# My New Lawn



## jowwy (30 Jun 2021)

From this 







to this in just 4 weeks


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## I like Skol (30 Jun 2021)

Bit patchy there. Are you letting the dog piss on it?


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## southcoast (30 Jun 2021)

As Clapton would say “Let it grow”


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## Beebo (30 Jun 2021)

Good work with the grass seed. 
I had mine turfed about 8 weeks ago. And it wont stop growing!
But it already has weeds growing in it. It seems to be an impossible job to keep it weed free.


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## I like Skol (30 Jun 2021)

Beebo said:


> Good work with the grass seed.
> I had mine turfed about 8 weeks ago. And it wont stop growing!
> But it already has weeds growing in it. It seems to be an impossible job to keep it weed free.


Turfed lawns do seem to come with resident weeds IME. Just keep plucking them individually by hand with a small trowel or probe to get the roots and after a month or two you should be rid of the incumbent ones and only have to be dealing with new invaders.


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## jowwy (1 Jul 2021)

I like Skol said:


> Bit patchy there. Are you letting the dog piss on it?


New lawns are always patchy……and yes, its his garden so he pisses on it, but the patches are not from the dog…


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## dave r (1 Jul 2021)

I like Skol said:


> Turfed lawns do seem to come with resident weeds IME. Just keep plucking them individually by hand with a small trowel or probe to get the roots and after a month or two you should be rid of the incumbent ones and only have to be dealing with new invaders.



The only time I had turf put down it came complete with sheep s**t.


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## gbb (1 Jul 2021)

Regarding the weeds, and i start by saying I'm no gardener but our small lawn (20 x 30 ft) always suffered from waterlogging , poor quality soil i suspect, clay etc etc. I never had a good lawn, weeds and moss always took over, dandelions especially. One year i had it all re turfed, waste of time, i wasnt dealing with the root causes.
2 years ago i started weed and feeding it because the dandelions were infesting everything. It looked terrible for a year as they died off and left loads of bare patches but over the next year....i hardly have any weeds at all, the lawn is richer and greener than it ever has been.
Even my SIL visited and noted...oooh isnt your lawn lovely.


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## T4tomo (1 Jul 2021)

Not bad for a 1st growth from seed. It will always be patchy with dog piss, but hey its a lawn not your front room carpet


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## jowwy (1 Jul 2021)

T4tomo said:


> Not bad for a 1st growth from seed. It will always be patchy with dog piss, but hey its a lawn not your front room carpet


ive never had a patchy lawn with dog piss....its always been lush and green and he pees all over it


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## jowwy (1 Jul 2021)




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## T4tomo (1 Jul 2021)

yes it grows back stronger - you have to train it to piss in different places every day, or complement it with your own nightime sprinkles under cover of darkness


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## fossyant (1 Jul 2021)

jowwy said:


> ive never had a patchy lawn with dog piss....its always been lush and green and he pees all over it



Female dog wee kills the grass, male the opposite.


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## fossyant (1 Jul 2021)

Oh and grass doesn't like oil spills. I've now got a few bald patches from my bloody son and his car 'fixing' - not too bothered about the lawn next to the drive, but why the hell he went in the back garden with oily parts. Might have to dig it out yet !


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## gbb (1 Jul 2021)

Most of my dogs that did pee on the lawn left dead brown patches, i always have a fence now.


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## flake99please (1 Jul 2021)

jowwy said:


> From this
> View attachment 596696
> 
> 
> ...


Pretty good. If you had the weather like it is in Edinburgh you may have had results similar to me……

From this






To this





In 5 hours.


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## jowwy (1 Jul 2021)

fossyant said:


> Female dog wee kills the grass, male the opposite.





gbb said:


> Most of my dogs that did pee on the lawn left dead brown patches, i always have a fence now.


My dog is male, which is why i posted the above about male dogs.......sorry your dog left brown patches on your grass @gbb , but mine never has in the 13yrs i have had the little man. as you can see by my pictures, its all nice lush and green, he pees on it everyday.......


