What can I do to help my lawn?

[bellropes]

Small front garden on a new build estate. The soil is terrible - clay with rubble underneath. Lawn is just about surviving and some of it has lots of clover in it which is in better condition and nice and green. Other half is tatty and goes brown. It has dandelions in which I remove as much as possible. There is some moss around the edges, but dh advises not to kill that or there'll be no lawn left.

I've put bags and bags of potting compost over it and I water it with miracle grow each week and sprinkle with grow more each year.

I can't afford to scrap it and start over. I can't afford to get rid of it and lay gravel or anything like that.

Does anyone have any tips, techniques or products that might help?

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XGXMQ6Z/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

I put this on mine, it has seed in it to fill any gaps. When I mowed the other day I noticed it looked a lot greener and fuller -still some moss visible but a bit more grass in the mossy area. Have you tried putting more grass seed down when you put the potting compost on? Someone had a bonfire in the middle of our lawn before we moved in so we put compost down and reseeded. You can’t then mow it for quite a few weeks whilst the seeds establish though so it may look worse before it gets better.

What about scattering wildflower seed? It likes a fairly poor soil and is great for bees and butterflies.

Rake up the moss. It will kill the grass.

I've raked the old grass up, but haven't concentrated on the moss. Perhaps I need to do that.

Dh has put grass seed down in the last few years which helped the patchy bits.

I did consider turning it into a wild flower area, but am worried that it'll look awful in between the flowers blooming. Can anyone give any of their experiences of doing this as I'd certainly be interested in doing it?

I’ve done a wildflower meadow. You will still need to take the moss out unfortunately. What sort of size etc is the area.

The size is around 12 foot by 12 foot I'd estimate. The soil is terribly shallow at the edges and the moss takes over there.

I'd give up attempting to get a perfect lawn and work with what you've got. I've just sown red and white clover and daisies into my lawn, which I'd have found unthinkable a few years ago! Clover is a nitrogen fixator and will slowly help to improve the lawn, but a wildflower lawn would be perfect for poor soil. Also look at tapestry lawns, a lawn doesn't have to be a monoculture of grass.

We are on a new build site, also clay wonders if we are neighbours and have sown micro clover on purpose to help green the lawn in the past.

We have been grass seeding it all over twice a year, and raking the moss and reseeding those patches each spring. Do find we have to cover the grass seeds on the bare patches with some compost and water every damn day or they just lay there. It's still quite cold at night here and I'm South East, but grass seed is starting to sprout at last.

Lawns are hard work, I have in the past got DH aerate the lawn with a fork, but he wasn't too keen this year. I think you can buy various tools and shoes to do this and it can help. DH see the lawn as his domain, he mows it and seeds it although I mow it and seed it too as he's a bit slack.

Mine will never be perfect as I’m rural so I get all the weed seeds blown in, but I cut it then rake the grass to get as much moss and thatch up as I can in the spring. Then I scarify it - you can get shoes or scarifiers to roll over it but I do mountaineering so put my crampons on and walk alll over it! Then I feed it, and hose if rain isn’t due for a few days otherwise it can go brown. More recently I’ve realised cutting it more regularly stops the weeds from taking hold - I used to do it every fortnight but now do it weekly. It’s only small so it’s not too much of a chore.

Wild flower seeds are a lot of work, everyone seems to think you put them down and voila it’s a field of flowers, is it fuck. Often they contain grasses and you deal with the dying flowers.

I would not put compost down, I’d feed it and then over seed it. You can buy massive bags from Amazon that are fantastic. I used this stuff.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01GTSA9FC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

I would use miracle grow 4 in one (only if your lawn is older than 6months)
My lawn was rubbish it is now lush and green.
But you must use a spreader to spread it with and water afterwards, it will kill the weeds.

Where would I get red and white clover and daisies? I'd love this. Do they come as seeds? The area where the established clover is looks so much better because of the nitrogen. I'm a big fan of clover.

Next door neighbours have literally hundreds of flowering dandelions now, so guess where their seeds will blow? 🤦‍♀️ I've almost got rid of ours.

That lawn seed from Amazon looks good, I'll order a 1kg bag and get some Miracle Grow for lawns.

It's hard work this lawn thing.

Yes, we have a large garden and there was an area which was basically scrub land, we’d removed some trees and nothing had ever grown there apart from weeds, we literally flattened it and sprinkled this on, raked it over. It didn’t come up for a few weeks, I couldn’t water it, it was too far away, but it’s now a full lawn.

I'd love to just have gravel with a few flower beds, but half the lawn belongs to next door and she doesn't want anything doing with it in case she decides she wants another parking space. I look after the full area as though it's all ours as it'd look a mess if we didn't as she doesn't garden. Her dad cuts her lawn at the rear. She literally never goes into her back garden.

@bellropes

Where would I get red and white clover and daisies? I'd love this. Do they come as seeds? The area where the established clover is looks so much better because of the nitrogen. I'm a big fan of clover.

Pretty Wild Seeds sells clover and daisy lawn seed, either directly or from Amazon.

Gardeners Question Time on radio 4 today had a question about lawns and one of the recommendations was to just go with what you had and grow a moss lawn if you already have a lot of moss. They take much less maintenance to look good and are great for carbon capture. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.homesandgardens.com/amp/news/moss-garden

Pil's had a moss lawn and it was lovely, but the area was shaded and damp so the moss thrived. Our front garden gets the full sun and the moss goes all brown around the edges. I have grown a moss garden in a window box as I love mosses. Pil's lawn was curiously bouncy and ds used to love rolling on it

I'm going to order some clover 👍🏻

Is there a local lawn company where you are? My neighbour pays £15 every 4 months for a guy to come in and do something to their grass ... not exactly sure what but it looks fab.

Yes, I've seen lawn company vans in the area. I could find out the prices. Tbh, the back lawn could do with help as well.

If the soil is crap and thin and rubble you will never grow a good grass lawn. Throwing chemicals and seed and a bit of compost at it will not work. I’d not bother trying, it’s just a waste of money.

If clover is happy grow more clover. If you see a lawn with lots of daisies ask if you can grub some up and plant them in your grass. Look out for plug plants of wildflowers. Also if you just let it grow ‘wild’ until about July (but with a trimmed edge to show it’s deliberate and not just neglect) you can get away with the ‘wildflower’ look. Is it sunny or shady?

My neighbour used a specialist lawn company, all they seemed to do was apply fertiliser and herbicide at regular intervals, which would kill off your clover and also has a large environmental impact.
An all grass, perfect lawn will be high maintenance, you'll need to improve the soil by drainage and aeration, add soil conditioners/lawn sand, feed and weed, overseeding and preferably leave clippings as a mulch combined with regular mowing.

Oh I thought moss lawns were supposed to be ok in full sun, I’d better rethink my back garden plans in that case! curiously bouncy sounds lovely though.