Left it too late!

[Leo123]

Hi

I have a lawn that is not in great condition and think I've run out of time to make progress this autumn.

The lawn is a mixture of grasses as some is old, some not so old and some new - probably all from different seed mixes. There are lots of weeds (shelfheal and plantain) and clover and moss in places.

I have just bought an electric lawn rake and scarifier, I have also bought some Aftercut all in one, weedol weed killer and also some grass seed.

Ideally I'd like to do as much as I can now so it makes it look better next spring onwards.

Ideally, I'd kill the weeds, scarfiy/rake and then overseed however I don't think I can do all 3 now given it is early October and presume I've got to wait at least a month to overseed the weed killer and Aftercut?

Would I be best off:

1. Killing the weeds with the weedol and Aftercut all in one then scarifying

1. Scarifying and then overseeding

Any advice on the order of priorities would be great!

Thanks in advance Leo

[Iggy]

1st option, IF you have a full 4 to 6-weeks of warm left. Scalp it with the mower set to its lowest height to remove as much weed, especially any larger weed leaves. Then, scarify, seed and water. The seed needs as much warm-time as possible to establish roots to even make it to spring.

2nd option, maybe and likely the only thing you can do so late in the year. Scarify and drop all of your weeders on everything to re-seed in spring. Weeds won't be gone forever, many are like crabgrass and have already planted seeds that will continue to return for years to come. Then, re-scarify, seed and water for the 1st month of spring.

After that, it's only monthly treatments of Weed-B-Gon type products (they don't kill the grass) to continually decrease the weeds and stop their seeding, you need one full season to make a solid dent in the weeds. But, for a long-neglected lawn you're looking at the next 5-seasons of greatly decreasing Weed-B-Gon type treatments. It's never one & done.

[songbird]

Bob F wrote: ...

if you are worried about poisons, don't even bother, just mow it regularly.

if you have rabbits around they'll eat the clovers, dandelions, plantains and some of the other weeds.

songbird

[songbird]

Bob F wrote: ...

chickens will strip an area bare if you let them stay in one place for long. they scratch the ground for any grubs, roots, ants, etc.

often in permaculture setups where you rotate plant people use chickens to clear an area before planting veggies. they prep the ground and fertilize it too.

i can't bring myself to keep chickens. i use worms instead and do the garden prep myself (smothering or shallow digging with a shovel).

songbird

[trader4]

That is what I would do. Fall is by far the best time to re-seed. Only question is what kind of other grass is there, weeds, etc. If he has crap grass, weeds that can't be killed with broadleaf weedkiller, etc, then it's better to kill everything with glyphosate, make sure it;s all dead after about a week, then mow short, re-seed. But it's probably too late in the season now for that, not sure of the exact climate over there. It also depends on whether you want a uniform looking lawn or will tolerate a less uniform look. Make sure to use an appropriate, high quality grass seed and starter fertilizer. In the Spring deal with the weeds.