Fixing our dead lawn WITHOUT fertiliser!
Вставка
- Опубліковано 2 тра 2024
- Our poor lawn didn't do too well over the winter. All the dampness and cold has resulted in very sparse growth and lots of moss. Today I'm fixing it... without using any fertiliser!
Here's some of the products I'm using:
gosforthhandyman.com/products...
Buy my Gosforth Handyman double sided metric-only tape measure:
gosforthhandyman.com/shop/
All content on this channel is exclusively owned by MacLellan Creative Limited. Copyright (c) 2024. All rights reserved.
#gardening #gardeningvideos #lawn - Розваги
Andy Mac "I don't use any feed on my lawn".
Gro Sure Compost Bag, in big letters "With 4 Months Feed".
😂
Ha, I do use feed on my lawn! Just not in Spring - any old compost seems to work better. No idea what the 'feed' is in this - sounds like marketing-speak. 😉👍
Thanks Andy, I will follow your steps.
Great! I like that you used "standard" tools, nothing fancy needed.
Forking good job Andy 👍🏻
Cheers bud! 👍
Love the video - made me think about how I am going to re-seed the back yard with 'no mow' seed in a couple of weeks. Definitely putting down some compost on my sandy soil first. Your shirt looks like it has my home state on it - Minnesota! When I saw your channel it reminded me of my grandmother we called Grandma Mac, though in her case the Mac was short for MacRunnel. 🙂
Thank you! That's my Millennial Farmer T-shirt - great channel if you haven't seen it. Yes, he's in Minnesota. 👍👍😁
Great work mate, it’s easily overlooked using compost to dress the lawn and feed it makes a huge difference, I usually use a core aerator to remove slugs then sand to help with drainage as I’ve got very clay soil, then come back with compost. Then the rest of the year is liquid seaweed. Then the back end of autumn I use an autumn weed and feed granular to fight the weeds. Along with scarifying. I rarely overdress with seeds but since getting a dog I’m constantly fighting the wee burn patches 🥴🥴
Nice one Andy, good approach and clearly explained. I would suggest going in with a bit bigger of something like a trowel for the weeds to get deeper and more of the root out where possible. Great video as always.
Cheers! I'm really not precious about the weeds. The rest of the lawn is a weedy mess but I pull the odd one out if I can be arsed. 😁
you should make a nice poured concrete step for your rear doors, nice lawn work btw!
Hi Andy, doing a great job by putting life back in to your lawn, like you said no need for fertilisers, just air rate the lawn and compost is all you need and a good watering. cant wait to see how it is in a few weeks, Great video, have a good bank holiday weekend👍👍
Cheers! It's looking greener by the week so fingers crossed. Might not even need over-seeded. Thickening up nicely.
@@AndyMac Good to hear, have a good one
Looking better already Andy, the only thing I would add is that. in deciding what you use to top dress a lawn you should try to understand your existing soil - if you look at the old lawn expert book it covers this - adjust your sand/loam/compost mix depending on the existing soil !
People get hung up on worm casts but worm activity is a great sign and will benefit the turf so great to see them back !
A Bulldog Wizard rubber lawn rake is great for incorporating a top dressing and also for collecting leaves or dropped fruit, I also use an old fashioned Besom (witches broom) which is the traditional tool for the job, there are some plastic bristled ones too that are cheaper and do the job of working in the soil. It always amazes me you can put on a ton of top dressing and it just disappears into the grass without a trace !
Ooh cheers for the tip - that lawn rake looks great! My current one is over 50 years old 😂.
@@AndyMac I first came across the "Wizard" when I used to mow lawns as a Saturday job as a teenager, so I bought one when I got my first house. The kids say "Dad, do you really need six different rakes ?" but of course they all have their different uses ! 😁
Lawn thinning is a problem because most seed mixes contain rye grass which grows quickly up, however it doesn't grow sideways. This is why it thins out in winter. What you need is bent and fescue mix, both are slow growing but low maintenance and both grow stolons which colonize empty patches. There are fine bladed grasses but once seeded the more you mow, the more they grow sideways.
i love your garden channel, look forward to your videos each week (or however frequent they are) easy to follow advice and very informative
*i also subsribe to you DIY channel
I bought a hollow tine aeration fork from Amazon for £28 and it gets used every year as our lawn is clay and compacts incredibly easily!
Might be a helpful tip - to spread the sand, use a pallet, I use my bulldog rake in the gaps and pull it that way but you could always tie a piece of rope around it too.
Stuart Matthews at Proper DIY did something very similar with his lawn. Looking forward to see how they both turn out!
Great minds! 😉
@@AndyMac Part of the UA-cam DIY Mafia: I follow you all!!
best thing for soil improvement and super easy and cheap is getting some liquid seaweed on, works wonders at improving soil microbes etc and you can use it all year, also helps the grass
👍👍
North Atlantic Sea Kelp, Humic / Fluvic Acid, EM1, and Blackstrap Molasses will do wonders for your lawn. I would also apply some granular Gypsum or Lime depending on what your soil pH is.
Great video, only one thing I'd do differently and that is I'd rake to get the moss out first. Once the lawn is a year in you can be quite vigorous with the rake, and it's good to get that moss out early.
