Flipping over turf
 

I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and hiring a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?

Flipping over turf
 

On 17/04/2017 19:18, Bazza wrote:
I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and hiring a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?


Why not just put the topsoil on the turf?

Flipping over turf
 

On 17/04/2017 19:18, Bazza wrote:
I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

I expect the old grass will grow through.

--
Max Demian

Flipping over turf
 

On 17/04/2017 19:18, Bazza wrote:
I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and hiring a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?

This will give you a soft and uneven surface as the grass decomposes.
It's far better to cut it off and use new top soil to build up the
height you want before sowing the seed. As they say: BTDTGTTS.
If I was doing the job again I would use turf rather than seed - you
don't need to fend off birds and I suspect it would give a more even result.

Flipping over turf
 

dennis@home Wrote in message:
On 17/04/2017 19:18, Bazza wrote:
I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and hiring a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?


Why not just put the topsoil on the turf?


After treating with glyphosate...
--
Jim K


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

Flipping over turf
 

Bazza wrote:
I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the
old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an
alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the
turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of
top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and hiring
a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?

You think that you have problems?
I'm having a battle to the death with the bloody Dandelions in my front
garden.

Mr Hogg will be along eventually to help you.
Take note of what he says.

Flipping over turf
 

On Monday, 17 April 2017 19:48:28 UTC+1, wrote:
On 17/04/2017 19:18, Bazza wrote:
I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and hiring a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?

This will give you a soft and uneven surface as the grass decomposes.
It's far better to cut it off and use new top soil to build up the
height you want before sowing the seed. As they say: BTDTGTTS.
If I was doing the job again I would use turf rather than seed - you
don't need to fend off birds and I suspect it would give a more even result.

If I give the grass a really close cut then scarrify deeply, might this reduce the amount of softness and uneveness? Also maybe if I rolled it heavily several times and tramped it in??
I do really want to build up the level of the lawn so am reluctant to remove any soil if possible.

Turf is costly hence the preference for seeding.

Flipping over turf
 

On Monday, 17 April 2017 20:31:27 UTC+1, Bazza wrote:
On Monday, 17 April 2017 19:48:28 UTC+1, wrote:
On 17/04/2017 19:18, Bazza wrote:
I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and hiring a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?

This will give you a soft and uneven surface as the grass decomposes.
It's far better to cut it off and use new top soil to build up the
height you want before sowing the seed. As they say: BTDTGTTS.
If I was doing the job again I would use turf rather than seed - you
don't need to fend off birds and I suspect it would give a more even result.

If I give the grass a really close cut then scarrify deeply, might this reduce the amount of softness and uneveness? Also maybe if I rolled it heavily several times and tramped it in??
I do really want to build up the level of the lawn so am reluctant to remove any soil if possible.

Turf is costly hence the preference for seeding.

You've not explained why you want rid of the existing grass. There's seldom any good reason to. Without yet hearing why, the most likely options is to add soil where wanted & seed. Repeated mowing is all it takes to remove almost all non-grasses.


NT

Flipping over turf
 

On 17/04/2017 20:35, wrote:

You've not explained why you want rid of the existing grass. There's
seldom any good reason to. Without yet hearing why, the most likely
options is to add soil where wanted & seed. Repeated mowing is all it
takes to remove almost all non-grasses.

My old college had wonderful lawns. When asked what the secret was, the
gardeners would say "Just give it a close trim twice a week, every week
mind, and after 200 years it looks like this."

Flipping over turf
 

Chris Hogg wrote:
On Mon, 17 Apr 2017 20:23:04 +0100, "Mr Pounder Esquire"
wrote:

Bazza wrote:
I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the
old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an
alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the
turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of
top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and
hiring a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?

You think that you have problems?
I'm having a battle to the death with the bloody Dandelions in my
front garden.

You want a selective lawn weedkiller like Verdone, that you spray onto
the individual dandelion plants, as here http://tinyurl.com/kza63qs
but not necessarily from Amazon. Your local garden centre will almost
certainly have it. Only takes a few minutes to walk across the grass
and treat each weed, which will then turn up its leaves and die in a
couple of weeks.

I poke a hole into the "heart" of the swines and pour salt into the hole.
This kills them, but they come back in different places.
All the gardens near me seem to have the same infestation. Something to do
with the mild winter.

