[Dynaudio Desire]

As spring has pretty much arrvied the gardening has yet begun again. The mower came out last week and gave the lawn the spruce up. Are there any passionate gardeners on the forums? I am for one (sounds odd for a 16 yeard old) but I find it so rewarding when you look at a wonderful garden. This is what I achieved last summer and hoping to get even better results this year.

I myself really pay attention to the lawn. I find it the most important part of any garden however its looking pretty bad this year so need to give it some TLC and it should be on its way. It really is a struggle to keep the weeds at bay because we live next to a wasteland which is overgrown with weeds and they just seed over the fence into the lawn and pretty much is invaded with thousands of weeds and even stining nettles this year! Mad!

If you are a proud gardener post some piccies I would love to see them.

DD

[Woodywizz]

As a 16 year old DD, I would have thought that the last thing you would want would be to keep the weed(s) at bay.

Joking aside, my garden has taken a battering over the winter and the turf is dead (ie mud patches) in places, how do I revive it without the need for returfing??

[Mep]

it will revive itself when it dries out....you could aslo scarify (sp?...(where's Nimby when you need him ) ) and seed.

[Dynaudio Desire]

Originally Posted by woodywizz

As a 16 year old DD, I would have thought that the last thing you would want would be to keep the weed(s) at bay.

Joking aside, my garden has taken a battering over the winter and the turf is dead (ie mud patches) in places, how do I revive it without the need for returfing??

HAHA Well I get paid £15 a week from mum and dad in the summer keeping it all tip top. So I dont complain! lol

For bald patches on turf re-seeing is the best method. Its pretty simple, all you have to do is rake the bald patches, remove the stones and debris and rake again so the soil is smooth and fine. Then add the seed at a regular rate over the patch and gently run over with a rake. It should then grow at a nice steady rate but might get a bit weedy but these usually die under the first cut. Then once the patches are looking strong use Evergreen Lawn food (in the purple bag) NOT Evergreen "complete" because your new patches will be to weak to withstand the weedkiller and mosskiller in the complete mix. And your lawn should thrive.

[BrokenArrow]

I painted the front door today... I was quite proud of myself.


But gardening is even lower on my list of things to do than household DIY. We have two dogs who run through the flower beds, so not a lot grows apart from hardy shrubs and the like. However, it looks really nice in the summer when everything has sprouted and the grass is a thick, dark green.

I'm just resizing some pictures, I'll have them up in a minute...

[Woodywizz]

By scarify, you mean break up the mud/soil - then scatter grass seed......................
























What am I doing????....10 years ago I was clubbing on a Friday night, now I'm at home and talking about scarifying the lawn, on the internet, with people I have never met - god I feel old

[Dynaudio Desire]

Originally Posted by woodywizz

By scarify, you mean break up the mud/soil - then scatter grass seed.....

No scarifying is using a scarifer to remove moss and thatch from your lawn. This is done only in autumn time. If it is done when no moss or thatch is present it pretty much ruines the lawn as the thatch provides a "water" containing layer for your lawn in summer. Yet also absorbs water so can stop it getting in...

[Mep]

you should worry...I got 10 years on you!

it's kind of that, but you get a special machine with spikes that that you roll over the lawn


edit: anyway ignore me :-) listen to young DD he knows what he is talking about...I was thinking it would break up the surface a bit for seeding.

[BrokenArrow]

Here's my garden, taken last Summer.



http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...ht/Garden1.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...ht/Garden2.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...ht/Garden3.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...ht/Garden4.jpg



And here's one of the rhododendron that I like.

[Woodywizz]

Basically I need to rake the muddy patches - then reseed, then rake, then feed with the purple bag "Evergreen" once it is growing..............if my mates could see me now

[Mep]

very nice!

[Woodywizz]

Here's one of mine - taken from my daughter's bedroom.

Bit wqrried about the amount of seed that will be required to redo the lawn...and that's not even mentioning the amount of work needed to scarify

[Mep]

that is a postage stamp not a garden!

[Dynaudio Desire]

Nice work broken arrow! Deep green lawn you have there!

Woodywizz that is what you need except dont rake once youve put the seed on. Got that wrong "oops". To obtain the best results do as follows:
1) Prick the surface of the patch
2) Rake thouroughly to remove debris and lay down seed
3) Cover with thin layer of sifted soil press down firmly with a board (this is important to avoid bumps forming in the lawn).
4) After patches are growing with surrounding lawn feed with evergreen lawn food.

