Newbie to gardening, scarifying the grass.

alanhaworth1

Hi all,

im new to gardening when it comes to being advanced, I’ve owned my own home for 5 years and done the basics, cutting the grass, weeding etc.

however I noticed last year there was a load of moss, more moss than grass intact, so I decided to invest in a scarifying machine, Bosch alr 900.

a week ago I used my evergreen+ spreader and used the mircle-gro 4 in 1 moss killer and lawn feed, I left it for a week and I scarified the grass today, I went up and down twice and across twice as I was told to do it in two different directions.

please see the the image (large lawn in the right has been scarified) is it suppose to look like that? I hope I haven’t ruined the grass.

i am awaiting for some grass seeds to be delivered to put down, will true grass become. A lot greener? Have I done anything wrong.....all I know I’m aching and I have a wheelie bin and 8 black bags full of moss 😀

any advice would be welcome, would a new machine be better for my size garden and I wasn’t impressed, as there still seems to be a hell of a lot of grass. The previous owners didn’t look after it all all.

Thanks

Fairygirl

Hi @alanhaworth1. Don't worry too much - it often looks hellish when you have a scarifying session!
I'd leave it now for a while to let it recover and grow a little bit. It's still a bit early for sowing seed, and if you've used a weed and feed product, it's especially important to leave it for several weeks, as the 'weed' bit will inhibit grass seed from germinating. 
It'll green up once you have a good spell of rain 
It's also a good idea not to cut it too short, as that weakens the grass. Little and often is always better, so cut every week or so, depending on the weather conditions and growth rate, but only take off about a third of the height each time. That helps the grass to thicken up and also spread sideways [tillering] and will benefit it in the long term. 

alanhaworth1

Fairygirl said:

Hi @alanhaworth1. Don't worry too much - it often looks hellish when you have a scarifying session!
I'd leave it now for a while to let it recover and grow a little bit. It's still a bit early for sowing seed, and if you've used a weed and feed product, it's especially important to leave it for several weeks, as the 'weed' bit will inhibit grass seed from germinating. 
It'll green up once you have a good spell of rain 
It's also a good idea not to cut it too short, as that weakens the grass. Little and often is always better, so cut every week or so, depending on the weather conditions and growth rate, but only take off about a third of the height each time. That helps the grass to thicken up and also spread sideways [tillering] and will benefit it in the long term. 

Ahh ok that’s great advice, I won’t scarify again this year now then, I will water it now as had no rain for a few days, when’s best to put the grass seeds down? On the box it says from April onwards.....any other useful tips?

Fairygirl

Go with your own local conditions - later in April is usually warm enough in many areas for seed sowing. Just follow the guidelines with how much to use - you can always go back over it, so er on the cautious side to begin with. 
If you water really well - you'll see growth once it's warm enough, so that will guide you with the temperatures for sowing. It's not worth doing it until it's warm enough