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Lawn care advice needed
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Posted by eee-tee (gw:eee-tee) on Fri, Jul 28, 06 at 14:40
| I have a fairly large (approx 20x 10m) flat lawn, which isn't in the best of health, probably mainly due to the hot weather but also after being neglected slightly. About 3/4 is fairly brown, course grass. So what, low maintenence things can i do to improve matters?
In terms of watering it, how often, how much? (assuming we don't get that much rain)
I recently bought a Hozelock rotating sprinkler, but ATM it only reaches a small area on the lawn, and i have to keep moving it to water a wider area.
Is this the norm?
I thought that it could just be left alone to water it.
the lawn is perhaps 10-15m from the nearest tap, i guess this would have an effect?
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Lawn care advice needed
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| Wait for autumn, much easier to rehabilitate then. Treat as needed. If you have weeds, kill the weeds. If you have moss, punch holes in the lawn. For heavy soil, topdress with sharp sand, for lighter soils, use a sandy loam. If there is a lot of moss kill it and rake out. Scarify old lawns to remove moss and thatch. Overseed if you have significant bare patches from the moss or weeds. Brown grass should come back green with cool weather and rain. If you have heavy shade from overhanging trees or shrubs, think about cutting them back. Trees and large shrubs will also suck water out of the soil so pay special attention to watering these areas. You might want to overseed shady areas with a special shade grass to help them next year. Fertilise when the weather is suitable for grwoing grass. Don't fertilise when the grass is struggling in a heatwave, you'll just encourage weeds. If the lawn is a real mess and you have a lot of weedy grasses, you might want to kill it and reseed. Or turf since you don't have a huge area. This would give you the oppurtunity to seriously improve the soil which will be the secret to having a really good lawn in the future. If you are doing this, start now by killing or removing the old grass. Sprinklers will need to be repositioned several times to cover a lawn the size of your's. Plan on at least 15 minutes in each spot. The soil is probably baked hard right now, you might have to give it just 5 or 10 minutes in each spot, then move on to give the water chance to soak in. To be worthwhile you should apply about an inch of water every week or two when there is little rain, for heavy soils. On lighter soils, half an inch once or twice a week is better. You may need more to keep your lawn really green in a heatwave, it becomes close to impossible and the grass may scorch off anyway. A typical sprinkler would put down about an inch per hour, which would use about a cubic metre of water if you're on metered water. That could mean twn or twenty quid every week to water your lawn adequately. |
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