Lawn Aeration without topdressing on clay

Wolfsbane2k

Hi.

My lawn is a complete mess, looks very bare and is very mossy.

The clay part is heavily compacted, and appears to be very thin with topsoil, measurable in the millimeters, rather than feet. About a third is under decidious trees, but gets sun 8 hours a day, late morning to evening.

The old border part is very boggy, and again is mossy and gets a little sun, mainly early morning to mid morning.

Neither have much thatch.

Both get regularly attacked by squirrels burying stuff, and dogs running after hem, and small human feett to see what's happening.

I can't afford any topsoil or topdressing at the moment, so wondering what to do the situation.

I have a manual hollow time aerator, an electric lawn rake, and the usual spade and fork and total lawnmower, plus 3 boxes of Johnson's tuff grass left over from last year's sales. I did put some seed down in September, but it never really took

Is there any benefit in just hollow tining with out any dressing?

Would putting seed down on an area that has only been tined a waste?

 

Thanks in advance.

Dovefromabove

I would aerate it, then when the temperatures are right (soil temp 7- 10C) give the area a good raking and scatter the seed (give it a watering if there's no rain, but there will be) - then keep the little feet and paws off until after it's had a couple of cuts if at all possible.  Bribery will be imperative!

A pump action water pistol is good for discouraging squirrels!

Good luck

GemmaJF

Sounds like my idea of a lawn Wolfsbane  Trouble with clay is it can be compacted, water sodden and dry all within 3 feet of each other. I think you'll be fine to follow Dove's advice.

I sieve spare seed compost over the grass seeds to hide them from the birds. I put down tuff grass seeds a couple of weeks ago and noticed it is showing this morning. You might find there is benefit in not cutting the grass too low in future. I used to do this and now keep the mower on a higher setting, which seems to keep it all much more even and healthy looking.

Dovefromabove

Agree Gemma - our mower has three settings - we never cut lower than the middle one.

Wolfsbane2k

Thanks all. I'll 'try' and keep feet off it once seeded in.



As to adding seed, I've got 3 large bags of multipurpose compost, which is really quite bitty, so don't think it will be great for mixing with the seeds.



I've always set my mower to 5cm, or 2 inches,I want a rugby pitch lawn, think that's too short?

Dovefromabove

Don't have measurements on our mower - just three settings.  Always do the first couple of cuts each spring on the highest, then move to the middle one for the summer.  We never use the lowest one. 

Good luck

GemmaJF

Same with me Dove with the mower now. When I use to cut on the lowest it was always really patchy.

If  you sieve the compost Wolfsbane so the fine stuff goes over the seeds, the bigger bits that are left can be put on a flower border. That's what I do.