Hi there

I know little or nothing about lawns (or gardening in general) so I am seeking some advice.

We moved into our current house about 3 years ago. The back garden had been monoblocked over. It sloped downhill quite steeply, away from the house.

Both the monoblock and the slope were bad for our young kids, so I ripped up the monoblock, built a small retaining wall at the end of the slope, and filled the whole area with 12 tons of top soil.

I then turfed the whole area (it's about 7 meters by 5 meters).

I also drilled 6 or so holes in the retaining wall for drainage. When it rains a lot I can see water coming out of these, so they are working...but perhaps 6 or so isn't enough? The ground does seem to be pretty squelchy, but it would do, as it's been wet on and off recently.

It all looked great once the sections of turn had knitted together.

Anyway, fast forward to a few weeks ago, and there was a lot of dead grass (yellow coloured, straw textured) so I read a little about what to do.

I then scarified the whole area (hard work!), forked it all to a depth of about 4-6 inches, and the stuck about 2 kilos of grass seed over the whole lawn, as evenly as I could. I also raked in a bag of general purpose compost spread over the whole lawn (not very much, but it was all I has in the shed at the time!)

That was 16 days ago. The weather here (Scotland) has been mixed since then (surprise, surprise!). Some nice days verging on warm, some cold, some raining. The grass seed is still sitting there, in contact with the bare earth between the remaining grass growth, but shows no sign of actually doing anything.

Have I given it enough time?

What else should I be doing?

All comments welcome.

Cheers,
Keith.

The message
from Keith Brown contains these
words:

I know little or nothing about lawns (or gardening in general) so I am
seeking some advice.

We moved into our current house about 3 years ago. The back garden had
been monoblocked over. It sloped downhill quite steeply, away from the
house.

Both the monoblock and the slope were bad for our young kids, so I
ripped up the monoblock, built a small retaining wall at the end of the
slope, and filled the whole area with 12 tons of top soil.

I always thought that Monoblocks were carburettors manufactured by Amal...

I then turfed the whole area (it's about 7 meters by 5 meters).

I also drilled 6 or so holes in the retaining wall for drainage. When
it rains a lot I can see water coming out of these, so they are
working...but perhaps 6 or so isn't enough? The ground does seem to be
pretty squelchy, but it would do, as it's been wet on and off
recently.

It all looked great once the sections of turn had knitted together.

Anyway, fast forward to a few weeks ago, and there was a lot of dead
grass (yellow coloured, straw textured) so I read a little about what
to do.

I then scarified the whole area (hard work!), forked it all to a depth
of about 4-6 inches, and the stuck about 2 kilos of grass seed over the
whole lawn, as evenly as I could. I also raked in a bag of general
purpose compost spread over the whole lawn (not very much, but it was
all I has in the shed at the time!)

That was 16 days ago. The weather here (Scotland) has been mixed since
then (surprise, surprise!). Some nice days verging on warm, some cold,
some raining. The grass seed is still sitting there, in contact with
the bare earth between the remaining grass growth, but shows no sign of
actually doing anything.

Have I given it enough time?

No.

What else should I be doing?

Relaxing with a good beer or a glass of malt. With incohol comes raption
and oblivioture. Gin the speugs huvnae hud the seed, it'll come up...

All comments welcome.

You can't keep a good grass-seed down.

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

In article ,
says...

Hi there

I know little or nothing about lawns (or gardening in general) so I am
seeking some advice.

We moved into our current house about 3 years ago. The back garden had
been monoblocked over. It sloped downhill quite steeply, away from the
house.

Both the monoblock and the slope were bad for our young kids, so I
ripped up the monoblock, built a small retaining wall at the end of the
slope, and filled the whole area with 12 tons of top soil.

I then turfed the whole area (it's about 7 meters by 5 meters).

I also drilled 6 or so holes in the retaining wall for drainage. When
it rains a lot I can see water coming out of these, so they are
working...but perhaps 6 or so isn't enough? The ground does seem to be
pretty squelchy, but it would do, as it's been wet on and off
recently.

It all looked great once the sections of turn had knitted together.

Anyway, fast forward to a few weeks ago, and there was a lot of dead
grass (yellow coloured, straw textured) so I read a little about what
to do.

I then scarified the whole area (hard work!), forked it all to a depth
of about 4-6 inches, and the stuck about 2 kilos of grass seed over the
whole lawn, as evenly as I could. I also raked in a bag of general
purpose compost spread over the whole lawn (not very much, but it was
all I has in the shed at the time!)

That was 16 days ago. The weather here (Scotland) has been mixed since
then (surprise, surprise!). Some nice days verging on warm, some cold,
some raining. The grass seed is still sitting there, in contact with
the bare earth between the remaining grass growth, but shows no sign of
actually doing anything.

Have I given it enough time?

What else should I be doing?

All comments welcome.

Cheers,
Keith.


Patience! and while you are waiting make some more drainage holes in the
retaining wall
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

The message
from Gopher contains these words:

Is that the same speug as sat on Duncan MacRae's barra shaft? Or was
that his wee brother cock sparra? Or is Keith's speug no relation?

It's the same speug, an' brither (or sister) tae Cock Sparra'.

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

When I forked the grass, I could see lots of open holes. These now appear to have closed up. Should I do it again, and brush in some sharp sand to keep them open?

Also, roughly how long would you expect it to take to see some growth from the grass seed? The box said 7-14 days, but then manufacturers of almost anything are to be disbelieved about almost everything.

Cheers.

The message
from Keith Brown contains these
words:
'Charlie Pridham[_2_ Wrote:
;837457']In article

Patience! and while you are waiting make some more drainage holes in
the
retaining wall

When I forked the grass, I could see lots of open holes. These now
appear to have closed up. Should I do it again, and brush in some sharp
sand to keep them open?

Also, roughly how long would you expect it to take to see some growth
from the grass seed? The box said 7-14 days, but then manufacturers of
almost anything are to be disbelieved about almost everything.

That's about right - for summer sowing. It's still quite cold.

Your seed needs water, warmth and light.

Don't poke it about too much. (My grandmother always used to complain
that the boiler had gone out. She would say: "I made a little hole..."

It became a family saying for when something stopped working.

Brother's motorcycle stopped - someone would say: "You made a little hole?"

Leave the little holes alone until the turf is nice and established.
Stop worrying - grass is a weed, and weeds do what, children?

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

On 8/4/09 17:49, in article ,
"Rusty_Hinge" wrote:

The message
from Keith Brown contains these
words:
'Charlie Pridham[_2_ Wrote:
;837457']In article

Patience! and while you are waiting make some more drainage holes in
the
retaining wall

When I forked the grass, I could see lots of open holes. These now
appear to have closed up. Should I do it again, and brush in some sharp
sand to keep them open?

Also, roughly how long would you expect it to take to see some growth
from the grass seed? The box said 7-14 days, but then manufacturers of
almost anything are to be disbelieved about almost everything.

That's about right - for summer sowing. It's still quite cold.

Your seed needs water, warmth and light.

Don't poke it about too much. (My grandmother always used to complain
that the boiler had gone out. She would say: "I made a little hole..."

My grandmother used to say "If you tickle it underneath, it'll laugh on
top."
snip

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials online