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As all the lawn experts are here, the soil in our lawn appears compacted. When it rains it is immediately waterlogged and the grass appears to have trouble growing in places. What’s the easiest way to get it in a better state?

Got some 4 in 1 feed and weed down last week ahead of the rain and the moss is already blackening off. Will rake that out in a couple of weeks time and then look to reseed it.

the 4in1 stuff I use say you need to wait 6-8 weeks after applying before re-seeding. Might be different for yours, but worth checking (I used it 2 weeks ago for this reason)

@devbrix – thanks, I’ll get a tub ordered. When we moved in 6 years ago the lawn was really nice. Hopefully I can get it back to how it was…

1. Strengthen lawn and kill moss with iron sulphate now
2. Scarify well in a couple of weeks – you have got to do this and it will look awful at first. Pull up any course, clumped, light coloured looking weed grass (if you can be arsed aerate as well, it’s generally held as one of the best thing to do with a lawn)
3. Overseed with a good quality general purpose seed eg from A1 Lawns and walk or roll in to make sure seed is in contact with soil. Some will top dress but I don’t bother.
4. Feed, water and cut once seed is established (cut to about 60mm, if you want shorter do gradually over a number of weeks).
5. Feed regularly every couple of months over the Summer and water in
6. Enjoy amazing lawn

Picked up an electric scarifier over the weekend, surprised at how much thatch and moss it pulled out of the lawn, was gearing up to go buy some seed and overseed but this weeks low temps means I’ll delay a week.

One thing I noticed whilst out mowing and scarifying in the sun, my lawn is infested with tiny 5pence size spiders, quite nippy and run away when you walk towards them, but very creepy. The mowing and scarifying seemed to have culled a good number of them, where do they live and how can I get rid of them?

how can I get rid of them?

why on earth would you do that? They’re outside eating the nasties.

Leave them be, they’ll be gone in a few weeks.

My lawn garden is sloping, so the lawn is terraced. I need to raise one corner by about 6 inches where the subsoil has compacted. What is my best option?

The lawn is also quite clumpy and uneven. Will scarifying fix this?

Nobody mentioned top dressing with soil? We have scarified mercilessly, added a tonne and a half of top soil (150 sqm, second time in five years) and then some decent seed over the existing grass. That’s basically what Green Fingers will do. And it works fine. Got to put in some nutrients and the fresh topsoil will help with the seed.

Full disclosure: my gardener is responsible for one of the most famous lawns in the country. And mine.

i’ve looked into top dressing and there seems to be debate as to whether it adds any value or not. I only read into it after I’d already bought a tonne of sharp sand and 600L of compost (which I read is roughly the mix you’re meant to use), so i’ll be doing it anyway once it warms up a bit

And if you have a female dog don’t let them pee on it.
Overdose of nitrogen kills the grass

Indeed. Just spent an hour or so earlier today cutting turf from the front garden to replace dead brown patches in the back garden. Next step filling, leveling, and seeding the donor patch out the front.

I’m away from home for a few days break at CyB. Loads of snow here today so I was hoping that the weather would be better at home in Carmarthenshire. Then I get a call from Son #2  to ask me if he needs to water the reseeded lawn if it has snow on it. Buggeration, the seed was just starting to germinate. Fingers crossed 🤞 that it will be OK.

I am going to try to level up sections of lawn. There is a strip where there used to be a path but the turf isn’t great quality.

Rather than lift the turf and levelling it, can I just fill the depression with top-soil and seed it? It’s about 30mm deep, 60cm wide and 5 metres long

I did that on my old garden path, it looked out of place for a couple of years (different colour grass) but blended in after that.

Thread bump.
Neigbour had some of that 4 in 1 stuff so I put that down last week and the moss is browning now, best to leave it another week I guess before I rake out the dead stuff?
I’ll buy a few bags of soil to dress the uneven areas before applyong grass seed.
Further up the thread it’s mentioned to feed the lawn afer a while, any partcular feed?
Cheers.

Oh, should I be doing a mix of sharp sand and soil to dress the lawn?

the 4 in 1 I have says leave for 8-12 weeks before re-seeding, so I’d check on that..

Will do cheers.