Spring lawn weed and feed

[rulefan]

Put a waterproof plastic membrane between the wall and soil. Ensure the top of the membrane is a couple of inches above the soil and goes under the soil for about 12".

 

[RichA]

over Autumn, we may do some hard landscaping. Currently we have the lawn coming all the way to our patio.. it is a raised patio built on bricks. At the bottom its concrete foundations, but standard red bricks are visible. The plan is to create a vegetable/flowerbed type closer to te house and then lawn afterwards. We may go for wooden sleepers as a separator.

So if I do 1 or 2 raised sleeper on the outside, fill the gap between the patio and sleeper with soil. How do i ensure that we dont start getting damp up the wall. Is there a way to protect the wall or or should i go deeper to concrete level to fill?
View attachment 59137

The wall isn't part of your house; it's probably just a decorative edge for you patio.
And it's looks like a pretty dry, well-draining patch.
Unless you're planning to still be there in 100 years I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Mudball]

The wall isn't part of your house; it's probably just a decorative edge for you patio.
And it's looks like a pretty dry, well-draining patch.
Unless you're planning to still be there in 100 years I wouldn't worry too much.

No it is not part of the house. The patio is built on block and beam, so the inner wall is way more important in that sense. the garden also slopes away from the house. But i dont really want to see the wall being damaged or look ugly either. I probably need another 100 years to pay off the mortgage though

 

[RichA]

No it is not part of the house. The patio is built on block and beam, so the inner wall is way more important in that sense. the garden also slopes away from the house. But i dont really want to see the wall being damaged or look ugly either. I probably need another 100 years to pay off the mortgage though

Personally, I'd break up the lawn to make sure it drains well then just build the bed and fill it with a decent mix of soil, compost and sand.
Make sure there's drainage on the lower side where the sleepers are. They'll be rotting in 20 years while the bricks will still be solid.
But I'm not a pro. Just a hacker who's done similar 20 years ago.

 

[rulefan]

over Autumn, we may do some hard landscaping. Currently we have the lawn coming all the way to our patio.. it is a raised patio built on bricks. At the bottom its concrete foundations, but standard red bricks are visible. The plan is to create a vegetable/flowerbed type closer to te house and then lawn afterwards. We may go for wooden sleepers as a separator.

So if I do 1 or 2 raised sleeper on the outside, fill the gap between the patio and sleeper with soil. How do i ensure that we dont start getting damp up the wall. Is there a way to protect the wall or or should i go deeper to concrete level to fill?
View attachment 59137

Is this it?

 

[Mudball]

Is this it?

that is the plan... either a membrane (above the soil line) or we do some sort of thinner sleeper instead of the membrane..

 

[rulefan]

that is the plan... either a membrane (above the soil line) or we do some sort of thinner sleeper instead of the membrane..

I would use a membrane. Only about £12 at Amazon

 

[Mudball]

I would use a membrane. Only about £12 at Amazon

Is there a way to attach it to the wall or just lay it on the wall and pack it with soil?

 

[rulefan]

Is there a way to attach it to the wall or just lay it on the wall and pack it with soil?

You could get some mastic (eg Bostik) or even screw a batten to the wall but I would just use the packed soil.

 

[Mudball]

You could get some mastic (eg Bostik) or even screw a batten to the wall but I would just use the packed soil.

Was watching on some social feed... one of the guys recommended applying bostik Bitumen paint onthe inside of the sleepers to ensure longitivitiy too

 

[Tashyboy]

Was watching on some social feed... one of the guys recommended applying bostik Bitumen paint onthe inside of the sleepers to ensure longitivitiy too

I did daughters back garden 10 years ago. It was a kinda rushed job with her ex husband who had seen a video from Australia. It looked very impressive however he never had one single tool To do it that way. Suffice to say. I flogged my guts out for three days doing it ( incorrectly). The biggest mistake was not sealing the sleepers on the inside. I saw a thing about 6 months ago saying if sleepers are Not sealed they will Rot inside 10 Years, and your back to square one. Guess what. Some have started rotting.

The next thing the twazzock did was order “ Premium” soil. As Jim Royle would say.
“ My arse”. It was claggy clay soil. 3 bloody tons of it. And guess which tit shovelled it and tried levelling it.
Fortunately they split up
A Month later

 

[Mudball]

I did daughters back garden 10 years ago. It was a kinda rushed job with her ex husband who had seen a video from Australia. It looked very impressive however he never had one single tool To do it that way. Suffice to say. I flogged my guts out for three days doing it ( incorrectly). The biggest mistake was not sealing the sleepers on the inside. I saw a thing about 6 months ago saying if sleepers are Not sealed they will Rot inside 10 Years, and your back to square one. Guess what. Some have started rotting.

The next thing the twazzock did was order “ Premium” soil. As Jim Royle would say.
“ My arse”. It was claggy clay soil. 3 bloody tons of it. And guess which tit shovelled it and tried levelling it.
Fortunately they split up
A Month later

hopefully you did not bury him under his premium soil..

 

[Tashyboy]

So since I scarified the front lawn ( I never did the back lawn) earlier this year there have been developments.