Flipping over turf
 

On Monday, 17 April 2017 20:35:29 UTC+1, wrote:
On Monday, 17 April 2017 20:31:27 UTC+1, Bazza wrote:
On Monday, 17 April 2017 19:48:28 UTC+1, wrote:
On 17/04/2017 19:18, Bazza wrote:
I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and hiring a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?

This will give you a soft and uneven surface as the grass decomposes.
It's far better to cut it off and use new top soil to build up the
height you want before sowing the seed. As they say: BTDTGTTS.
If I was doing the job again I would use turf rather than seed - you
don't need to fend off birds and I suspect it would give a more even result.

If I give the grass a really close cut then scarrify deeply, might this reduce the amount of softness and uneveness? Also maybe if I rolled it heavily several times and tramped it in??
I do really want to build up the level of the lawn so am reluctant to remove any soil if possible.

Turf is costly hence the preference for seeding.

You've not explained why you want rid of the existing grass. There's seldom any good reason to. Without yet hearing why, the most likely options is to add soil where wanted & seed. Repeated mowing is all it takes to remove almost all non-grasses.


NT

The grass is totally weed-free, but it has a mix of varieties -giving inconsistent colour and texture. Currently it gets mowed every two days.

One of the coarser varieties tends to spread out horizontally so, in my view, is an undesirable. But all that aside I want to get closer to getting a much better lawn - lawn that makes a real impression - level, smooth, consistent , rich green etc etc

Flipping over turf
 

Chris Hogg wrote:
On Mon, 17 Apr 2017 21:18:12 +0100, "Mr Pounder Esquire"
wrote:

Chris Hogg wrote:
On Mon, 17 Apr 2017 20:23:04 +0100, "Mr Pounder Esquire"
wrote:

Bazza wrote:
I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for
the old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an
alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the
turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of
top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and
hiring a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?

You think that you have problems?
I'm having a battle to the death with the bloody Dandelions in my
front garden.

You want a selective lawn weedkiller like Verdone, that you spray
onto the individual dandelion plants, as here
http://tinyurl.com/kza63qs but not necessarily from Amazon. Your
local garden centre will almost certainly have it. Only takes a few
minutes to walk across the grass and treat each weed, which will
then turn up its leaves and die in a couple of weeks.

I poke a hole into the "heart" of the swines and pour salt into the
hole. This kills them, but they come back in different places.
All the gardens near me seem to have the same infestation. Something
to do with the mild winter.

Your grass probably has a lot of dandelion seeds in it, and these are
germinating. Salt will kill them, but it may also kill the grass in
that immediate area and poison the soil until it all washes through,
so you can end up with little bald patches all over it. Go for
Verdone, and make sure you pick off any dandelion flower heads before
they make 'clocks'.


Okay and thanks Sir.
This is the first year that I've had this problem. I was probably going over
the top with my Dandelion problem. I've encountered about four of them, four
too many!
Mrs Pounder Esq is not too happy with the front lawn. The fact that it has
only had the second mow of the year falls on deaf ears.

Flipping over turf
 

On 17/04/2017 20:59, Chris Hogg wrote:
Then roughly level it and do the heel-walking/levelling routine
before finally sowing the seed.

Do you really need to compact it that much or will running my plate
compactor over it be enough if I wanted to redo my lawn?

Flipping over turf
 

On 4/17/2017 7:29 PM, jim wrote:
dennis@home Wrote in message:
On 17/04/2017 19:18, Bazza wrote:
I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and hiring a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?


Why not just put the topsoil on the turf?


After treating with glyphosate...


+1

Flipping over turf
 

On 4/17/2017 9:10 PM, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Mon, 17 Apr 2017 20:23:04 +0100, "Mr Pounder Esquire"
wrote:

Bazza wrote:
I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the
old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an
alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the
turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of
top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and hiring
a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?

You think that you have problems?
I'm having a battle to the death with the bloody Dandelions in my front
garden.

You want a selective lawn weedkiller like Verdone, that you spray onto
the individual dandelion plants, as here http://tinyurl.com/kza63qs
but not necessarily from Amazon. Your local garden centre will almost
certainly have it. Only takes a few minutes to walk across the grass
and treat each weed, which will then turn up its leaves and die in a
couple of weeks.

Verdone is not what it used to be when I was a lad.....