If you like you can put some crossed strand of thread ofver the seeded patch to stop the birds eating it, but thats a waste of time in my opinion!

[Nimby]

DD

I'm totally gobsmacked!

Nice garden!

[JohnG]

I dug all my lawn up and replaced it with ponds and gravel... much easier to maintain

[Dynaudio Desire]

Originally Posted by JohnG

I dug all my lawn up and replaced it with ponds and gravel... much easier to maintain

[Nimby]

Ponds are valuable resources to many amphibians, insects and birds where most traditional marshes, village and farm ponds have been lost to housing.

Gravel is arguably an empty desert.

While lawns are the feeding ground of the blackbird, thrush, robin, sparrow, chaffinch, wagtail, crow, magpie, rook and pheasant. (amongst others)

[Mr Incredible]

Originally Posted by Nimby

Gravel is arguably an empty desert.

"Empty" as in devoid of weeds too? I think I know why John G did what he did. I HATE weeding.

[Yandros]

Amazing work there DD Putting the rest of us to shame

Gravel doesn't have to be an empty desert - it depends on how you use it. Some pics from our garden last year...

Though funnily enough that IS a desert in the foreground (my outdoor cactus bed!)

The blackbirds have been collecting nesting material from our bog garden this morning and the robins have been poking around in the undergrowth. Unfortunately I had to put a membrane under the gravel on the paths, as gravel is the perfect seeding medium, both plants and weeds were gradually taking over the whole garden, and I was needing a machete to make it down to the greenhouse!

My tips for a great wildlife garden - don't be too tidy, make a pond, and make good deep herbacious borders.

[JohnG]

There are also hundreds of little spiders in amongst the gravel which attracts the sparrows

[JohnG]

Originally Posted by Dynaudio Desire

Perhaps when you are gardening for real and not for pocket money during playtime or school holidays then I might take your gardening advice seriously My garden attracts far more wildlife now than it did when it was just a slab of lawn.

[Nimby]

Do you suppose there are fewer spiders on lawns? Or fewer varieties?
Anyone who does something as worthwhile as gardening in their youth is surely worthy of encouragement?
Or would you actually prefer a drug/booze abusing/handbag-snatching, rowdy moron which dominates the tabloids?
It was I, not DD, which referred to your desert.
Point your cheap shots at me.

[JohnG]

It was DD who posted the - so that's who I posted back to as I don't like being lectured to be people who don't have as much knowledge on a subject as I do. I do my garden as I wish and you do whatever you want.
As you've never seen the hundreds of flowers I grow in my garden every year then I don't see why you should call it a desert, so don't go having a go at me.

[JohnG]

I do agree with what you say about youngsters getting involved in gardening though, it's good to see And I'm sorry for getting anoyed with people.

OK - as we're posting garden shots I've managed to sort a couple out. The shots weren't taken to show the flowers etc but you get a rough idea of what I'm talking about.... you can create a lot of colour and interest in a garden with no lawn. It might not be to everyone's taste but it means far less maintenance for me.

[Yandros]

Now now boys! play nice!

Anyway, the true 'garden desert' is decking

Lawns are pretty thin pickings for most wildlife, though weed suppressed gravel with sparse planting is worse.

[JohnG]

My decking has plants all over it, so I beg to differ

[Yandros]

Originally Posted by JohnG

My decking has plants all over it, so I beg to differ

So I see

[Nimby]

Very nice, JohnG. You initial post was rather misleading suggesting a streile parking space with inverted saucers of water.

Let's agree that variety is the spice of life and that life likes variety in its environment.

Your pictures aren't at all bad either!

Here's a tiny corner of ours:

[shodan]

We moved into the new house on december 21st. All I've managed to do with the garden is chop down 6 of the 9 40ft + conifers!!! My dad and I did them in one day!. Chopped them down then since then I've managed to mulch about a quarter of it. Going to bag up the mulch and load the rest of the chopped up and down branches etc onto a truck then get rid of them at a local tree fellers place.
Neighbours love me now as the can get some sun in their gardens and their patchy grass is starting to grow!
Plan is to redo all the fences and lay new turf then a couple of flower beds, maybe. And get rid of all of the climbing ivy on my brick built shed! Bit scared about that tho coz of all the giant killer spiders that live in it....