Scarifying and patch magic.

I did look into hiring a machine but it's £54 a day, so too much imo. I will probably need a scarifier again next year so I decided to buy instead. Also applies to getting someone to do it for me.

I think the bosch has free floating blades, but I'm not 100% sure. It does have fantastic reviews, all over the internet.

I will go very gently at first. I think it has four height settings, I'll start on the highest and see what that looks like.

 

I'm finding the top dressing a bit difficult to get hold of. A turf and soil company near me has advised me that their grade 1 topsoil would do the job on a domestic lawn. The bloke told me if I was doing a bowling green, proper top dressing would be needed, but on a regular lawn the top soil would be adequate.

 

Here I find a mixture of my own top soil and mpc works well but have used peat, mushroom compost, mpc and recycled compost. I dont think it is crucial.....for me it's about maintaining evenness and forming a mulch in preparation for the growing season. My lawns.....medium and slightly smaller...... remained green throughout this summer

 

In that case, I'm wondering if I need to buy any soil at all. I have another job planned that would involve removing a bed of good soil and throwing it in a skip. The bed is next to the lawn, so it's in the right place already.

I know the soil was bought about 6 years ago to fill that bed, so probably decent stuff. Should I risk it? Mix it with mpc? Or play it safe and buy new?

 

Buy new?
For me its about adding bacteria, etc and weight ( soil) to mpc. Soil needs to be ressonably sieved.
I too initially used spare soil from an area and spread it neat over (smaller) back lawn and it ticked both boxes, viz., using excess soil and top dressing the lawn

Buying new ....it will prob be no better than your own hoofy

 

There are quite a few top dressing options, a wicket green may need more clay for example.
The idea is to try and match what you have or to try and manipulate the top soil area to improve the lawn soil structure.
How about a photo of the lawn you are trying to get into shape, this will help other members here too.

 

Is this good enough, or do you need close ups?

 

whatever top dressing you do hoofy, have you checked for leatherjacket/chafer grub damage?

I apply nematodes every autumn.....late August early September....and this application controls these pests. I apply before I top dress.

 

No that’s great, so your grass is still recovering from the summer.
It’s great to have a pic so others can see and comment.

It’s not bad by the looks of it. A lot of lawns round here are still like that, some are really struggling but will grow back.

 

Probably very good advice, but I've already taken on enough with the plans I have already. My first job is to get the lawn looking good next spring with an even covering of healthy grass. If I can achieve that, then I will be looking at making other improvements. If I'm not careful I could lose sight of my goals.

I might even scale back on what I had planned. The top dressing is the thing I'm least confident about and it will also give me the most problems in terms of logistics.

 

Hoofy morning
My front lawn is far from huge...150 sq yards approx...but top dressing is something I enjoy. I have a wide rake that I attach a 5' batten to and use this to evenly spread the compost.
Top dressing is not really something to be concerned about....no downsides to it

This is part of my front lawn (taken through window so not best quality) just recently scarified and mown....it will recover quickly enough

 

Just had an email my scarifier is going to be delivered today.

I'm looking at the weather forecast and the time slots I have for doing the job and I'm thinking of scarifying this evening, if it stays dry, but possibly only over seeding at the weekend. Will the delay between the two jobs have an effect on the overall chances of success?

I might still top dress but I'll need to make that decision on Friday.

 

No hoofy, no effect at all. Scarifying loosens the soil somewhat to make a seed bed. It will stay like that for a while

 

Before.





After.



The after picture was taken at 7PM tonight, as the light was fading so not quite comparable to the before picture.


Close up.