I borrowed my scarifier to my bro in law. I have had it about 15 years. Anyway he only went an blew the motor up. So off I toddled to Lidl and bought the last one. He built it up and finished off his lawn. About 6 weeks ago my daughter asked to borrow it and scarified her back lawn. I got a phone call to say she had blown that bloody motor. I hadn’t even used it .Apparently she was dragging the unit backwards whilst having the motor going
So she bought me another.
She dropped off the old/ new one and I had a look at it. The pair of bloody idiots had been scarifying with the Aireator blades on it. They had not checked to see what was underneath. Bro in law actually said it was bouncing all over the place on the rock solid ground when he was doing his daughters so packed it in.
Anyway my daughter ended up buying me another new one.
So I built it up and put the Scryfier attachment on.
So this morning when the grandsproggs went. Me and Missis T scarified the back garden. Lordy flippin Lordy it was a mess. The hot weather had taken its toll.
I scarified it both ways and then went over with the aireator. The timing was fantastic, glorious sunshine whilst doing the lawn. An hour after the 5kg of seed was down the heavens opened up.
So hopefully over the next few weeks, there will be enough Sun, Rain and good Temperatures to get the seed growing.
5kg of seed ordered for the front garden and that will be done over the next Couple of weeks.
Oh ah, the Lidl scarifier is a thing of beauty.

 

[Billysboots]

Just bought myself an electric scarifier, having done it by hand in the spring. I thought back then I had got most of the moss out. Wrong!

I’ve just spent two hours going over what is a medium sized lawn - about 30 metres by 10. So far I have taken out six full garden refuse bags of moss and thatch.

Already the lawn looks healthier - I can see grass for once.

 

[RichA]

Just bought myself an electric scarifier, having done it by hand in the spring. I thought back then I had got most of the moss out. Wrong!

I’ve just spent two hours going over what is a medium sized lawn - about 30 metres by 10. So far I have taken out six full garden refuse bags of moss and thatch.

Already the lawn looks healthier - I can see grass for once.

Did mine in the spring, a couple of weeks after a weed, feed, moss kill treatment. 6 months later and it's as good as I've ever seen a lawn. Only grass - nothing else whatsoever.
My current mower has no mulch option; only a collection box. I'm getting a couple of decent mowers over the winter and next year I'll be mulching every cut after the first one so the roots get more protection from the UV and heat. Looking forward to being that guy who's obsessive about his grass.

 

[Billysboots]

Looking forward to being that guy who's obsessive about his grass.

The joys of retirement!

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Just bought myself an electric scarifier, having done it by hand in the spring. I thought back then I had got most of the moss out. Wrong!

I’ve just spent two hours going over what is a medium sized lawn - about 30 metres by 10. So far I have taken out six full garden refuse bags of moss and thatch.

Already the lawn looks healthier - I can see grass for once.

Is it hard work or does the machine do it without you having to get physical? I'm still scarred by using a rotavator years ago, it broke me . Our front garden is 70% moss and a scarifier is probably the answer.

 

[Billysboots]

Is it hard work or does the machine do it without you having to get physical? I'm still scarred by using a rotavator years ago, it broke me . Our front garden is 70% moss and a scarifier is probably the answer.

The scarifier does do some of the work for you, so it’s not all down to you pushing the thing. The issue with a lot of them, mine included, is that the collection boxes seem to be as useful as an ashtray on a motorcycle. As a consequence I had to rake the lawn three times to pick up the debris by hand.

That said, it’s a whole lot easier than using a hand scarifier. I paid for that mistake for days.

 

[RichA]

The scarifier does do some of the work for you, so it’s not all down to you pushing the thing. The issue with a lot of them, mine included, is that the collection boxes seem to be as useful as an ashtray on a motorcycle. As a consequence I had to rake the lawn three times to pick up the debris by hand.

That said, it’s a whole lot easier than using a hand scarifier. I paid for that mistake for days.

My Makita cordless is a pop to use - you just push it around and it does all the hard work - but, as Billy says, the collection box is useless. I've seen pros using commercial scarifiers on YouTube and they're no better.
I leave the box off and have a length of cut off garden cane that sits in the box retainers of the machine, holding the lid open at 45° so the moss is chucked out the back. I rake it up by hand then hoover up the last bits with a rotary mower.
The pros seem to do exactly the same.
Obviously the machine can kick out little stones while it's scarifying so you need to wear long trousers and eye protection.

 

[Wilson]

The scarifier does do some of the work for you, so it’s not all down to you pushing the thing. The issue with a lot of them, mine included, is that the collection boxes seem to be as useful as an ashtray on a motorcycle. As a consequence I had to rake the lawn three times to pick up the debris by hand.

That said, it’s a whole lot easier than using a hand scarifier. I paid for that mistake for days.

I sacked off the collection box on mine the first time I used it, I normally just leave it and then use the mower to collect it afterwards.

The first time I did it I was amazed how much moss etc. it pulls out. I’ve just had a first go with my aerator, not overly difficult so will try and do the rest of the garden this weekend. I had planned on doing a full scarify & overseed this autumn but think I’ll just do it in spring.