The 2025 Lawn Thread

[8-P]

Kicking off the 2025 lawn thread.

Mowed my lawn today. The driest it’s been since last year and showing some signs of growth.

[Trollbuster]

I’ve got a new John Deere x950r turning up on Saturday and can’t wait.

Most of my lawns still a bit boggy in places to give it a really good go as I’m mindful that it may sink In places. I have some landscaping works starting this week of which one of the jobs is to install additional land drains so hopefully that helps with drainage and I manage to get out on it.

Edited by Trollbuster on Monday 17th February 23:50

[jinkster]

Ours looks dreadful at the moment as it's always shaded in winter. Worm casts on it and it's looking pretty thin.

[renmure]

The gardening / landscaping company who do our street communal areas started today with scarifying the grass. First green bin collection of the year this week as well. Ironically snow forecast for tomorrow tho.

[MDUBZ]

Just topped mine but it looks st in bits that looked good last winter and vice versa.. building a shopping list of bits to get it going again.

[Craikeybaby]

I was thinking that mine is starting to look a bit scruffy now, but everywhere is so wet.

I am also considering swapping/upgrading my petrol mover to a cordless one, as petrol is really overkill for my small lawn.

[Huntsman]

I've been waiting for this thread, I made good progress with my front lawn last year, it looks lots betterer.

Rear lawn however is a mess, mole hill damage, weeds, football damage, cars parked on it damage...

I've got a pile of left over soil and 2 big compost heaps to dig out, I plan to sift all that and get a lawn lute and do some levelling.

What I'm not clear on is the squence of events I need to go through.

Prep all my soil/compost as lawn dressing
mow
scarify
scarify
spread the dressing
seed
wait

Where does the weed and feed fit in? Last year I used Miracle Gro 4 in 1 to good effect.

[Grande Pedro]

I need to level mine after serious long term mole and rodent damage. What's a lawn lute?

[jimothyc]

I don't even know where to begin with mine. It's like a mole theme park and farm too soggy to do anything with for at least another couple of months.

The wife has also planted bulbs everywhere, so the chances of doing a slalom of those in my ride on is pretty slim. I think it will be an enforced no mow March, April and May.

[Huntsman]

Also, my scarifier came with 2 cassettes, one with wire rakes that I've used, one with blades that cut slots.

Should I use the slotted one?

[zorba_the_greek]

Was on the bike today in the Kew area and it was lovely to hear the sound of a mower and smell of cut grass!

[MDUBZ]

Huntsman said:

Also, my scarifier came with 2 cassettes, one with wire rakes that I've used, one with blades that cut slots.

Should I use the slotted one?

Depends what you are starting with but loosely: rake for removing thatch and moss, helps moisture, nutrients and seed make soil contact and cutting slits is for aerating, improving drainage and help water nutrients get to the roots.

And I'd check the application instructions on 4in1, it might not play nicely with seed. 4in1s are great for a general application but you will get better results using something more targetted like a preseed fertiliser or with a moss killer depending on what you are trying to achieve ( not that youd know it looking at mine at the moment); again look at the application instructions because some products are slow release and you may need to wait for a longer period before you can sow.

Edited by MDUBZ on Tuesday 18th February 15:50

[roadie]

I'm starting to think about the grass in my gardens again after having taken up and replanted 25m of hedging over the past few weekends. Some of the grass has not done well underfoot!

The groundwater is high in the clay soil in our 18 month old estate so the ground is soft and the grass has not overwintered particularly well. This was expected, but it means that I think it will be a while until I can break out my new cordless mower. After summer I want to extensively spread new soil and seed to hopefully improve the lawn and soil.

[gmaz]

My lawn is being pecked at by crows, causing a bit of damage. I thought it was badgers or foxes or even my dog, so put out a wildlife camera.

[JerryEXE]

gmaz said:

My lawn is being pecked at by crows, causing a bit of damage. I thought it was badgers or foxes or even my dog, so put out a wildlife camera.

I have similar issues but with a green woodpecker (photos from last year)






I have a problem with ants in the lawn which I’m cautious of using chemicals on as I don’t want to harm the woodpecker . Any ideas?

The lawns have had their first cut of the year and I’m a little disappointed as to how much moss has grown over the winter (sure I said the same last year).

[The Three D Mucketeer]

I think you'll find your lawns are full of leatherjackets (hatch out as Daddy-log-legs/Crane Flies ) the birds are doing you a favour ... but also damage
Unfortunately most chemical treatments are now banned under COSH regulations . I think nematodes are the only option , but I've never tried them.

Edited by The Three D Mucketeer on Tuesday 18th February 18:39

[8-P]

Huntsman said:

Also, my scarifier came with 2 cassettes, one with wire rakes that I've used, one with blades that cut slots.

Should I use the slotted one?

I tried the blades on mine last year and it seemed to do more harm than good.

[Huntsman]

Grande Pedro said:

I need to level mine after serious long term mole and rodent damage. What's a lawn lute?

https://youtu.be/Ozmb_1ZSNao?si=4XQAczhIF9RNwVBk

[The Three D Mucketeer]

Huntsman said:

Grande Pedro said:

I need to level mine after serious long term mole and rodent damage. What's a lawn lute?

https://youtu.be/Ozmb_1ZSNao?si=4XQAczhIF9RNwVBk

I bought an Allett lawn lute last year ....After solid tinning , I used it to apply top dressing , i was OK ...just .... but I then used the back of a rake to work it in..
There are a few design issues that I informed Allett about.

[Techno9000]

Inspired by this thread and the appearance (seemingly for one day only...) of the sun, I have scarified my lawn today, getting a lot of moss out of it, but leaving plenty, and so have given it some fertiliser / moss killer.