistress - you've lost me there

I’ve just contacted green thumb and for my 50m2 it should only be about £17-18 four times a year for the most basic treatment.

Green thumb can never do ours- always too waterlogged. Doomed

peredito, I must learn to proof-read! Annual meadow grass. Possibly the most com grass type in the UK. Nothing to do with headmistresses ever, promise😬

Walking won't do any harm, try to avoid when it's wet/dewy shortly after sowing as you'll pick it up on your shoes. Only mow once grass is 50mm tall, and never cut more than a third of the leaf off at a time. 50-35mm fine, 50-20mm not a great idea.

Ok ,thanks onesmallsrep .
I'm going to give the eyeglass grass a go ,it can only improve my headmistress and Yorkshire fog

I'm looking for something to sort out all the moss on my lawn this summer - eyeglass and headmistresses does seem the way to go...

You ladies are looking for a kick in the grass. Cheeky sods😊.
Mrs Wembley, to sort out the moss you either want sulphate of iron or lawn sand. Either will knock moss back, lawn sand also has a nitrogenous fertilizer to help the grass grow into the gaps left by killing moss. Then you might want to overseed. Moss is usually caused by shade, damp, cutting too short, or neglect. If you have a shaded, poor draining lawn, you will have it return. Are you neglecting your headmistresses?😠

onesmallstep
I have a bag of "lawn conditioner " and a a bag of "lawn dressing" ,both bought last year .Will they still be ok to use ?

If I try and aerate with garden fork ( won't be brilliant as I find it too exhausting ) ,finish pulling up daisies and sycamore seedlings ,should my next step be to apply lawn stuff ( which one ? ) and then over seed ?
Is that the right order ? ( don't want to upset the headmistress )

Thank you v v much for your helpful input

Well ,in my usual hopeless fashion I've gone out and cracked on without further research .

The ground is wet so seems ideal for sticking a fork in and levering ( is that too forceful ? ) back and forth .
Of course some places I hit what feels like broken up pots or stones .

And I've used the lawn dressing ,feels nice and fine and sandy ,and brushed it about as well as I'm able .It looks awful but I like a neighbours who was a brilliant gardener when she did hers a few years ago .

I've only done about a 7' square ,but that's all I could manage today !

Some encouragement - last year I was ready to dig my lawn up and get rid of it. I was advised that I would be better off (less work) trying to sort my lawn out.

I used the feed and weed thing, raked out the moss when it turned black (this is what feed and weed does). Mowed it regularly. Scattered grass seed in bare patches. Sprinkled compost in dips.

The grass is now all green and lush. It's a huge space, and mowing it takes a long time, but I'm really glad I did this. I'm desperately waiting for a dry day to get out and give it its first mow.

It's a job that is well worth getting on top of. Also, once the grass started growing, and I was cutting it short regularly the bare patches diminished greatly. Grass just seemed to grow into them.

I no longer have young kids which is a great help in keeping it looking nice.

Thank you elsatic. Weirdly I feel quite excited .It just has to improve it .

I don't have young kids and it's not too big an area ,but it is bounded by ivy and trees whose roots run across it in places . Sycamores and a cherry plum.

And I think it must have been sown on a soil which has large patches of broken up rubble about 2' down.

Now ,where can I buy my tiny eyeglass ?

A lot of advertised stuff says it's a mixture ,I can see some contain a proportion of dwarf p.ryegrass but I'd loke 100% .

Do I have to go to a specialist supplier like lawnuk.com/shop/dwarf-ryegrass/ ?