How to improve your lawn this Spring

[SallyN]

Thanks Jason for the welcome. I'm so happy I've found this blog as I'm just starting to really get into gardening so I'm sure I'll have lots of questions and maybe one day, I'll even be able to provide others some answers

[Adam_W]

My pleasure @SallyN

[RosieW]

Lots of tips here for my terrible lawn. This very dry winter has left it in a bad state - I didn't even notice it was happening.

[Kiwifr33]

I can only repeat keeping the mowing height high - we do ours on the top two settings on the mower and our lawn is mostly green through summer long after all the neighbours have killed theirs off.
We also never spray for anything as we hand mow and use the clippings to mulch gardens via a chicken tractor.

[Jason]

How's everyone lawns looking this Spring? Mine is currently a little soggy from a lot of recent rain. I'm sure in no time we will all be complaining that it is too dry though!

Jason

[Former Workshop member]

My mum's Adelaide lawn was ragged - not walked on, and with sandy loam but just old. This is the growing season - winter/spring.
Raked it over to get the dead thatch out - It's that fine blueish stuff, I want to call it Santa Anna fescue? but that's probably totally wrong - it was given to us, so a bit hazy on details - 15 years ago!
So this year I raked it over and spiked it. then I bought a really fine, well rotted mulch (more like soil) and raked it evenly all over, watered, let dry, raked another lot over, mixed with cow manure(about 30% poo? to mulch), watered again. Well, grass and weeds both went gang-busters. just kept mowing the tops off the weeds until the grass was lush again (2-3 weeks), and then spot weeded throughout. Looks fab.
Having said all that, I absolutely despise lawn grasses. At my place I have ground covers, concrete, or pour in place rubber. I felt like I was doing a work of evil by reviving Mum's lawn!

[Jason]

I gave my lawn a weed and feed last weekend. It's amazing how much it's grown this week after some sun and rain and the feed. 

Jason

[Bundaboy]

Tip number 1, don't have hard compacted clay soil that takes a jack hammer to break up.
Tip number 2, see tip number 1.

[Moira]

Hi Jason and everyone

our lawn has been too wet and, now that we’ve fixed our water problem, we want to regrow the grass. There is currently very little grass but lots of moss and dandelions. Should we spray first to kill the weeds and then top dress? There are lots of bare patches. We live in Melbourne and the area is shaded from the East and West. The area won’t get much traffic. Thank you!

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Moira. Many thanks for your question, I'd be glad to provide some advice.

It's great to have you join us and fantastic to hear you've fixed your lawns water issue. I would advise you to deal with the weed issue prior to top dressing as it is a simple process. There are a variety of selective weed killers available which can be sprayed over the area and they won't affect the grass that you will lay or sow. These products are in concentrated form and can be mixed up in a garden sprayer to be distributed over the area. Alternatively, there are products ready to use like Hortico 2L Bindii Killer Hose On which are suitable for dandelion and broadleaf weeds.

The moss can be killed by applying a mixture of 2 parts dish soap to 1 part water and spraying the moss until it is saturated. You can also physically remove the moss by skimming it and the top layer of soil off of the area. Make sure you get all the roots in the process or it will return.

Please let me know if you need further advice or had any questions.

Mitchell