Overseed lawn or renovate and start again?

Duggie12

Hi all
My garden is full of moss. When I rake a patch there is very little grass left. Should I re seed it or renovate the whole lawn and start again?
I looked at turf as well - it was cheaper than I thought. My garden is about 60m2 and I could buy the turf for about £200. 

Thanks very much in advance 
P.s. I'm based just outside of Glasgow 

Duggie12

Duggie12

Dave Humby

You'll need to address the reason for the moss Duggie or all your intended hard work will be in vain. Poor soil conditions, shade and damp are the main culprits. Judging by the first pic it looks quite shady - at least it was when you took the photo.

Duggie12

Hi Dave thanks for the reply. There were large trees along the side which blocked most of the light but they have now been removed 

It's just I'm not sure whether to rotovate the garden and start from scratch or just seed the existing ground (after removing the moss of course)
Thanks 

Fairygirl

I'd do a bit of reseeding, Duggie, with a seed for shade. It's about the only way to keep some grass in those conditions,and it's not too expensive to do that. A bit of topsoil added will help too. 
If you give it a feed now and then through summer, and cut regularly, not too short, it'll be ok. If you give it a good spiking now and again, that will help if it's compacted and wet too. 
Unless you want to spend hours and hours faffing around to have it looking like a bowling green, that'll keep it half decent. Some people get very hung up about their grass though!

My front grass is a bit like that just now, but it just gets a weed and feed in April, or sometimes just a feed,  and then I cut it weekly. The grass comes through well enough. Mine was largely buttercups and dandelions and moss when I moved here 6 years ago. It now looks pretty decent for most of the year, just by doing that

Duggie12

Thanks fairygirl 
So even if when I rake the moss out there is virtually no grass - I can still just over seed? That's the bit I wasn't sure about 
Yeah I read about the shady grass seed. Again wasn't sure now that the trees have been cut down. Hopefully will be okay though
Thanks 

Dave Humby

The tree removal sounds very positive wrt improved lawn conditions. Give it a good rake to get rid of as much moss as possible which will help loosen the surface also and help as a seed bed. Keep it moist while germinating and watch out for the birds. Down this way the pigeons will have the lot so some protection might be required! 

Duggie12

Thanks guys 
Should I apply moss killer before seeding ? 

Fairygirl

Yes - you can just seed on top. A wee layer of soil on it first will give it something to bed into.
Dave's right though - a good scrape first will remove some moss and allow the seed to get in. If you walk over it gently afterwards, that'll help the seed get some contact too. The tree removal will certainly help in future. They cast shade, and also take up a lot of water. Not that we have to worry too much about that here, Duggie  
 
What is it they say, Dave - a handful for the ground and a handful for the pigeons? 

Dovefromabove

But don’t apply a lawn moss killer that also contains a weed killer before reseeding ad some of them contain something that prevents seeds from germinating.