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## jowwy (1 Jul 2021)

flake99please said:


> Pretty good. If you had the weather like it is in Edinburgh you may have had results similar to me……
> 
> From this
> View attachment 596781
> ...


the old plastic fantastic hey........that would burn the feet of my dog in summer and he would have nowhere to run and play with his ball.......


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## flake99please (1 Jul 2021)

jowwy said:


> the old plastic fantastic hey........that would burn the feet of my dog in summer and he would have nowhere to run and play with his ball.......



The ‘grass’ has certainly been hot today.

Plastic would clearly not be suitable for you and your dogs needs, but ideal for my elderly in-laws with this 16 square metre patch.


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## jowwy (1 Jul 2021)

flake99please said:


> The ‘grass’ has certainly been hot today.
> 
> Plastic would clearly not be suitable for you and your dogs needs, but ideal for my elderly in-laws with this 16 square metre patch.


Theres an ideal situation for every thing………i have plastic grass on the front garden, so it always looks good when people visit, dog doesnt go out the front, so its ideal.


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## JhnBssll (1 Jul 2021)

Looking good dude


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## Rusty Nails (1 Jul 2021)

Our lawn has no weeds but is 90% moss. No problem, it's green, can be walked on or used to kick a football on, doesn't need feeding and doesn't need mowing so much.

My wife doesn't agree, but we don't come to blows over it.


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## PaulSB (2 Jul 2021)

We have two lawns, one treated four times a year by Green Thumb, the other, on the allotment, which receives no treatment contains other plants such as buttercup, dandelion, daisy, clover white and pink, self-heal, wild grasses.

The treated one is a dull, featureless green oblong. It sits there doing nothing, contributing nothing to the garden. The allotment lawn is a riot of colour from mid-April through to late August. At times I leave areas uncut to let the taller wild grasses, butter cups and daisies flower. When I "cut" during summer months I raise the blades high enough to allow clover and self heal to continue flowering.

The allotment lawn is colourful and alive with pollinating insects, 80% bees, throughout the summer. I know which one I enjoy.


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## jowwy (2 Jul 2021)

PaulSB said:


> We have two lawns, one treated four times a year by Green Thumb, the other, on the allotment, which receives no treatment contains other plants such as buttercup, dandelion, daisy, clover white and pink, self-heal, wild grasses.
> 
> The treated one is a dull, featureless green oblong. It sits there doing nothing, contributing nothing to the garden. The allotment lawn is a riot of colour from mid-April through to late August. At times I leave areas uncut to let the taller wild grasses, butter cups and daisies flower. When I "cut" during summer months I raise the blades high enough to allow clover and self heal to continue flowering.
> 
> The allotment lawn is colourful and alive with pollinating insects, 80% bees, throughout the summer. I know which one I enjoy.


The green one in the garden lol……


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## Rusty Nails (2 Jul 2021)

Time spent mowing lawns or trimming hedges is time wasted.


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## fossyant (2 Jul 2021)

My BIL has put plastic grass down in his back garden - most of it's decked or stone. Main reason was it didn't drain terribly well and the Labrador would get muddy feet and bring it in the house. I will see how it goes as no doubt the dog will pee on the plastic grass and I believe it stinks after a while - I didn't have the heart to tell him.

@jowwy, you've let the team down having plastic grass in the front !


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## neil_merseyside (2 Jul 2021)

fossyant said:


> My BIL has put plastic grass down in his back garden - most of it's decked or stone. Main reason was it didn't drain terribly well and the Labrador would get muddy feet and bring it in the house. I will see how it goes as no doubt the dog will pee on the plastic grass and I believe it stinks after a while - I didn't have the heart to tell him.
> 
> @jowwy, you've let the team down having plastic grass in the front !


Might work with having a dog from a wet paw POV but I can't see the point with the pee of swapping a mower for a jetwash (and a hoover for leaves). 
But wouldn't the sub base work for the plastic mat have been the perfect base for a well drained lawn?


