First time buyer house, with a second rate garden!

fern Rob

Re: First time buyer house, with a second rate garden!

Post by fern Rob »

The Codfather wrote:
fern Rob wrote:
The Codfather wrote:Na lawns are a breeze...
Im guessing you have well drained soil.
nope....far from it wet, heavy, compacted clay and water stands on it upto 6" deep at times.......But I have been working the ground and lawn for 4 years now and it is getting better......and the lawn's etc easily can be repaired.
I find the lawn a complete pain to look after, been watching a trial being conducted and peat seems to be the worst for garden turf grass so far and my lawn is has a lot of peat under it.
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The Codfather
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Joined: Tue Sep 07, 2010 6:02 pm
Location: Darlington, C.O. Durham

Re: First time buyer house, with a second rate garden!

Post by The Codfather »

ConcreteJungle wrote:Kata - when applying grass seed - ensure you have lots of grooves in the lawn soil and top off with top soil on top. Fern Rob - i think applying gypsum to the lawn helps drainage.... aswell as spiking in spring & hollowtining in autumn. Well that's what i did anyways! Codfather - cant find your blog, would be interested to see a before and after photo of your garden.
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk/forum/v ... =1&t=10105
AKA - Martin

Wish list - Big Palms or Dicksonia antarctica's but open to anything really.....Cash Waiting !
fern Rob

Re: First time buyer house, with a second rate garden!

Post by fern Rob »

The Codfather wrote:
ConcreteJungle wrote:Kata - when applying grass seed - ensure you have lots of grooves in the lawn soil and top off with top soil on top. Fern Rob - i think applying gypsum to the lawn helps drainage.... aswell as spiking in spring & hollowtining in autumn. Well that's what i did anyways! Codfather - cant find your blog, would be interested to see a before and after photo of your garden.
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk/forum/v ... =1&t=10105
I literally have a few blades of grass, I'm contemplating Astro turf.
kata

Re: First time buyer house, with a second rate garden!

Post by kata »

I am armed and dagerous now,

I have really good straight edger bought brand new from QVC. I had been waiting all last summer after they sold out.

http://www.qvcuk.com/Lawn-Edging-%26-Ga ... 4-_-562654

Grass seed already bought, manure left yet and compost....also soon Greenthumb will be here to weed and feed.

:mrgreen: :mrgreen:
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ConcreteJungle
Posts: 73
Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2013 7:07 pm
Location: Greater london

Re: First time buyer house, with a second rate garden!

Post by ConcreteJungle »

fern Rob wrote:
The Codfather wrote:
ConcreteJungle wrote:Kata - when applying grass seed - ensure you have lots of grooves in the lawn soil and top off with top soil on top. Fern Rob - i think applying gypsum to the lawn helps drainage.... aswell as spiking in spring & hollowtining in autumn. Well that's what i did anyways! Codfather - cant find your blog, would be interested to see a before and after photo of your garden.
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk/forum/v ... =1&t=10105
I literally have a few blades of grass, I'm contemplating Astro turf.
Dont! For a smaller lawn like yours, use a soil rake - and rake what was the lawn, to create grooves, ideally crisscrossing them to create a bed for the seeds. Spread the grass seed evenly over the soil, and rake in the seeds gently to almost cover the seeds in the soil, then put a thin layer of top soil on top and gently pat it down with your feet, ideally seeing no more seed. Water daily ensuring the soil doesn't dry out too much. This should start to work now as warm enough. This was the method i pretty much used - (minus the soil rake and instead using a verticutter in my case)
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ConcreteJungle
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Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2013 7:07 pm
Location: Greater london

Re: First time buyer house, with a second rate garden!

Post by ConcreteJungle »

2014 SO FAR:

Image
Photo taken around 3pm - The lawn after a heavy watered winter. Should improve in the coming months.

2014 - So far:
Cleaned up the left hand side with weed fabric and chip barkings.
Planted on the right, Fargesia Asian Wonder, Trachycarpus, Cordyline Charlies Boy, Sambucus Nigra, 3x Fatsia Japonica,

2014 - Still to do:
Will plant on the left hand side soon (the "South" facing wall) thinking a mixture of phormiums, bamboo, banana, melanthus major, red robin for privacy at a certain section near the seating are on left and a washingtonia robusta near the garage.

Still to plant from pots:
- In the middle of the photo on the lawn i have a small mound of soil that i grew grass on for now and is actually the basis for the curved mowing lines on the lawn, this mound will eventually be opened up and be the location of the small mule palm i have bought, most likely keep it in pot for a year before planting out. meant to be hardy to around -12c... and here it barely reached -4 to-5 in 2010.
-The garden arch area i wanted a more woody feel - Acer Red Pygmy near the garden arch i have on the far right, with another Acer nearby (a tall weeping acer, forget the name right now!). The arch is in the middle of the tree stump i cut to form a small chair! (meant for my baby, not me!) The other small stump next to it will eventually be cut down. The arch is Botanico Allium Dome arch for anyone interested. On either side are red climbing roses from homebase. This area is FAR from over as i have nearly 3 metres before i reach the end of the lawn after the far side of the arch, and wanted a secluded small corner arbour hidden by Acers and tree ferns perhaps too.. (I know its decidious, but its aimed at spring/summer/autumn attraction when its warm to sit outside anyways!)
Image
fern Rob

Re: First time buyer house, with a second rate garden!

Post by fern Rob »

I literally have a few blades of grass, I'm contemplating Astro turf.[/quote]

Dont! For a smaller lawn like yours, use a soil rake - and rake what was the lawn, to create grooves, ideally crisscrossing them to create a bed for the seeds. Spread the grass seed evenly over the soil, and rake in the seeds gently to almost cover the seeds in the soil, then put a thin layer of top soil on top and gently pat it down with your feet, ideally seeing no more seed. Water daily ensuring the soil doesn't dry out too much. This should start to work now as warm enough. This was the method i pretty much used - (minus the soil rake and instead using a verticutter in my case)[/quote]

The lawn has been replaced 3 times in 2 years, It has had drainage and many other treatments but its just to damp and keeps dying, unfortunately its Astroturf that is going down.
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