Flipping over turf
 

Bazza wrote

I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are
for the old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider
an alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the turf
completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of top
soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and
hiring a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?

Just potty. If it was a viable approach, people would
do it like that to save having to cart the old turf away.

You could however just rotary hoe the
whole area and then rake that and seed it.

But if the lawn is in that bad a state, it may well have a serious
problem that reseeding wont fix like getting very waterlogged
or being infested with those grubs whose name I have forgotten.

Flipping over turf
 

On Monday, 17 April 2017 20:49:52 UTC+1, GB wrote:
On 17/04/2017 20:35, tabbypurr wrote:

You've not explained why you want rid of the existing grass. There's
seldom any good reason to. Without yet hearing why, the most likely
options is to add soil where wanted & seed. Repeated mowing is all it
takes to remove almost all non-grasses.

My old college had wonderful lawns. When asked what the secret was, the
gardeners would say "Just give it a close trim twice a week, every week
mind, and after 200 years it looks like this."

That's humour of course.


NT

Flipping over turf
 

"Mr Pounder Esquire" wrote in message
...
Chris Hogg wrote:
On Mon, 17 Apr 2017 20:23:04 +0100, "Mr Pounder Esquire"
wrote:

Bazza wrote:
I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the
old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an
alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the
turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of
top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and
hiring a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?

You think that you have problems?
I'm having a battle to the death with the bloody Dandelions in my
front garden.

You want a selective lawn weedkiller like Verdone, that you spray onto
the individual dandelion plants, as here http://tinyurl.com/kza63qs
but not necessarily from Amazon. Your local garden centre will almost
certainly have it. Only takes a few minutes to walk across the grass
and treat each weed, which will then turn up its leaves and die in a
couple of weeks.

I poke a hole into the "heart" of the swines and pour salt into the hole.
This kills them, but they come back in different places.
All the gardens near me seem to have the same infestation. Something to do
with the mild winter.

Yeah, we got that at the start of our summer after the wettest
5 months we had ever seen and a very mild winter.

Didn’t last long, only a few weeks and they were all gone without any action
at all.

Flipping over turf
 

On 18/04/2017 00:47, Rod Speed wrote:


"Mr Pounder Esquire" wrote in message
...
Chris Hogg wrote:
On Mon, 17 Apr 2017 20:23:04 +0100, "Mr Pounder Esquire"
wrote:

Bazza wrote:
I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the
old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an
alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the
turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of
top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and
hiring a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?

You think that you have problems?
I'm having a battle to the death with the bloody Dandelions in my
front garden.

You want a selective lawn weedkiller like Verdone, that you spray onto
the individual dandelion plants, as here http://tinyurl.com/kza63qs
but not necessarily from Amazon. Your local garden centre will almost
certainly have it. Only takes a few minutes to walk across the grass
and treat each weed, which will then turn up its leaves and die in a
couple of weeks.

I poke a hole into the "heart" of the swines and pour salt into the
hole. This kills them, but they come back in different places.
All the gardens near me seem to have the same infestation. Something
to do with the mild winter.

Yeah, we got that at the start of our summer after the wettest
5 months we had ever seen and a very mild winter.

Didn’t last long, only a few weeks and they were all gone without any
action at all.

Agreed. We just cut our lawns regularly and the Dandelions disappear
without faffing about with chemicals etc. Our lawns look as good as any
other lawn that do not have any Dandelions.
I personally think that Dandelions look nice, adds a bit of colour to a
lawn anyway. Such a silly little thing to worry about.

Flipping over turf
 

On 18/04/2017 08:06, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Mon, 17 Apr 2017 16:29:27 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Monday, 17 April 2017 20:49:52 UTC+1, GB wrote:
On 17/04/2017 20:35, tabbypurr wrote:

You've not explained why you want rid of the existing grass. There's
seldom any good reason to. Without yet hearing why, the most likely
options is to add soil where wanted & seed. Repeated mowing is all it
takes to remove almost all non-grasses.

My old college had wonderful lawns. When asked what the secret was, the
gardeners would say "Just give it a close trim twice a week, every week
mind, and after 200 years it looks like this."

That's humour of course.

Only to the extent that very few people manage such a council of
perfection with a domestic lawn. But I have read that if you close-mow
a lawn frequently, and at least once a week, preferably more often,
the coarse grasses and weeds will eventually give up and you'll be
left with a very clean lawn after a few months or so.

