Gardening advice

[feetabix]

Hi all.......right, I've spent a bit of time of late doing the garden up, and the last stage is to breath some life into my parched and unloved lawn.

Here it is......

There are a couple of small holes dug by my dog, only a couple of inches deep, and the grass is as you can see not looking it's best.

I don't need a golfing green, but it needs some work......

Advice please from you lot in the know. Feed and weed?.......reseed?......

Thanks in advance......

 

[TheGreenRabbit]

Re:

Dig it over to remove the compaction, and re-seed/turf

 

[highlandsflyer]

In May we turfed four houses worth of expansive lawns, and they look amazing right now. We had the wettest spring on record I think, certainly only needed wetting in rather than continual attention.

I would go for turf, as you have a doggie who will mess up your seeding lawn. it is getting near the hottest part of the year though, so either way you will need to think about that.

 

[rosstheboss]

Is your dog male or female? If it is a spayed female, you will always get dead patches as their wee is very high in nitrates. For something that size turfing is the best option.

 

[feetabix]

Re:

Thanks chaps........

The dog is a boy, so no wee problems, but he does like a good roll around on it......we had two for a few weeks until recently and they did enjoy a good snarling fight together on the lawn!.......

I suggested to my other half that there may be a seasonal thing to re seeding the grass, common sense suggesting early spring to be the best time.......am I right?......

 

[rosstheboss]

You can reseed all year round barring winter, spring and autumn are best, as you will need a pretty strict watering regime through the summer months, it can be done though.

 

[feetabix]

Thanks Ross, define 'strict'........morning and night or pretty much constantly damp?.....

 

[rosstheboss]

Morning and night for at least 3 weeks depending on weather and how well it takes.

 

[TheGreenRabbit]

Re:

You can reseed all year round barring winter, spring and autumn are best, as you will need a pretty strict watering regime through the summer months, it can be done though.

You can reseed all year round, but its not considered good practice. late summer early autumn is traditionally the time to do it. Its not just down to the watering, the mycorrhizal activity in the soil slows down in warm weather, restricting the uptake of nutrients. Additionally if you sow grass seed in summer twice a day is not enough watering, its a gamble as you are relying on the capillary action for the water delivery most of the day. Water loss on a sandy soil on a hot day in summer is equivalent to about 2.5cm of standing water covering the area per hour. (If I remember correctly) so over 24 hours in heat that's quite a few bath fulls.

 

[highlandsflyer]

Good info. I guess we are lucky to have a clay subsoil in most of our gardens. We use mulching mowers, that also reduces losses supposedly though I have no idea of the science involved. The resilience of grasses is amazing, if you fenced that area off and fed and soaked it it would probably be like a jungle in no time.