Improving older lawns.

macandrosie, Jul 5, 4:03am
Is there an easier way than spraying off & resowing lawn? Our lawns are old & tired. There's a few weeds which can be dealt with. I've thrown a bit of urea at them during the growing season, but they aren't great & am wondering whether or not to start again, or is there an amazing fertilizer out there that would give them a new lease of life? ! TIA

maclad, Jul 5, 5:01am
In the early spring you need to scarify your lawn, either manually with a rake or hire a scarifier, to remove all the dead thatch which clogs the lawn up. Then lightly dress with topsoil and resow. Put down fertilizer, at a reduced rate, before the seed and your lawn will imrpove dramatically.
Aerating it will also help but you may have to sue a garden fork to do this. This is hard work but worth it.

tweake, Jul 5, 5:22am
i would think it would depend on why it looks old and tired.
has it got weed grasses in there? (no idea what grows in gore).
how much is grass and how much is weeds?
if the grass itself is ok, probably just an overseed will do.
bit of fert, slow release fert, compost.
scarify and aerating would help but i think the old garden fork is just about a waste of time. the holes close back up rather easily.

macandrosie, Jul 5, 11:25pm
Lawn is just too big. Approx half a hectare. Some of the grass is pasture as I extended into the paddock over the years. But lawn up beside the hedge just doesn't really grow that well.

tweake, Jul 5, 11:54pm
the lawn beside the hedge just need to work out why its not growing well there. lack of nutrients because the hedge is sucking it all up, shade, to wet , sun trap, moss etc.
sow a more suitable grass ?

macandrosie, Jul 9, 3:57am
I think the 50+ year old hedge has used up all the nutrients over the years.

golfdiver, Jul 9, 8:47am
Most Kiwis cut their lawns way too short

macandrosie, Jul 10, 8:23am
Changed to a ride on 3 years ago so I deliberately didn't cut too short, but I know what you mean.

digmen1, Jul 10, 6:04pm
I have a small lawn with the house I just bought.

I spent a lot of time hand weeding and scarifying and fertilising every few months.

It is now (in the middle of winter looking very lush)

I plan to keep at this this year to keep on the weeds and the regular fertilizing. I still have large patches of clover and some of kikiuyu.

tweake, Nov 26, 6:49am
spray out that kikuyu. you will never remove it by hand.
fert this time of year will probably be a waste as things are not growing much. feed it when they need it.
i prefer the slow release fert. just be careful of putting on to much heavy nitrogen based fert.