Scarifying
gsdfandf
Posts: 103
Hi all,
Not really a problem, but advice required. (unsure which forum to place it) I've just finished scarifying the lawns & can't decide when to scatter new grass seed. I wont be applying any top dressing first, or should I ?
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Hello GSD, if it were my lawn I’d leave it now until the Spring, then have a good go with the fertiliser then re seed, but I dare say someone will say do it now. Personally, I like the winter off and have a blitz later on, maybe I’m getting lazy?
How’s the pond coming on??
Hi Lyn,
Nice to hear from you, albeit in text! The pond has flourished nicely since my last post. Although I no longer have any fish. Can't remember if I mentioned this at the time, but as they were always out of view I passed them over to a friend's pond. Mine is now a wildlife pond (less maintenance) plenty of tadpoles earlier this year & the birds love it as a splash about area, standing on the rocks. Hacked the Marsh Marigold back in October & the fine black mesh is now in place to catch the falling leaves from the nearby trees & the Acer, which is now a fabulous hue of red & orange.
Last edited: 17 November 2017 13:59:56
Grass seed needs a bit of warmth to germinate and then continue growing strongly. In the UK, the best times are supposed to be September and April because there is moisture and warmth. Sowing seed now is unlikely to give you good results but will be appreciated by the birds.
Wait till the end of March then scarify again to remove winter thatch then, when temps are reliably warm enough in April, rake the surface loose and sow your seed. Give it 2 or 3 weeks without walking on it so the seed has a chance to germinate and then get roots down and shoots up.
Do not mow before it is quite long and then don't cut it back shorter than one inch/2.5 cms. It needs the length of leaf to feed the new roots and make it strong. You can probably reduce the length gradually from mid to late summer, depending on what kind of weather you get next year.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
When I last did this task, (I get a fair amount of moss over time, iron sulphate partially eradicates it) I laid thin clear plastic sheeting over the areas treated, which brought the grass on quicker, but that was in the summer months. So April it is.
Thanks one & all.
Lovely to hear about your pond, wildlife ones are by far the best for maintenance than ornamental, it’s lovely sit down there listening to the creatures in the summer, ours is out of site from the house as well, so have to take coffee and chair down there.
And round it off with a barby, eh Lyn?
Very rarely warm enough to sit outside in the evenings here, always windy, but you have one, eat something nice for me?