Agreed. My landscape gardener told me many moons ago that grass likes
being cut, but weeds don't. I just mow regularly and they eventually
disappear.

Flipping over turf
 

On 18/04/2017 08:21, Bod wrote:
On 18/04/2017 08:06, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Mon, 17 Apr 2017 16:29:27 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Monday, 17 April 2017 20:49:52 UTC+1, GB wrote:
On 17/04/2017 20:35, tabbypurr wrote:

You've not explained why you want rid of the existing grass. There's
seldom any good reason to. Without yet hearing why, the most likely
options is to add soil where wanted & seed. Repeated mowing is all it
takes to remove almost all non-grasses.

My old college had wonderful lawns. When asked what the secret was, the
gardeners would say "Just give it a close trim twice a week, every week
mind, and after 200 years it looks like this."

That's humour of course.

Only to the extent that very few people manage such a council of
perfection with a domestic lawn. But I have read that if you close-mow
a lawn frequently, and at least once a week, preferably more often,
the coarse grasses and weeds will eventually give up and you'll be
left with a very clean lawn after a few months or so.

Agreed. My landscape gardener told me many moons ago that grass likes
being cut, but weeds don't. I just mow regularly and they eventually
disappear.

(my landscape gardener (*friend*) I should have added :-)

Flipping over turf
 

Chris Hogg wrote:
That's humour of course.

Only to the extent that very few people manage such a council of
perfection with a domestic lawn. But I have read that if you close-mow
a lawn frequently, and at least once a week, preferably more often,
the coarse grasses and weeds will eventually give up and you'll be
left with a very clean lawn after a few months or so.

Yes, it doesn't take *that* long either, maybe 12 months to be
acceptable and a couple of years to look really good. I remember we
did this at my parents' house many years ago (1950s/1960s), it used
to be mowed (mostly by me) with a Suffolk Punch mower. I guess the
rolling action of the mower helped too.

--
Chris Green
·

Flipping over turf
 

On 17/04/2017 20:23, Mr Pounder Esquire wrote:
Bazza wrote:
I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the
old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an
alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the
turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of
top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and hiring
a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?

It might be doable if you have a lawn roller, but you will need to kill
the old grass first or it will regrow from the inverted turf. I compost
stack the pieces of turf I cut up and the top of the stack goes grassy.

You think that you have problems?
I'm having a battle to the death with the bloody Dandelions in my front
garden.

Simple solution is a 12" screwdriver down the side of the tap root and a
gentle levering action. It makes a satisfying noise as the root breaks
and the trick is to pull as long a piece as you can get. Might take a
couple of goes for a big established one with a deep root.

Failing that hit them with Verdone spot weeding or if they still do it a
gel wand formulation. I only persecute dandelions and buttercup in my
lawns - modest amount of other wildflowers are welcomed.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Flipping over turf
 

On Mon, 17 Apr 2017 11:18:33 -0700 (PDT), Bazza wrote:

I want to re-do my lawn completely. Most recommendations are for the old turf to be removed completely but I want to consider an alternative approach and I would welcome your views.

My idea is to hire a turf cutter to cut the turf and then flip the turf completely over. Then the plan is to spread about 2 inches of top soil on top and then sow grass seed with a little fertiliser.

One reason for doing this is to save carrying lots of turf and hiring a skip. I also want to raise the overall level of the lawn.

Is this plan feasible or just potty?


There was once a new couple looking at a house being built for them. They were
taken around the almost finished house by the foreman.

They noticed that he kepi shouting out of the windows "Green side up".

When asked why : he was shouting at the gang of insert a nationality here
navvies - laying the lawns.

Flipping over turf
 

In message , Chris Hogg
writes
On Mon, 17 Apr 2017 22:07:11 +0100, dennis@home
wrote:

On 17/04/2017 20:59, Chris Hogg wrote:
Then roughly level it and do the heel-walking/levelling routine
before finally sowing the seed.

Do you really need to compact it that much or will running my plate
compactor over it be enough if I wanted to redo my lawn?

I would guess it'd be ok, but try it and see. If after the compactor
treatment, it's still soft to walk on and you leave impressions of
your feet, then you need to heel-walk it.

Got to be worth a try:-)

Many years ago, I was asked by some friends to spray off and rotavate an
established lawn where they had built a house. The job looked easy
enough although there were trees and borders.

