Grass

[Merking]

I've been doing some gardening work at my mum's house this week. She doesn't have green fingers and the lawn is a right state!

I plan to strip the lawn and plant some new grass seeds. Is there more than one type of grass seed? I want the lawn to look perfect, like you would see on a golf course

[deltadelta48]

Yes, in US there are mixes of seeds for shady, sunny, shady/sunny, and high traffic lawns. Some speciality like Kentucky Blue Grass too. Better brands have less weed seeds, and may have coating to make them germinate better.

Big project. Alternate would be to rake well, overseed, add soil to bare spots. Later use a fertilizer. It will usually thicken up and improve quite a bit.

[TexasAda]

Yes indeed it's usually a big project! You might want to spend time researching what kind of native plants grow well in your area. You might find something attractive that doesn't need to be mowed and fertilized and watered as much as golf course grass usually is. Maybe flowers or ivy or even vegetables.

Or, if you really really want golf course type grass, bite the bullet and enrich your soil after eradicating all the existing plants, and invest in some proven dependable seed. Maybe even sod if you are impatient and have the money.

One summer we let our Bermuda grass grow to about 12". It must have shaded out the weeds because it was weed-free. And when the wind blew on the long grass, it was lovely like on a prairie. However, we've also found out Bermuda isn't the best choice for our hot climate. If we had it to do over again, we'd get some xeriscape stuff like buffalo grass. It doesn't need much watering.

[meebo1]

I've been doing some gardening work at my mum's house this week. She doesn't have green fingers and the lawn is a right state!

I plan to strip the lawn and plant some new grass seeds. Is there more than one type of grass seed? I want the lawn to look perfect, like you would see on a golf course

Well, you have some project ahead of you. My Fil spent many hours trying to get the perfect lawn. Any daisy that dared poke through was removed pronto. It did look nice, but perfect it was not. A constant battle against moss too

[LizzyA]

Have you got clay or heavy soil, I am asking because of the moss,
You can buy and fork like tool, which you stand on, It take 4 cores of soil out. better than doing it with a fork, which you wiggle about and just compacts the soil. you need to let in air. do not cut too low.
We have struggled for years with ours which is heavy clay, but we are trying to get MORE daisies. I think they look lovely.

[meebo1]

I like the daisies too, and as my Fil has been dead a number of years they are thriving

[Teddyrose54]

Perfect ? Is there such a thing?

A nice garden yes, but a perfect garden would be so time consuming you would have no time to be on here.

Now that's a crime~

[astral276]

I like the daisies too, and as my Fil has been dead a number of years they are thriving

Now there's a statement that left me with a puzzled look on my face.

[astral276]

A 'Bowling Green' lawn requires enormous effort. I think I would be too lazy and, if I wanted such, would pay someone like GreenThumb to do it - at least until it was in good order.

[bykimbo]

Gently undulating lawns with daisies and camomile are so much nicer too!