So towards the end of the Summer, just after the heatwave we had a couple of dry patches on the lawn. Then as the weather started to get wet we constantly had birds nipping away at the lawn and its now totally wrecked. The local garden center suggested they are getting worms but I wondered what advice people could give so I can restore it.. do I need to put sulphate down before raking and seeding in early spring? Any advice is appreciated.
Lawn fixing help
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Do you get crane flies, daddy long legs, in autumn? Quite often their grubs are what the birds are after, especially starlings. The grubs eat the grass roots and do a lot of damage, which might not be helping. Might be worth checking for something that would clear them before re-planting. People always talk about early birds and worms, but I rarely see birds with worms, when I have dug over ground they seem to take almost everything else in preference, which suits me.
If it were me I would dig it over and add some nice stuff to improve the soil and organics to help moisture retention before I replanted. I am not too keen on chemical fertilisers and would go for something like a bag of manure and some peat free compost.
If it were me I would dig it over and add some nice stuff to improve the soil and organics to help moisture retention before I replanted. I am not too keen on chemical fertilisers and would go for something like a bag of manure and some peat free compost.
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You could be forever finding out what's causing this.
For what it's worth, I'd start again and re-turf it, if you aren't bothered about the cost .
I'd remove all the old grass. Rotovate the soil, level it off and compact it down a bit.. I did this to our garden thirty years ago. (the back half, although you wouldn't know it, was originally a vegetable patch).
Then buy some new turf.
I'd suggest (if you want to do this) you be a bit choosy about from where you purchase it, as at garden centres, it's sometimes poor quality but cheap. Occasionally over the years, I've had to replace some under acers and azaleas, as the shade encourage moss to grow.
So whenever I've needed two or three rolls, I find out what day it's being delivered and buy it on that day, as often it sits on pallets outside garden centres in the sun for a week.
I'm a firm believer of frequent cutting, I even cut it during the winter. I set my Flymo on the middle height. I use cheap Wilko's lawn food and iron sulphate occasionally, on moss in a few places along the long border. It's never much bother.
For what it's worth, I'd start again and re-turf it, if you aren't bothered about the cost .
I'd remove all the old grass. Rotovate the soil, level it off and compact it down a bit.. I did this to our garden thirty years ago. (the back half, although you wouldn't know it, was originally a vegetable patch).
Then buy some new turf.
I'd suggest (if you want to do this) you be a bit choosy about from where you purchase it, as at garden centres, it's sometimes poor quality but cheap. Occasionally over the years, I've had to replace some under acers and azaleas, as the shade encourage moss to grow.
So whenever I've needed two or three rolls, I find out what day it's being delivered and buy it on that day, as often it sits on pallets outside garden centres in the sun for a week.
I'm a firm believer of frequent cutting, I even cut it during the winter. I set my Flymo on the middle height. I use cheap Wilko's lawn food and iron sulphate occasionally, on moss in a few places along the long border. It's never much bother.
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Sean has it really, what you put in you get out so you prep the land to be good for a long time and feed things in from the top gradually when it is established. My uncle used to tell a story about a new world tourist asking about the lawn in front of canterbury cathedral and being told all the detail of double digging, soil amendment, rolling and raking , and then finishing with the admonition, "And then you mows and you mows for about four hundred years."
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Birds are usually there for bugs worms of all types.
Last season was such a tough season draught,heat, fungus along with bugs and weeds . I did the best I could do keep damage at minimum.
I would say its a good time to do soil sample. Correct any issues.
Plan for the weed and fungus control.
If tour not going to do a redo like suggested focus on getting current lawn as healthy as possible and over seed when its ideal for your grass type
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Hello Linda, welcome to the forum.
How you go about getting a lawn has various answers,
If you wish to lay a lawn yourself you will first need to prepare the ground. How much will depend on what the soil is like, but it will at least need to be weed free and flat.
Then you can either buy seed or turf, seed is more reliable, turf is more instant, but a local nursery or garden centre should be able to supply either. This is assuming you want grass.
It might be a good idea to have a good trawl through this 'Lawns' part of the forum for ideas, then start a thread of your own to ask some of the questions that may occur to you.