Balding, partly shady, mossy lawn in dire need of improvement

Hi Everyone

I have a small lawn which my husband is threatening with paving over and I suddenly find myself very attached to this little patch of grass. How can I go about improving it?

It's a south facing garden so gets the morning sun, but there is a big fence that shades part of it, here moss grows, the grass is patchy and I've spotted slugs hanging out there too. The rest of the lawn is fairly balding too, and a hole where the kids were digging for Australia!

I'm thinking that I would need to aerate the lawn by sticking holes in it, possibly putting lawn sand down to kill the moss? Then reseed?

Is this right? Can I do this at this time of year? When reseeding do I just chuck the seed down all over, or work on areas (the lawn gets a lot of child action).

Any advice gratefully received.

 

Thanks Marley Farley,

Should I do anything about the moss or would the raking get rid of it?

After I've seeded the lawn, should I then water it?

Jo x

 

my advice, is take your time and do it properly ....

1st get rid of the moss and weeds ... this will take a few weeks to do

then, mow the lawn as short as you can but don't scalp the lawn ....

then, aerate by using a hollow tine aerator (you can buy them from good garden centres or on amazon):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00163SK...and=1383194958868812073&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=

then, scarify using a garden rake

then, get seed such as this one ....
http://www.bshamenity.com/product-detail.php?product=a6_(supra_shade)

it's very good for shady areas .... you only need 4kg of seed for 100 square meters ... they advertise 20kg bags, but perhaps if you email them, they will sell you a lesser amount (I always use approx twice the recomendation, and grass grows a lot thicker quicker if you use loads of seeds

you could pre-fertilize before seeding, but I have never bothered

once you have seeded, throw a thin layer (2mm) of John innes number 3 compost over the entire area .... its easy, if you use your hand to throw it

keep the area damp, but dont walk on it .... in this heat, the seeds should germinate within 14 days .... keep the area damp throughout the season

when the grass is approx 6cm tall, use a mower with a sharp blade, and mow it to approx 3cm tall (cut half of the length)

then, you can add some lawn fertilizer but don't use anything that has weedkiller in it (you should not use any weediller on the new grass for at least 6 months)

mow regulary (up to twice a week if needed) ... keep damp and you should have a nice green well kept lawn

 

Thank you so much, I now know exactly what I should do...I feel inspired!

Just one more question...what is the best way to get rid of moss?

Jo x

 

you could try a liquid mosskiller such as this:
http://www.google.co.uk/products/ca...X&ei=v-HpT5KuL42N0wWKotyqAQ&ved=0CHwQ8wIwAjgK

research it a bit further .... I have never had to remove moss when overseeding .... so find out if the moss killer will harm the lawn seed (it may need some extra time before seeding?) ... the guys at BSH will advise if you email them

the parts that have moss should be aerated extra/loads so that drainage is very good) ... I also forgot to mention, some people fill the holes that the aerator leaves with sand/soil ...