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## fossyant (2 Jul 2021)

neil_merseyside said:


> Might work with having a dog from a wet paw POV but I can't see the point with the pee of swapping a mower for a jetwash (and a hoover for leaves).
> But wouldn't the sub base work for the plastic mat have been the perfect base for a well drained lawn?



Aye, BIL is a 'builder' by trade (site manager now), but the grass wasn't growing well. He's raised the base for the plastic grass. Looks OK, but I recon it will stink soon enough. Too much dog traffic on it before (not a big lawn).


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## jowwy (2 Jul 2021)

fossyant said:


> My BIL has put plastic grass down in his back garden - most of it's decked or stone. Main reason was it didn't drain terribly well and the Labrador would get muddy feet and bring it in the house. I will see how it goes as no doubt the dog will pee on the plastic grass and I believe it stinks after a while - I didn't have the heart to tell him.
> 
> @jowwy, you've let the team down having plastic grass in the front !


sorry fossy, its more a needs must in that area........my back garden is big enough to take care of and i work fulltime and i care for my disable partner too, i just dont have enough time to do it all

Sorry


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## Drago (2 Jul 2021)

That didn't come out too bad at all Jowwers. Gives me hope for when I tackle mine.


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## Rusty Nails (2 Jul 2021)

Some people have this.





I prefer this:


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## icowden (2 Jul 2021)

Rusty Nails said:


> Time spent mowing lawns or trimming hedges is time wasted.


I agree with the first but not the second. Some evergreen hedges will just grow taller and wider and eventually take over your house. They have to be kept in check.


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## Rusty Nails (2 Jul 2021)

icowden said:


> I agree with the first but not the second. Some evergreen hedges will just grow taller and wider and eventually take over your house. They have to be kept in check.



There's way around that...don't have evergreen hedges.

There used to be a good treatment to reduce the time spent mowing or trimming. It was called Cutlass and you sprayed it on after the first cut of the growing season and it only needed cutting once more during the year, but was banned because of its toxic qualities/damage to the environment. I still have some in the shed and no longer use it, but don't like the idea of tipping it down the drain.


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## jowwy (2 Jul 2021)

Drago said:


> That didn't come out too bad at all Jowwers. Gives me hope for when I tackle mine.


Its looking good to be fair after only 4.5wks…….we got rain for a few days now, so just seeded some of the patchy areas, so that can germinate while its wet and warm.

Thats all my projects for the year done now…..will leave the hot tub pergola and the shed rebuild til late autumn or next spring now.


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## PaulSB (5 Jul 2021)

Well I chuntered on about people's desire to control nature and inability to understand the needs of wildlife.

My neighbour's hedge bottom





My hedge bottom





My allotment, part of it, full of colour and grass full of food for pollinators. Then there's the garden lawn!


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## MontyVeda (5 Jul 2021)

I've always wanted a lawn big enough to justify a ride-on mower






probably because I've always wanted a ride-on mower.


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## jowwy (5 Jul 2021)

PaulSB said:


> Well I chuntered on about people's desire to control nature and inability to understand the needs of wildlife.
> 
> My neighbour's hedge bottom
> View attachment 597467
> ...


Give me that lawn everytime over the allotment garden…..sorry mate, but its more aesthetically pleasing to. Maybe its the ex golfer in me, thats used to immaculately kept greens and fairways


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## winjim (5 Jul 2021)

fossyant said:


> My BIL has put plastic grass down in his back garden - most of it's decked or stone. Main reason was it didn't drain terribly well and the Labrador would get muddy feet and bring it in the house. I will see how it goes as no doubt the dog will pee on the plastic grass and I believe it stinks after a while - I didn't have the heart to tell him.
> 
> @jowwy, you've let the team down having plastic grass in the front !


Our childminder has it in the back garden and it works really well when you've got half a dozen kids causing havoc on it every day. It's on a raised deck with a hidden sandpit under a trap door. It's nicer than just having decking.


