Moss?

[Serial_Apologist]

It does here as well
But a bit of moss in your grass is fine IMV

The best time of year to rake up any unwanted moss is at the start of the growth period, around March (normally), when ground temperatures regularly exceed 8 degs Celsius. Moss blocks other growth from coming through, so you have two choices of green to live with: grass where there isn't moss; and moss where there can't be grass. Here in the block we tend to just accept moss growing in the communal garden, and usually the grass manages to compete well with it for space. The secret seems to lie in good drainage: the more the soil is compacted the more moss is likely to take over, while "spiking" every foot or so at the end of the growth season across your lawn will help minimise surface dampness. This can be back-breaking, however. Our main problem here is moss forming and spreading over the shaded end of our asphalt clothes line compound, for which we apply a proprietory brand of moss killer once a year - the dilutable form being the most economic, which seems to suffice. The moss turns brown within a week, and I guess must blow away once conditions are dry.

Some years ago I was telling a friend about my moss clearing efforts, and he asked me to save it for him, as he was constructing a Japanese garden and wanted all the stuff he could get hold of!

[oddoneout]

I would agree with waiting until spring when the existing grass stands some chance of recolonising and/or can be boosted with over-seeding in the thin patches. It would be worth considering such things as drainage, shade, state of the soil, and type of grass in the interim. There will be a reason why there is so much moss and unless that is addressed then improvement will be limited or unsuccessful. In extreme cases the answer is to do away with the grass altogether or if a 'lawn' is wanted then consider artificial versions which have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years. I may yet do this for the main grass area in my garden, because it has so many problems that stripping the turf and laying new wouldn't solve them. By the time everything had been dealt with - poor soil, drainage issues, buried hard structures, competition from neighbour's shrubbery, bumps and dips(nearly 3" in some cases) I suspect artificial would work out cheaper!

[Constantbee]

Depends how big the lawn is and what your budget is. The worst that can happen is you’ll spend a lot of time and money trying to get rid of it and it’ll come back anyway, which is what happened here. Re-laying turf is probably the safest option, if that’s what you’d like.

In the end we left some old lawn patches uncut, the moss disappeared and we were rewarded with wild flowers not seen here before, not just one sort of buttercup but several, and grasses with good shapes and colours, not the sort of fast growing rye grass farmers plant for grazing. The game birds saw the garden as a safe haven, and bullfinches started feeding.

Moss isn’t so bad. If I got rid of it from the roof tiles they’d probably fall out. Lichens look good, too – a sure sign of healthy air quality. If you're into making your own Christmas decorations you can use it for mossing up wreath frames and things.

[jayne lee wilson]

"Moss" for me is forever associated with Elton John , Your Song, and the pop culture of the 70's and 80's : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlPlfCy1urI

In my innocence, I assumed every one else would have the same reaction.

Aha....! Thanks for that... (it's this bit, pop-people...
"I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss..."). Gosh. Really?

Constance - some very good country sense, yes, the wild flowers and grasses, and the creatures that thrive upon them, get way more interesting, don't they?
As for those roof tiles, I don't get a lot of choice: when those globules of moss are scattered outside the front porch after gales and rain, there's generally a few fragmented tiles along with....
I know, I know... I really am getting around to it...

[Dave2002]

I'd be inclined to leave it as nothing much will take it's place during the cold months and it looks b***y awful if scratched out or killed. Go after it next Spring - if you must.

I have started to do this, but I'm not optimistic long term. The Black and Decker scarifier is excellent, but I suspect it's only scratching the surface () - there's plenty more moss waiting to make a come back. I must have taken 12 or more bags to the tip in the last week or so. I have now started to put lawn fertiliser + weed and moss killer down. I'm not really expecting to win against this, and I do wonder whether I really care.

A few weeks ago the lawn had lots of lovely yellow flowers which the bees and other insects seemed to like (= dandelions). I thought I'd better try to get those under control, in case the neighbours complained about the seeds blowing on to their patches, but really - why should I be bound by what other people think? Maybe I should just plough up a section and let it grow wild - and to hell with the notion that a front garden has to look neat and tidy to fit in with some other people's concepts of what makes a "nice" neighbourhood.

[vinteuil]

A few weeks ago the lawn had lots of lovely yellow flowers which the bees and other insects seemed to like (= dandelions). I thought I'd better try to get those under control, in case the neighbours complained about the seeds blowing on to their patches, but really - why should I be bound by what other people think? Maybe I should just plough up a section and let it grow wild - and to hell with the notion that a front garden has to look neat and tidy to fit in with some other people's concepts of what makes a "nice" neighbourhood.

