When to do work on lawn?

[d000hg]

I have a fairly large lawn, not sculpted and perfect but more like a small paddock surrounded with trees. Probably about 50m X 15.
It is bare in patches and has got very mossy since the summer; clearly hasn't had much attention in recent years. I think it could do with re-seeding and scarifying but my previous lawn was 4m x 4m so the scale is totally different. I don't WANT a perfect lawn, just some basic maintenance that isn't going to take me hours a week.

When is the right time to start and what programme would you advise? I already have a lawn-spreader. It is quite flat and semi-shaded apart from the very centre which gets a lot of sun.

Thankyou.

 

[Mottie]

The limit of my knowledge on lawns (was told by a gardener) is that you don’t try to rake up living moss as that just spreads it. You need to treat it with moss killer, wait until it turns black, then you remove it.

 

[stealthwolf]

Have a look on the lawnsmith website. I get my info from there and I've signed up for newsletters so they send an email at the start of each month about what work can or should be done that month. At the moment, you need to wait until the temperatures improve. Typically April/May time.

For scarifying, apply ferrous sulphate at a high enough concentration to kill moss (turns black over time) and then scarify. At that scale, I'd use a powered scarifier. I would then use grass seed and spring fertiliser.

 

[EddieM]

definitely not now! you'll do more harm than good.

 

[d000hg]

definitely not now! you'll do more harm than good.

That's what I figured, but I want time to get prepared - research products and where to buy them, find where I can book tools, see if I want to hire someone to do it...

 

[EddieM]

tricky.. it's a big area. it all depends on its current condition . paddock could mean a wide variety of conditions and remedies.

 

[d000hg]

In the summer it seemed quite healthy - not a show lawn but mostly grass with daisies, buttercups and the odd thistle. Pleasant to sit on apart from the bare areas (mostly under trees).
It now seems to be largely moss. I'm not sure - because we haven't lived here a year yet - if this is what it does every winter and the grass will return, or if the previous owner tended to it. I do know the lawn was only just recovered from having a new soakaway system installed so it might be it is damper than in previous years.