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Our lawn is a bit of a mess with bald patches and the bottom of the garden is more moss than grass (which I don't actually mind as at least it looks green!). Does anyone have any tips for improving the lawn? There's a lot of weeds growing in it, in particular dandilions which are a right pain in the garden as they appear everywhere and I'm sure they are all the same plant! I pull them out when I find them, but they soon return any tips for getting rid of at least some of them? The garden slopes downhill so water tends to drain off pretty quickly at the top part. I've seen a seed supplier that offers packets of lawn flower seeds, http://www.bostonseeds.com/advice/2/Wildflowers/72/Wildflower-Mixtures-BSFL-Flowering-Lawn/, and I'm tempted to give it a go and see how it works and if it will give a better short "grass" area than the actual grass itself but of course once the seeds are sown it won't be easy to get rid of them lol. Though I'll be trying to get individual packets of seeds, already have clover growing over the top corner of the lawn so don't need to plant more of that lol
(And just in case anyone is thinking is there any actual lawn on my lawn with the moss at the bottom and clover at the top and dandilions, yes there is an actual grassy bit!)
Millie & Fly the Border Collies
Was talking to the OH about the lawn last night, he doesn't care what I do with it as long as it doesn't become a jungle and looks green (he did suggest concreting the lawn and painting the concrete green but that was a big no no lol).
And just think of the hard work, keeping it clean, brushing it, re-painting it every year. lol. Better off having a lawn I think!
December 21st is a great day - the sun starts to come back to us and spring is in the air!
Well I've raked the lawn, I'm amazed at the amount of stuff that came out of it! Don't think I need to bother adding any weeds to it, there are already some there - dandilions, clover and plantain are the ones that I recognise - and probably a few others that I don't recognise. Not sure whether to try putting some more grass seed down or not though as there are some pretty big bare patches there.
Geez Alan your lawn is huge!
Mine is much smaller, hence I have it done in an afternoon with a trip to Dobbies inbetween. They had some wildflower lawn seeds so bought a few packets and spread them around, especially on the bad patches, though I probably could have done with another couple of packets! I also got some grass seed that is supposed to be for dry/waterlogged ground so hopefully that will be better for our lawn as it does dry out pretty quick and is wet at the bottom in the shady parts!
Well mines the same, plus weeds that have now become part of it which saves a lot of weeding! Maybe we need something a bit less formal sounding than lawn...
The lawn is already starting to look much greener now all the dead stuff has been raked out, could just do with a spot of rain as it is getting pretty dry. Keep seeing clouds hanging over but no water falling from them though rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow!
We have some lawn management advice on our website here and in the Homes for Wildlife pages.
I couldn't resist jumping in to defend some of our common wildflowers here! Clovers are great for bees and the daisy is perhaps the most under appreciated wildflower that we have, the comments on the link here are difficult to disagree with, look at the benefits it has to other wildlife as well!
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
Great tips Ian! I'll be keeping out grass cut at 6cms to try and stop it drying out so much so it will be nice and long, will probably leave the edge to grow long as well, more through laziness than anything else though lol. Alas, I have never seen a daisy in our garden :-( We have plaintain, clover, dandilions and a few others but no daisy's as of yet :-( Would like some so I'm hoping a few may appear from the lawn flower seeds I've spread around the garden (particularly in the bare patches). The clover seems to have spread, I wouldn't be surprised if it was taking up half of the "lawn" this year!
If you have friends, neighbours or relatives with nice, daisy strewn grass you could ask politely if you can take one or two areas of turf with daisies in from an unobtrusive spot and then lay it in your own grassed area just like normal turf laying, I've found that works. Be sure to keep the turf moist until you get it home and laid and even for a good while afterwards until it looks established:-)) Good plants, daisies, a favourite of mine and of insects:-)
No daisy's in anyones garden that I've seen, there are some in the local park but I don't want to get done for stealing daisies lol Will keep an eye out though, maybe I'll be lucky and some will just "appear" in the garden lol