Mossy lawn preparation for winter

Just moved into a new flat with a large garden. Lovely.
BUT
The lawn is very mossy and bare. The worst part is nearest the house where our kids aged 8 & 3 spend most of their time. How can I prevent this from becoming even more bare and muddy over the winter months. I know there are no quick fixes with lawns but any advice appreciated on how to restore this piece of lawn (or cover it without killing it)
between now and spring...

Many thanks
Geoff

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Geoff. There is not really much you can do this time of year. If you are prepared to spend some cash your best option would be to lift the old lawn or parts of it and re-turf. Re-seeding is not an option as it's to late for it to germinate, that would have to wait until next spring.

You can't cover it as that would probably kill it off completely.

With turf you would have to keep the children off that area for a few weeks to let it root down properly. Hope this is of some help.

 

evergreen autumn lawn fertilizer with moss control

http://www.lovethegarden.com/files/eg-autumn-label.pdf

label says can be used till mid november .... weather is still mild, so I assume it can still be used

it also may be worthwhile to aerate your lawn .... make 3-4 inch deep holes with your garden fork all over the lawn ... this will help with drainage (search google for more info)

 

No lawn expert, but you might be best concentrating your gardening efforts on the further areas of lawn, flower borders etc., and accepting that your children are going to make a bit of a mess of the near part. Doesn't seem much point bringing in lots of turf if it's only going to get churned up again before long.