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## yello (5 Jul 2021)

Beebo said:


> But it already has weeds growing in it. It seems to be an impossible job to keep it weed free.


Yep, tell me about it. We've had a lot of stuff blown in and take root. We've provided a nice, rich bed for weeds. I've spent a lot of time (over several weeks) just pulling weeds and it's staring to look like decent lawn now.

I did another patch last autumn and I don't remember it being anywhere as bad so I might in future only sew lawn in autumn.

Looks really good @jowwy I'd be pleased with that.

Our dog (female) has caused dead patches on the lawn with her pee but it grows back.


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## Slick (5 Jul 2021)

MontyVeda said:


> I've always wanted a lawn big enough to justify a ride-on mower
> 
> View attachment 597475
> 
> ...


I just secured a new house and just couldn't resist getting them to throw the ride on into the mix when we were doing the deal.


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## Rusty Nails (5 Jul 2021)

winjim said:


> Our childminder has it in the back garden and it works really well when you've got half a dozen kids causing havoc on it every day. It's on a raised deck with a hidden sandpit under a trap door. It's nicer than just having decking.


I've just fitted artificial grass onto the small back garden of my sister's terrace house. She loves it as she just wants somewhere to sit outside on without wasting time and effort unnecessarily. Flowers and shrubs are in tubs rather than in the ground.


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## jowwy (5 Jul 2021)

yello said:


> Yep, tell me about it. We've had a lot of stuff blown in and take root. We've provided a nice, rich bed for weeds. I've spent a lot of time (over several weeks) just pulling weeds and it's staring to look like decent lawn now.
> 
> I did another patch last autumn and I don't remember it being anywhere as bad so I might in future only sew lawn in autumn.
> 
> ...


Yup im pretty stoked with how its turned out….i just seeded the patches before the weekend and with warm rain falling, those patches will be filled out in no time at all


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## MontyVeda (6 Jul 2021)

Slick said:


> I just secured a new house and just couldn't resist getting them to throw the ride on into the mix when we were doing the deal.


Love it!


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## bikingdad90 (6 Jul 2021)

Rusty Nails said:


> Time spent mowing lawns or trimming hedges is time wasted.


Depends on your tastes and how spicy your love life is!


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## Hicky (7 Jul 2021)

@jowwy did you tiller the whole area to get a fine soil consistency ?
I’m thinking of getting rid of a stoned area and turfing it. It’s been compacted for years so quite solid.


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## T4tomo (7 Jul 2021)

Hicky said:


> @jowwy did you tiller the whole area to get a fine soil consistency ?
> I’m thinking of getting rid of a stoned area and turfing it. It’s been compacted for years so quite solid.


if reseeding a lawn, time sent on soil prep is time well spent


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## Hicky (7 Jul 2021)

T4tomo said:


> if reseeding a lawn, time sent on soil prep is time well spent


Turf, easier and quicker with three working spaniels and a baby


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## T4tomo (7 Jul 2021)

Hicky said:


> Turf, easier and quicker with three working spaniels and a baby


same applies, the better the soil underneath the better the turf roots will take, otherwise you might as well lay the turf on concrete and water it, it will last about as long


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## jowwy (7 Jul 2021)

Hicky said:


> @jowwy did you tiller the whole area to get a fine soil consistency ?
> I’m thinking of getting rid of a stoned area and turfing it. It’s been compacted for years so quite solid.


i didnt tiller no....i scarified off all the old grass and then added a shoot load of topsoil, compost and sand

the reason i didnt tiller, was because the previous owners had put down a weed barrier ( pretty thick black matting type) some years ago which is covering the whole lawn aroud 20mtrs x 15mtrs and its only a few inches below the surface ( which came to light while digging out the flower beds) and i didnt want it all getting caught up in the machine........


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## Bonefish Blues (7 Jul 2021)

I can't recall a better year to set seed (unless it was in the May drought, of course!). Wet, mild, perfect.


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## jowwy (9 Jul 2021)

Looking all rather good now and not so patchy and i painted the decking base around the man cave too


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