How to restore an old patchy lawn

[mich1972]

So our couch back lawn was depleted and reverting back to sand as it’s so old , it needed a big boost of top dressing. I used Hortico Top Dress from Bunnings. I did this 8 days ago. 

 

 

Rake the top dress out.

 

 I like to use a granular wetting agent. WettaSoil from Bunnings. Once this is added make sure to hand water it in. 

I like to use Richgro Rock Minerals as a natural slow release fertiliser that won’t dump too much nitrogen straight away. I also use this throughout our garden. Again hand water in straight away.

 Give it a good hand water. 
Safety tip - wear a mask when applying these products as they are quite dusty.

 

8 days later it’s looking better, the harsh patches need more time but it is an improvement. 

I will post a follow up in another week to show you how it is going 😊

 

 

[AP200]

Thankyou so much for all the info and what to use for the couch. Our "lawn? " is bare ,thin & impoverished  so I am going to go and get the products needed and have a shot. Water is a bit of an issue for us presently.

My other biggest issue is "African Love grass" or that is what it is known as around here. It is a solid thick clumpy weed that grows long stalks around the sides of the centre. The stalks have seed heads so it reproduces prolifically. I have used spray on them but just can never be rid of it. I even had

weed killer from a weed spraying professional but it just keeps coming up & the poison killed everything else !. There is far too much to dig manually (acres). When it comes up in the lawn I dig it up and I can get rid of it this way in small patches. Thankyou for any ideas.

Weed

[MitchellMc]

Hi @AP200,

Let me mention @mich1972, so she is alerted to your kind feedback, and hopefully, she has experience dealing with African lovegrass. Lovegrass is certainly troublesome to remove, and it would require several applications of Glyphosate to knock off. The issue is the seeds will stay dormant in the soil for up to five years before reemerging. So it will be a significant battle over quite a few years before you'll likely be done with it. You can cover the clumps with black plastic, staking it down around the edges. This also can take a couple of years to kill the clump underneath completely.

Mitchell

[mich1972]

Hi @AP200 

Our couch lawn has bounced back and we are really happy with it ! Yes we did have water a bit extra to kick start it as it’s been extremely hot here in Perth. But I am very happy to share how it has been going and I’m very happy with the products I use and will keep using as needed. 
 

I’m sorry but I have not heard of that African love grass. Maybe not one in WA 🤔

If the weed killers does nothing, the next step is solarisation, by laying black builders film - thick black plastic. Pegged down . Then the sun can cook the foliage and root system. 
 

Good luck and I hope this may help you 😊