Organic lawn feed at the same time as overseeding?

Hi,

My first post here so here goes:

FYI I live in the NE England, moved in back end of last year so I'm trying to get on top of the garden this year.
The lawn area is about 100 sq metres or just under, I have borders around with various shrubs etc and also have about 6 small ish fruit trees (apple, pear, plum) dotted around (some cause shadow on areas of the lawn so I've been pruning them to increase light) and couple of larger trees (large apple and unknown tree)

I've recently been preparing to overseed my lawn which has basically involved

1) raking up any major moss off first and been digging out dandelions furiously lol
2) Did some aerating of the worst parts of the mossy areas / more moist bits
3) putting down "Neudorff Organic Moss Control for Lawns Concentrate"to kill off the moss (don't know if it was due to excess rain just afterwards but the moss hasn't turned black - although does seem to have died substantially)
4) scarified over the top of this and got bucket loads of moss out.

The next part of my plan was to top dress (I think thats what its called - putting top soil down, raking it in / smooth down) and overseed / lawn feed at the same time

I've read that I might be best off leaving the lawn feed for a while - just wondered however if this product that I've bought can actually go down at the same time as the seed with it being 'organic'? - its called Neudorff Organic Lawn Feed and Improver
- sorry I cant do links yet because only my first post :D

(I have a dog hence the 'organic' approach)



Thanks
Chris

 

Hello and welcome

First thing, don't be fooled into thinking that organic automatically equals safe. Crocodiles, and deadly nightshade are examples of things that are organic Seriously, there are some nasty chemical compounds that qualify as organic. That's not say that the one that you've used is nasty, I don't know it, but its just something to keep in mind.

As for lawn weed, feed and moss killer combos in general, different people will have different opinions as to whether or not they work. Personally I think it would be more effective and less labour intensive to simply scatter your cash over the lawn.

Moss is usually present for a reason. That is that the conditions are favourable for moss. That usually means damp shade at the soil surface, which in turn usually (in my experience) means poor drainage due to either the soil being excessively compacted, or a crust (referred to as a 'pan') forming, where the top few millimeters are pretty solid even if the soil underneath is fine. That combined with lots of thatch (matted, dead grass), combine to make a moss paradise.

I'd tackle the cause rather than the effect. Otherwise it will just keep coming back. At this point I'll have to throw in a disclaimer otherwise @Sheal will play war with me. Provided that your garden soil is not already very sandy and free draining, the best trick is to get some sharp sand on it. Having mowed it short and manually removed the dandelions and docks (more on this in a minute), give it a top dressing with sharp sand, then rake it in quite brutally. This has three effects. 1) The action of brutally raking (like scarifying I guess) breaks up an crust at the soil surface and removes thatch, thus helping with drainage and aeration. 2) Dragging the sharp sand about with the rake literally cuts the moss out, you'll find a lot more comes out this way that raking alone and 3) The sharp sand helps to prevent the soil surface from compacting again, and improves drainage and air circulation at the soil surface. Oh, and 4) it provides a nice loose medium for new grass seeds to get their roots into.

I mentioned manually removing the dandelions and docks. There's a good trick for this taught to me by a very wise old man with an amazing garden. Take a large, flat blade screwdriver. For each dandelion or dock (both of which have a single long tap root), you push the screwdriver in as close as possible to the base of the weed, such that the blade runs down the side of the tap root. Then simpy lever it out, and pretty much the whole thing just pops out, really easy. Some of the root will remain under the soil, but with the leaves now gone, nothing is impeding the grass, and with the remains of the root so deep, it will take so long to regenerate that by the time it does, the grass will be thriving and will out-compete the weed, especially as you'll be mowing regularly which makes grass stronger and weeds weaker.

Having done all this (and its really not that much work, if it was, I wouldn't bother), then I'd think about overseeding to sort out any sparse patches. I usually use a mix of lawn seed and sharp sand for this. The pros will tell you to use topsoil, but I couldn't be bothered and in my experience it works fine (and incidentally, this same technique was recommended on TV by no less than Monty Don, some years after I was taught this trick by someone else, so if its good enough for him, its good enough for me).

Once overseeded, you need to keep on top of watering. A sprinkler is the way to go. If you haven't already got one, I can recommend Wilko's cheapo £2 spinning one. I have that, and I have a much more expensive Hozelock one, and I find the cheapo one performs much better. Avoid the rake once overseeded, and go easy with the mower. Keep the mower blades nice and sharp, and if your mower has adjustable cutting height, set it on the highest setting for a few months until the new grass has had time to establish.

 

Hi (not so) Clueless1

thanks for the comprehensive response.

I find the sharp sand suggestion an interesting one which I think I will definitely do.

I've already got a few bags of top soil so I think a combination of the two might work. Also in the more shaded areas possibly more so of the sharp sand than the top soil and save the top soil for patches & uneven sections (some small patches are just dead from the dog )

There is definitely a thick thatch in places, fairly thick moss in others and then maybe a third of the lawn is actually doing quite well (this area is the dryer bit).

I'll get a picture up of where I'm at later.


Thanks

Chris

 

Can it be ordinary sharp sand from a builders merchants?

 

That's all I've ever used. You can buy 'special' sand for the lawn, but as far as I can tell, the only difference between that and sharp sand is the price.

 

Hi,

Here's a pic of the garden, its approx South West facing.

I think I must have multiple types of grass as you can see the darker patches are thriving, they are slightly broader than the rest of the grass but it is just normal grass IMO (as apposed to some kind of weed)

These patches grow quicker than the rest of it.

The worst bits are down both sides and the third on the far side of the three trees.

you can almost work out the yellowing / browning of where the most of the moss was.





some of the smaller brown patches are from dandelion / other weed removal

So my next step is to scarify again and cut again before top soil / sharp sand / seeding.

Its keeping me fit though!

thanks

Chris