Knapsack, spray bar and Glyphosate did for the grass and 2 weeks later I
went back with a small tractor and mounted rotavator.

Big mistake! No matter how many times I went over the ground, it
remained *fluffy* from all the fibrous roots chopped up and mixed with a
little soil.

Ploughing works by parking the vegetation several inches below the new
surface and, for the old grass/cereal rotation, Autumn ploughing and
Spring planting.

Let the grass grow so you have plenty of target leaf, spray off.
Mow/remove top cover when dead. Spread your soil, compact and level.
Seed and lightly rake in. Discourage Cats and Foxes from excavating
holes:-)


--
Tim Lamb

Flipping over turf
 

On Tue, 18 Apr 2017 08:21:07 +0100, Bod wrote:

On 18/04/2017 08:06, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Mon, 17 Apr 2017 16:29:27 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Monday, 17 April 2017 20:49:52 UTC+1, GB wrote:
On 17/04/2017 20:35, tabbypurr wrote:

You've not explained why you want rid of the existing grass. There's
seldom any good reason to. Without yet hearing why, the most likely
options is to add soil where wanted & seed. Repeated mowing is all it
takes to remove almost all non-grasses.

My old college had wonderful lawns. When asked what the secret was, the
gardeners would say "Just give it a close trim twice a week, every week
mind, and after 200 years it looks like this."

That's humour of course.

Only to the extent that very few people manage such a council of
perfection with a domestic lawn. But I have read that if you close-mow
a lawn frequently, and at least once a week, preferably more often,
the coarse grasses and weeds will eventually give up and you'll be
left with a very clean lawn after a few months or so.

Agreed. My landscape gardener told me many moons ago that grass likes
being cut, but weeds don't. I just mow regularly and they eventually
disappear.

Landscape gardener eh? Snob!

--
Women are like a pack of cards... you need a heart to love them, diamonds to marry them, a club to kill them and a spade to bury them.

Flipping over turf
 

In article ,
Bazza writes:
The grass is totally weed-free, but it has a mix of varieties -giving inconsistent colour and texture. Currently it gets mowed every two days.

One of the coarser varieties tends to spread out horizontally so, in my view, is an undesirable. But all that aside I want to get closer to getting a much better lawn - lawn that makes a real impression - level, smooth, consistent , rich green etc etc

One trick I've seen for that is, let it grow a bit more, and that
course grass tends to be higher. Use a glyphosate glove to sweep
across just making contact with this higher grass. That will eliminate
it. You can (or could) buy glyphosate gloves, but you can probably
make one with a disposable plastic glove to keep it off your skin.

Of course, depends on the extent of it.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Flipping over turf
 

On 18/04/2017 00:29, wrote:
On Monday, 17 April 2017 20:49:52 UTC+1, GB wrote:
On 17/04/2017 20:35, tabbypurr wrote:

You've not explained why you want rid of the existing grass. There's
seldom any good reason to. Without yet hearing why, the most likely
options is to add soil where wanted & seed. Repeated mowing is all it
takes to remove almost all non-grasses.

My old college had wonderful lawns. When asked what the secret was, the
gardeners would say "Just give it a close trim twice a week, every week
mind, and after 200 years it looks like this."

That's humour of course.

"The lawn was one of those tended according to the old British formula:
Seed and roll for 500 years"

(Ringworld, Larry Niven, 1972.)

Andy

Flipping over turf
 

(Andrew Gabriel) Wrote in message:
In article ,
Bazza writes:
The grass is totally weed-free, but it has a mix of varieties -giving inconsistent colour and texture. Currently it gets mowed every two days.

One of the coarser varieties tends to spread out horizontally so, in my view, is an undesirable. But all that aside I want to get closer to getting a much better lawn - lawn that makes a real impression - level, smooth, consistent , rich green etc etc

One trick I've seen for that is, let it grow a bit more, and that
course grass tends to be higher. Use a glyphosate glove to sweep
across just making contact with this higher grass. That will eliminate
it. You can (or could) buy glyphosate gloves, but you can probably
make one with a disposable plastic glove to keep it off your skin.

Of course, depends on the extent of it.