... I recommend you declare that your garden is an SSSI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Site_of_Special_Scientific_Interest

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[Serial_Apologist]

... I recommend you declare that your garden is an SSSI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Site_of_Special_Scientific_Interest

.

[oddoneout]

Maybe I should just plough up a section and let it grow wild

No need to plough it up, just let it grow. Depending on the size of the lawn and what the edges are you could mow paths round and through the 'meadow'. I did this to the biggest of the grass areas when I first moved in to my current home, keeping the edges cut, and a diagonal access path to take in where the rotary drier was temporarily located, on the route down to the rest of the garden. By late June it had become very pretty, and entranced my toddler grandaughter as she could wander through a 'jungle' alive with bugs and beasties. The visual appeal was admittedly a reflection of the rubbish state of the apology for a lawn; a more consistent, species poor(ie proper lawn mix) grass sward and fewer perennial weeds wouldn't have looked as good(!) in the first year, but would still have been valuable for wildlife. I made a mini-meadow in my previous garden as well, on a patch where the grass was affected by poor soil and shade and I didn't want anymore planted borders(which would have been the other solution). I put in some spring bulbs, primroses and cowslips, and added seed of wild carrot and knapweed. It very quickly became quite a feature and was a refuge for small frogs - which made the late summer cut difficult...
A more deliberate meadow would, according to the experts, ideally involve stripping off the existing turf layer to impoverish the soil and prevent vigorous grasses dominating and then seeding with an appropriate(for the location, soil type etc) mix. A lot of work and the results, while they may be ecologically correct, are not always what one might wish or was expecting. Something like these might be more satisfying http://www.pictorialmeadows.co.uk/
An alternative moss treatment might be Mo-bacter,( https://www.viano-organics.com/en/vi.../lawnproducts/) which I noticed in the current Organic Gardening catalogue.

[Dave2002]

Designer meadows were not quite what I had in mind - and I suspect they are not "real", though they may look pleasant enough.

In a previous house, for various reasons on occasion the front (and probably the back too) were allowed to grow - so that the front looked like a small hay field. Nobody ever said anything about it, though I bet they were all pleased when we got round to cutting the lawn again.

All this conformity .... social pressure .... even if "only' imagined .....

[oddoneout]

Designer meadows were not quite what I had in mind - and I suspect they are not "real", though they may look pleasant enough.

In a previous house, for various reasons on occasion the front (and probably the back too) were allowed to grow - so that the front looked like a small hay field. Nobody ever said anything about it, though I bet they were all pleased when we got round to cutting the lawn again.

All this conformity .... social pressure .... even if "only' imagined .....

Well that depends on what real means in that context - the plants are real enough...
As for the social pressure, perhaps putting an 'Extinction Rebellion' placard in the middle of the embryo hayfield could bat that back usefully? Critics would have to argue the case for not trying to improve the lot of threatened insect life.

[Dave2002]

Well that depends on what real means in that context - the plants are real enough...

Indeed, and they might even be "wild" flowers, but the presentation of some of those designer meadows does not look at all natural, to me.

[oddoneout]

Indeed, and they might even be "wild" flowers, but the presentation of some of those designer meadows does not look at all natural, to me.

The planting mixtures serve different purposes, with some being an alternative to bedding schemes for temporary display in public spaces for instance, using 'non-native' flowers; the 2012 Olympics was one such. Others are native habitat mixtures. You pays your money and takes your choice as they say. I have seen the colourful annual mixtures 'for real' a couple of times as roundabout plantings and very fine they were too - and more use to insects than traditional bedding.

[Old Grumpy]

Not sure if we have a specific gardening section.

Well, there certainly seems to have been a flowering of gardening posts recently - must be the clement weather we're experiencing! Could probably do with a horticultural sub forum in which to cultivate the dialogue and propagate ideas.

OG

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Well, there certainly seems to have been a flowering of gardening posts recently - must be the clement weather we're experiencing! Could probably do with a horticultural sub forum in which to cultivate the dialogue and propagate ideas.

OG

No sooner said than ...

http://www.for3.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?131-Weeders-Digest

[Old Grumpy]

No sooner said than ...

http://www.for3.org/forums/forumdisp...Weeders-Digest

My, that came up quickly!

OG