Cheers! I did actually give it a bit of a rake but I've found the moss normally dies back naturally after this treatment. 👍
You kept the plant :) it will come back so glad it's there and sure your grass give it some attention will improve it. The cats aren't complaining so all is good. A rolling aerator would have helped and binding your hands with tape and gloves might help if you don't. Are you planning to continue your stone path to your patio?
Which plant? 🤔 Yeah, need to properly sort paths. The currents bits of path are only temporary. 👍😁
Andy it's worth getting a small cheap electric scarifier and this will help detach and raise the grass to get a shorty cut. Also May be use some 70/30 lawn dressing. But good job , the results look good 👍
Cheers! Very tempting but really trying to cut down on machine clutter. 😂
Scarifying the machine cost think it was £30 and I’ve had it ten years maybe not the most professional machine but works absolutely perfect. Comes out once a year, used, gets cleaned and put away in a plastic big tub I put in the hut. I’d not be without it as my lawn doesn’t have moss or thatch after it’s use. Every April it’s out.
I'd love one but I'm really trying to cut down on machine clutter. I quite like those lawn mowers where you can swap the cylinder blade for various scarifying attachments... but they're mega expensive. 🤔
@@AndyMac Those cylinder mowers struggle to cut long grass. So if some reason your grass gets very long you still need a rotary mower to sort that out.
To be fair granular fertiliser takes about 2 weeks to kick and the affect only lasts 6 to 8 weeks and that's the stuff we use on our sports ground.
I would of chucked some down though Andy making all those holes with the fork would of grown thickened up the sward of the lawn
I've tried fertiliser early season on this lawn before and it did nothing. I do fertilise once it's actively growing though. 👍
Buy a cheap digging fork, border or small person size is best, 4 tines wide.
Cut off the outside one on each side leaving the middle two.
Poke this in the soil next to deep rooted weeds and wiggle it slightly....the tap root will come right out when you pull.
Great tip - might have to try that!
Just bought a few bags of that wickes compost 🤦🏽♂️
It's not cooked yet 😂. It's probably OK as a soil conditioner but not great for seeds etc. I've used most of it as a base layer in big pots then put better compost on top. 👍
@@AndyMac thanks for replying back. I bought it for some seeds tbh. Was going to mix with some soil and sand. Mrs is in charge of plants and bought some better quality one for that.
Hi mate, 25 years gardening and I'd say reseed when composting and adding sand. Also your lawn needs detharching in winter
Cheers! Yeah, it got a good rake in late autumn and then a slightly lighter rake before starting this. 👍
Thanks for this video. Can you please tell me, what does the sand do and what does the compost do? Is this appropriate for any lawn? My situation is that our lawn is overrun by weeds, specifically clover and some type of white flower. Grrrrr….
Hi - the biggest problem with our lawn was water logging. The sand drops in to the holes from the forking to stop them closing up, helping with drainage. The compost adds organic material and feeds the lawn. Clover has white flowers - not sure if it's that? You'd probably need a weedkiller (stuff specifically for lawns) but you might end up with lots of bare patches from where the weeds have killed the grass. Best of luck!
Could have used the cement mixer to mix compost
Ha possibly!
2:48 I just spent three afternoons cutting out 5 barrow-loads of industrial strength dandelion type things! Back breaking stuff - but all goes to make good compost for next year! 1500m2 lawn here - apart from getting rid of the big ugly yellow things it can do its own thing! Moss is nice and soft to walk on and doesn’t grow as fast as grass!
1500m2 lawn - that's huge! Hope you have a ride-on mower! 👍😁
@@AndyMac I’m afraid not - too many complicated bed and shrubs to cut around, just a decent self propelled mower.
You HAVE to get the tap root of the dandelion completely out. Otherwise you just make them mad and they co e back bigger and stronger.
Ha yeah, not happening. Really not that precious about weeds. 😁👍
Good job, but fert was defo used
I haven't applied fertiliser. 🤪
@@AndyMac Not in isolation, but the compost contains 'feed', which is no doubt nutrients, of Phosphorus, Potassium and Nitrogen, which fertilize the lawn .........Semantics.
Save your back and get some spiked lawn shoes ... Open a beer and just walk around ! ... keep up the great content Andy pal !
Great idea 🍻
And sprain your ankles
Bad idea
@@fuzzy1237 depends how many beers are involved 🤪
I've seen those - look great! Don't really go deep enough for something like this but good for general surface level aeration. 👍👍😁
@@AndyMac used regulary they negate the need to go deep, hence saving the hardwork ... 👍
You should have overseeded before adding the compost. I almost feel like
You’ve missed this from the edit because it should have been the main thing to do to thicken it up? A big miss of you genuinely didn’t do it
In my view there's no point overseeding that early since it just doesn't germinate - especially in such a cold Spring. The seed rots away or gets eaten by pigeons. You can fleece it but can't be arsed with that. As I say, I'll overseed probably late May / June one things have warmed up a bit.
@@AndyMac that’s fair enough. I overseeded 3 weeks ago but I fleeced. Decent germination but yeah accept you lose more. Trouble in doing it as late as you are though is the amount of watering needed. But if you can do it fair enough.