Sounds like the manual equivalent of the agricultural "weed wiper"...
--
Jim K


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

Flipping over turf
 

On 4/18/2017 8:21 AM, Bod wrote:
On 18/04/2017 08:06, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Mon, 17 Apr 2017 16:29:27 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Monday, 17 April 2017 20:49:52 UTC+1, GB wrote:
On 17/04/2017 20:35, tabbypurr wrote:

You've not explained why you want rid of the existing grass. There's
seldom any good reason to. Without yet hearing why, the most likely
options is to add soil where wanted & seed. Repeated mowing is all it
takes to remove almost all non-grasses.

My old college had wonderful lawns. When asked what the secret was, the
gardeners would say "Just give it a close trim twice a week, every week
mind, and after 200 years it looks like this."

That's humour of course.

Only to the extent that very few people manage such a council of
perfection with a domestic lawn. But I have read that if you close-mow
a lawn frequently, and at least once a week, preferably more often,
the coarse grasses and weeds will eventually give up and you'll be
left with a very clean lawn after a few months or so.

Agreed. My landscape gardener told me many moons ago that grass likes
being cut, but weeds don't. I just mow regularly and they eventually
disappear.

I believe it is an evolution thing. Grass grows from the bottom, which
is why they survive grazing herbivores better than broad-leaf plants,
which grow from the top.

Flipping over turf
 

You've not explained why you want rid of the existing grass. There's
seldom any good reason to. Without yet hearing why, the most likely
options is to add soil where wanted & seed. Repeated mowing is all it
takes to remove almost all non-grasses.

My old college had wonderful lawns. When asked what the secret was,
the
gardeners would say "Just give it a close trim twice a week, every
week
mind, and after 200 years it looks like this."

That's humour of course.

Only to the extent that very few people manage such a council of
perfection with a domestic lawn. But I have read that if you close-mow
a lawn frequently, and at least once a week, preferably more often,
the coarse grasses and weeds will eventually give up and you'll be
left with a very clean lawn after a few months or so.

Agreed. My landscape gardener told me many moons ago that grass likes
being cut, but weeds don't. I just mow regularly and they eventually
disappear.

I believe it is an evolution thing. Grass grows from the bottom, which
is why they survive grazing herbivores better than broad-leaf plants,
which grow from the top.

That sounds about right.

Flipping over turf
 

On 19/04/2017 10:45, Huge wrote:
On 4/18/2017 8:21 AM, Bod wrote:
Agreed. My landscape gardener told me many moons ago that grass likes
being cut, but weeds don't. I just mow regularly and they eventually
disappear.

Dandelions just grow close to the ground instead.

But regular grass cutting stops the Dandelions fron turning each one
into thousands of more Dandelion seeds. As soon as I cut the lawn I
don't see any Dandelions and our grass then looks like any other lawn
that doesn't have them.
That's good enough for me. You can never win the Dandelion war simply
because, even if you eradicate them in your garden, within a few weeks
seeds from Dandelions in other gardens will blow over and they will
germinate in yours. It's a waste of time and effort to spend your life
trying to eradicate them. Just cut the lawn every week, IMO.

Flipping over turf
 

In article ,
Bod wrote:
On 19/04/2017 10:45, Huge wrote:
On 4/18/2017 8:21 AM, Bod wrote:
Agreed. My landscape gardener told me many moons ago that grass likes
being cut, but weeds don't. I just mow regularly and they eventually
disappear.

Dandelions just grow close to the ground instead.

But regular grass cutting stops the Dandelions fron turning each one
into thousands of more Dandelion seeds. As soon as I cut the lawn I
don't see any Dandelions and our grass then looks like any other lawn
that doesn't have them.
That's good enough for me. You can never win the Dandelion war simply
because, even if you eradicate them in your garden, within a few weeks
seeds from Dandelions in other gardens will blow over and they will
germinate in yours. It's a waste of time and effort to spend your life
trying to eradicate them. Just cut the lawn every week, IMO.

doesn't help; they turn up in flower beds, in the wild (bluebell covered)
ground, under hedges, in cracks in the drive, etc.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

Flipping over turf
 

On 18/04/2017 23:42, newshound wrote:
On 4/18/2017 8:21 AM, Bod wrote:

Agreed. My landscape gardener told me many moons ago that grass likes
being cut, but weeds don't. I just mow regularly and they eventually
disappear.

I believe it is an evolution thing. Grass grows from the bottom, which
is why they survive grazing herbivores better than broad-leaf plants,
which grow from the top.

