[John H]

Hi all

I am looking for a fertilizer that will keep my lawn healthy and help to keep it green,but not encourage the grass to grow any faster.

I have about an acre and a half of lawn and during the summer find it hard to keep it cut, I have mulched the grass back in for most of the summer. I am not sure wether this is enough to keep it healthy.

At the moment the lawn does'nt look to bad but it is sown 2 years and hasn't been fertilized since it was sown. I don't want to wait until it starts to look under pressure. As it is there are weeds starting to come.

So basically I am looking for a magical fertilizer that will strengthen and green up my grass that won't speed up growth and will kill all weeds Please don't tell me I am living in fairy tale land!!!!!

[aine]

i would be interested in same thing!!

just wondering is it too late to apply fertiliser/weedkiller in october?

thanks

[Foxylock]

Mmmmmmmmmm a magic potion for lawns

You could put a feed with mosskiller on the lawn anytime between here and mid november but make sure it's an autumn feed, this will help the grass immensely and deal with moss. You could try a selective weedkiller if the weeds are plotting a takeover

[aine]

thanks for that foxylock, ill have a look in my local garden centre at the weekend

[John H]

Do you know if the the Autumn feed cause the grass to grow faster in the Spring or does it just strenghten it?

Is there a bag of farm fertilizer that would do the same thing as it would probably work out cheaper to buy.

[medieval knievel]

IIRC correctly, summer feed provides nitrogen, autumn feed provides potash.
so if you've an open fire, you should be able to use the ashes on the lawn - but only if you're burning wood or turf.

[michael brenock]

Touchy subject lawns. Why feed if you are mulching. I have never fed my lawn in over forty years, always mulched, not a perfect lawn. Moss grows in the season when grass is growing slowest. Sulphate of iron in the Spring gives grass a dark green colour and kills a lot of moss. A light dresing of 10 10 20 in Spring will make the grass grow and you will have to cut more often, yes I have some weeds Plantains and dandelions and Buttercups but not a problem. Mosses indicate shading or poor drainage or poor soil structure, not always corrected by fertilisers.
michael brenock horticultural advisor (retired)

[walltoall]

An acre and a half is a mighty span of lawn. Most I've had to deal with during my life was about 1/2 acre. Apart from close to the house where I mowed and mulched about once a week with a motor mower, the rest of the half acre got cut about three or four times a year.

I'd let it go to 'seed' totally in the first half of the year. The hay, as it was, supressed most broadleaf weeds. The first cutting, generally about June, on a very high blade open, not only put a bit of shape on the lawn but reseeded it for free AND laid down a dry mulch, which did it no harm.

I'd leave it then for maybe a month during July to 'recover' and do it again with the blade at 2", again open to fling the cuttings as far as possible away from the machine. It looked quite decent and green now and another cut in mid September kept it that way, til the long nights were threatening.

If I got the grass dry at any stage in October I'd give it the last cut with the blade at 2" but this time the collector was on and every scrap of cuttings was removed for composting with hedge clippings. (The two made a great mix. I think maybe the acid in the grass broke down the wood in the clippings).

I never fertilized a lawn in my life, though I have used moss-killer over the years. Moss mostly thrives in parts of lawn that get either two little sun or too much moisture. Thank God I say nowadays for about 10 sq metres of grass. I must be getting old?