My husband was trying to remove the moss and weeds from our front lawn with a product called RoundUp. It is heavily shaded most of the day, with drainage problems too. He had tried lime earlier in the spring with no noticeable results. Unfortunately he tends to believe 'more is better' and our lawn has been a messy patchwork of burned brown spots, patches of dandelions and moss (yep, THEY survived) and tufts or green grass since late last summer, after the spraying with Roundup How do we repair and/or replace this mess at minimal cost? We are both middle-aged and disabled so are not too keen on redoing the whole lawn. I was wondering about aerating then adding sand for the moisture problem, then just reseeding the entire lawn. Any help for these neophytes greatly appreciated.
I have also got a few (planned) burned spots on my lawn -- I used an organic non-selective herbicide (same effect as RoundUp, but made of vinegar-type ingredients) on some grassy weeds. My general plan is to: a) aerate (or rather, pay a lawn company to do it) -- helps with compaction which can help with drainage b) scrape away the dead grass in the burnt spots c) put down a little topsoil on those spots and then d) reseed those areas well (as well as do a general overseed of the rest of the grass). The risk of this, however, is that the patches may be a different type/colour of grass than you already have; I did one such patch last year and the entire year it was a deeper green than the rest of the lawn. At this point in the year, however, they are both pretty much the same colour. Overseeding the entire lawn will help to get a more uniform colour/look. The moss can be removed first with a moss killer -- lime does not generally kill the moss, it changes the pH of your soil (makes it less acidic, which makes the environment a little less encouraging for the mosses). However, I have found that moss in my yard still does very well with a neutral (7.0) pH, so I will not be liming any time soon (it would make my soil too alkaline). I am going to try a spray-on moss killer (ferrous sulphate) and hope it kills the moss; when it does, you (or someone you might hire) must rake out the dead moss (it turns black) and can put down some topsoil and seed, as above. I found that a yearly light top dressing of compost and sand mix did wonders for my compacted clay soil, but that is a lot of work if you do it yourself (even on a small yard, I found). If you go this route, just be sure not to over top-dress or you'll smother the lawn. More is definately not better in this case. Aim for 1/4 to 1/2 inch of topdressing, and then brush it in with a big push broom or rake so it falls between the grass leaves. That worked for me. A compost/sand mix would probably be essential on any "newer" property where the builders not only remove the good topsoil, but also compact the soil with their heavy machinery while building. Many lawn companies offer a topdressing service as well. Large drainage problems might have to be addressed separately (e.g. french drains, or regrading as long as it doesn't affect neighbours properties, etc.), but you can start with the aerating and a bit of sand to see if it helps. The other problem may be the shade -- generally grass needs some direct sunlight to grow well. Fine fescue (or "shade" blends) may do better than the other types, but I've found that the Fescue just doesn't like the wet shade that I have in one area, and it dies every year in that spot. One of these days, I'll give up and find a different ground cover for that area. I've done these tasks myself, meaning they might not require a professional. You could probably be able to find a conscientious neighbour or student who can help out (with some direction), if you don't want to use a lawn service company. Hope this helps.
From a non-expert, but may I describe what was done at our Strata complex: We had a non-draining side lawn on our Strata property improved: a large expanse -- at our landscaper's advice he spread a coarse mulch down on the soggy "lawn" which was not too great re grass, about 3 years ago, and it sort of sank into the ground and firmed up the area, nicely. It was spread smoothly over the area in question. He plans to do another of the same, to finish improving another section of it to perfection. He put down some grass seed at the same time, fertilized, etc. Now he is just continuing to mow it, and fertilize and lime it, plus some moss killer... There was no weedkiller used there, as far as I know, though. Good luck with that. I don't think Roundup stays around very long, though.