That doesn't mean grass *likes* being cut.

--
Max Demian

Flipping over turf
 

On Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:50:53 +0100, Max Demian wrote:

On 18/04/2017 23:42, newshound wrote:
On 4/18/2017 8:21 AM, Bod wrote:

Agreed. My landscape gardener told me many moons ago that grass likes
being cut, but weeds don't. I just mow regularly and they eventually
disappear.

I believe it is an evolution thing. Grass grows from the bottom, which
is why they survive grazing herbivores better than broad-leaf plants,
which grow from the top.

That doesn't mean grass *likes* being cut.

It has no noticeable effect on its health.

--
Seen in the back window of a car:
In case of emergency screw driver on back seat.

Flipping over turf
 

On 19/04/2017 13:50, Max Demian wrote:
On 18/04/2017 23:42, newshound wrote:
On 4/18/2017 8:21 AM, Bod wrote:

Agreed. My landscape gardener told me many moons ago that grass likes
being cut, but weeds don't. I just mow regularly and they eventually
disappear.

I believe it is an evolution thing. Grass grows from the bottom, which
is why they survive grazing herbivores better than broad-leaf plants,
which grow from the top.

That doesn't mean grass *likes* being cut.

Cutting lawns stimulates grass growth:

Does mowing the lawn promote grass growth? | Yahoo Answers
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/?...5092618AAeBR4G
seems like my lawn is filling in the bare spots and I have not planted
seed. ... Yes mowing the grass will stimulate growth. Not only will it
spread seeds but it also ...

Flipping over turf
 

On 19/04/2017 13:54, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
On Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:50:53 +0100, Max Demian
wrote:

On 18/04/2017 23:42, newshound wrote:
On 4/18/2017 8:21 AM, Bod wrote:

Agreed. My landscape gardener told me many moons ago that grass likes
being cut, but weeds don't. I just mow regularly and they eventually
disappear.

I believe it is an evolution thing. Grass grows from the bottom, which
is why they survive grazing herbivores better than broad-leaf plants,
which grow from the top.

That doesn't mean grass *likes* being cut.

It has no noticeable effect on its health.

Yes it does. It promotes fresh growth.

Flipping over turf
 

On Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:59:41 +0100, Bod wrote:

On 19/04/2017 13:54, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
On Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:50:53 +0100, Max Demian
wrote:

On 18/04/2017 23:42, newshound wrote:
On 4/18/2017 8:21 AM, Bod wrote:

Agreed. My landscape gardener told me many moons ago that grass likes
being cut, but weeds don't. I just mow regularly and they eventually
disappear.

I believe it is an evolution thing. Grass grows from the bottom, which
is why they survive grazing herbivores better than broad-leaf plants,
which grow from the top.

That doesn't mean grass *likes* being cut.

It has no noticeable effect on its health.

Yes it does. It promotes fresh growth.

The grass may well be annoyed at having to start again. It wants to be making seeds.

--
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one -- George Bernard Shaw

Flipping over turf
 

On Wed, 19 Apr 2017 11:08:06 +0100, Bod wrote:

On 19/04/2017 10:45, Huge wrote:
On 4/18/2017 8:21 AM, Bod wrote:
Agreed. My landscape gardener told me many moons ago that grass likes
being cut, but weeds don't. I just mow regularly and they eventually
disappear.

Dandelions just grow close to the ground instead.

But regular grass cutting stops the Dandelions fron turning each one
into thousands of more Dandelion seeds. As soon as I cut the lawn I
don't see any Dandelions and our grass then looks like any other lawn
that doesn't have them.
That's good enough for me. You can never win the Dandelion war simply
because, even if you eradicate them in your garden, within a few weeks
seeds from Dandelions in other gardens will blow over and they will
germinate in yours. It's a waste of time and effort to spend your life
trying to eradicate them. Just cut the lawn every week, IMO.

My next door neighbour keeps asking if I would mind if they remove the heads of the ones in my garden that are seeding :-)

--
Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

Flipping over turf
 

Huge wrote
Bod wrote

Agreed. My landscape gardener told me many moons ago that grass likes
being cut, but weeds don't. I just mow regularly and they eventually
disappear.

Dandelions just grow close to the ground instead.

Not here they didn’t. Those who mowed them and those who
didn’t bother all got the same result none of them in a few weeks.