How to save a lawn that has more moss than grass?!?

Question

I was thinking about using a weed killer but- thinking about it and looking at my lawn- i think id be left with a grand total of three grass blades! Should i sow some of the quick grow grass soloution that you can but at garden centres and then try the weed killer? or should i just turf up the lawn and roll down some ready grass stuff? Ideally something long term as i live slap bang in the middle of the new forest and its taking over the house!!Thanks so much- any comments would be appreciated! :-D

Answer 1

The best thing for you 2 do is remove everything and start over. Make sure to get the soil tested by professionals to confirm PH balance. Select the right kind of grass for your shady growing conditions. Good Luck!

Answer 2

It sounds as though your problem is primarily shade. Most lawn grasses are not very shade tolerant. The ones that are are the fine fescues and chewings fescues. Your local garden supply should be able to sell you a mixture for shade.

All grasses need some light, especially when young, so sowing your lawn in the autumn is best because then the young plants get the maximum sunlight when the leaves are off the trees (always assuming that the trees round your garden are deciduous!).

Fescues do not like a lot of nitrogen, so there is no need to apply fertilizer more than once a year. Also, a little lime is a good thing. This will also help keep down moss, which likes damp, acid conditions.

Cutting the lawn too short will reduce the amount of leaf area available for photosynthesis, so a shaded lawn needs to be cut a little longer than one in full sun.

If you use a moss killer to kill the moss, you will be left with a lot of dead moss and big bare patches, probably of the wrong kind of grass.

The best plan would be to have the site dug over to a fine tilth (this will also assist with drainage). If there are any wet spots, you could lay simple drains of channels in a fan shape filled with shingle and then covered with 6" or so of soil.

Sow, as I say, in the autumn (late August - September) having raked in a little lime. Take any leaves off the lawn regularly to allow maximum air and light. This should be done every year as well as the first year. Your first cut should be late spring, just to keep it from being shaggy.

You might consider having part of the lawn a wild flower area or a bulb area. This will give you a reason for not cutting the really shaded bits too often!

There are some very pretty wildflowers which are especially good in forest glades (which is essentially what you have). Get to know the woodland plants near you and notice which ones grow where. Primroses, for example love that kind of environment.

A garden which is sympathetic to the area you live in is just as pretty and more likely to be successful than to try to impose suburban standards in a rural area. (I am not saying that you do, of course - just that I have seen people trying it and felt rather sad for them.)

Answer 3

I have a similar lawn and can't decide whether it's worth the effort, or whether I should just give in and have a moss-lawn. We would need to put drainage in the lawn, which could either mean lifting the turf and digging gravel and sand into the ground beneath it, or putting in drainage pipes.
Then we'd need to rake the moss til most of it came up.
Then we'd have to spike the lawn all over (with a special machine, or in smaller areas, with a garden fork) til there are lots of little holes. The holes need to be filled in with sand and then more grass seed can be sown.
I don't dislike the moss that much; it's quite soft underfoot.

Answer 4

Have a lawn of Moss. You will be the Boss.

The problem is that you have trouble getting grass to grow. You probably have lots of shade. Use LIME, and lots of it to change your lawn. Drop LIME once a week for several weeks.

Talk you the grass seed salesman about the type of grass that you would grow under your conditions.

You really should decide what you really want. GRASS or Forest. You can't have both.

Answer 5

Weed killers don't work on moss. There are chemicals available at the garden centre for kiling moss in lawns. These are different than the ones used for paths and driveways. There's a good product made by Scott called Lawnsand. It also contains fertilizer and weed killer. it is very good. And there's a really inexpensive granual called sulphite of iron you can get at most farmer supply centres. The garden centres don't sell it because there isn't enough profit in it. they prefer to sell you much more expensive things.

Answer 6

Well if it was me I would have the yard plowed over (tillered up) and re- sow the grass all together. Weed killer or turf is only a temporary fix. You will be glad you did in the long run.

Answer 7

Had same problem these past 20 years and finally gave up and learned to love the moss. I actually helped it to spread and now have a carefree back lawn never needing mowing. (My house is high and shades the back north lawn - nothing grows there except moss). To me moss is alien, but I had to learn to like bugs also - can't seem to get rid of them either.

Answer 8

I had the same problem with one of my properties, this is what I did I bought weed and feed at walmart and a bag of seed (KY blue grass) looks great after 2 yr, but if you are in a fix get the contractors grade at home-depot and a bag of petemoss you already have the water just seed and spread.

Answer 9

Good question.....even though I don't live at the home that I had this problem, I'm still curious.

I tried "scratching it up" threw grass seed on and still no luck. Had I stayed I was considering having topsoil brought in and start all over.

Also had huge trees that lined that stretch of land that was causing shade....I would not have cut them though ever.

Answer 10

Moss grows in acidic soil. Lime takes the acid out of soils. Lime your yard. Unless you have Centipede grass. Centipede loves acidic soil.