Janet, that's very interesting re the mulch. Do you know what he used? Was it a mix of compost and/or bark mulch? When you say "course", what was the approx. size of the pieces? I've used some stuff with little sticks in it, that I thought were way too big, but maybe that is what I needed. Always looking for other ways to improve my soil (:
Hi, I meant to say "coarse compost" rather than mulch -- sorry sorry. The soil that was spread was a loamy compost with mulch in it, a kind of coarse mixture, and the landscaper said the technique was known as creating "peds"... I looked it up on the web and a few locations spoke of it, I think the original term was "pieds", the French for "feet" perhaps -- adding something firm yet absorbent to the existing soil. Just clay allows water to sit on top... and just adding sand creates a kind of concrete, not good either! If you just did add mulch with pieces in it, I don't think that will do any harm, probably good, but add some softer finer compost now to go into it. It will take a year or so to improve, and if you now add grass seed with the compost, you will get new grass rising up. You might want to roll it to firm it in a bit.
Is the moss growing on the area a good cover. If so why not keep it and just pick (spray bottle) the weeds out such as dandelion. The reason I say this is that years ago some of the old gardens where I grew up had beautiful moss lawns under the trees. Moss and shade and damp go well together where as grass needs lots of sun. You could also get rid of lawn altogether and turn it into a garden with suitable plants either in pots or raised areas and use an ornamental gravel as your ground cover. Liz
Hi Everyone When I lived in the UK I had a hedge removed completly together with a bank of soil it was growing on. I made a car park area which left a little patch of bare soil about 2 meter X 4 meter. I just left it so that the 'native' grasses would grow there on the advice of an old chap I knew. I mowed it once a week to keep the tall weeds down & within 6 months I had a good healthy lawn in place. I think that if you are going to re-seed a lawn you should consider which grasses will grow there. If a shady area maybe creeping bent will grow. It can be cut to 50mm high & that should stop moss from growing. But you can not use a grass rake on it. Usually, mosses will grow because the lawn has been cut too short. Sometimes a 'lawn sand' can be used to get rid of it. This is available in garden centres. I think it also contains a selective weed killer in the ingredients. I hope this will help a little? Regards Mike Anders
I too have wondered about creating a purely moss effect... however, it's not my lawn [it's the Strata's -- a BC term for "condo"] and many wouldn't accept that. If it were my area I probably would try to cultivate a moss expanse under a stand of large fir near my townhouse... but I know that it too would need weeding while with the grass, at least, a mainly grass lawn will cover a multitude of "sins" [weeds]. We retain the white clover in the lawn, of course, but mainly manually take out the obvious weeds. I find grass easy to care for, perhaps I've been lucky and not had disasters to deal with. I agree with Mike above in that cutting grass too short is a disaster waiting to happen. More frequent, less-low mowing is to me the secret of a good lawn. Mike, somewhere on this forum, I think it was this one, perhaps another, I saw photos of your Thai garden with the stone-and-concrete edged ponds and brook... very idyllic.
Our front lawn is all moss and we like it that way! No mowing, sucks up the water (helps with drainage), green all summer and soft on the feet. If I could kill what grass does exist in our front yard without hurting the moss - I would. I'm really confused about what the hate-on for moss is all about on the west coast - we're a rainforest, and lots of us have the acidic soil that moss really loves..... Also, the crows are less likely to rip it up!
One option that's not expensive, for a reasonable looking lawn, would be to use a thatcher, and overseed. You could even skip spraying if you wish. But you will have some light hauling of thatchy stuff, and the need to move the thatcher there. A power thatcher that you should be able to rent. Run the thatcher over at least twice, perpendicular. Four passes may be better. Rake off about 90% of the grass blades and thatch. But not all. Then overseed the whole thing substantially. And lightly brush the surface with one of the springy leaf rakes. Enough to knock the seed beneath. Often that's sufficient to get away with not having to cover with a film of peat moss or fine compost. I've done that many times in the past, and it works rather well if you don't want to go through major work or cost. More or less what the first reply was to your post. The thatching is going to hammer the moss anyway, so you could use moss treatment later. The key is timing. You don't want to thatch a muddy surface, nor one that is dusty dry. : - )
Thank you all so much for your input. We utilised most of it. The moss was only removed from an area covered with weeds and clover, as we do love the texture of healthy lawn moss. My husband rented a machine to mulch? the soil and dig out some bad areas. He aerated the entire area then used a spreader to apply some fine sand and new grass seed throughout the entire lawn. Fingers crossed we'll have a lawn to be proud of this summer.
