Background
Mr Johnson has been a customer of Will’s Norfolk Lawns since 2019. His small lawn in Norwich has always looked good to many people’s standard due to the treatment it receives from us, as well at Mr Johnson’s good mowing and watering regime.
In the summer of 2021 Mr Johnson came to us with the concern of the amount of weed grasses within the lawn. Weed grasses can enter a lawn in the same way as weeds do, via bird droppings or blowing in from elsewhere. We explained the only way to successfully deal with the weed grasses is to dig the patches of unwanted turf out, or to kill off the whole lawn and started again.
Edward decided he would like to opt for the total lawn kill off, which presented us with an opportunity to carry out a renovation method that we had not done before.
The Process
We killed off the lawn in August 2021 with a view to renovating the lawn during the following September. Due to uncontrollable factors the renovation had to be pushed back to October, however as the soil temperatures we still very warm this was not a problem.
The first step of our six-step renovation process was to remove as much dead grass from the surface of the lawn as possible. We done this by carrying out multiple passes with our heavy duty scarifier, followed by raking and bagging up the debris. To ensure we had removed as much debris from the lawn as we could and the soil would be ready for seeding, it took six passes with our scarifier to reach that point. It is important to note at this stage that it would be impossible to remove every single piece of dead grass from the lawn. This would continue to die off after the renovation.
After the messy scarification was completed we were able to move onto stage two, three, four, five and six of our renovation. This was to aerate, over seed, apply a wetting agent and fertiliser followed by top dressing. Through prior experiences we have concluded that our six-step renovation process provides a lawn with almost everything it needs to make a full healthy recovery. The one other thing I will require on completion is plenty of water.
Aftercare
Just like all turf renovations whether that be on lawns or in sports turf, the correct aftercare regime of mowing and watering is vital. Without these two tings, the renovation could well be unsuccessful. It is difficult to pin point the exact about of watering and mowing will be require, and when etc. This comes down to the individual surface and growing conditions.
Mr Johnson was fantastic carrying out the aftercare. Watering the lawn enough so the soil did not dry out, but ensuring there wasn’t too much water that the seed would wash away. Once the new seed began germinating and establishing, he was able to carefully mow the lawn at the correct times to encourage tillering (grass plants getting thicker). Getting the right balance of the two is vital, which Edward done fantastically which showed in the results.
Bumps in the Road
With the lawn being only small and Mr Johnson being on hand to water and mow, there wasn’t too much concern prior, during or after the renovation.
As we drew further into the autumn towards the end of October and into November, so nearby trees started to shed their leaves onto the lawn. This could have been of concern as leaves left laying on the surface will block air and sunlight from reaching the grass plants, thus causing them to die off again. We certainly didn’t want that to happen. Once more Mr Johnson was on hand to deal with those leaves and keep them cleared off regularly.
The was a small section in one corner of the lawn which took a little longer to establish due to it being in the shade and receiving less sunlight. We applied some extra seed to this area as a helping hand a few weeks after the renovation, however it was more of a case of being patient as we new this area would catch up in the end.
Summary
We we had never carried out this style of renovation before where the whole lawn is killed off prior to seeding, we’d be lying if we said there wasn’t some nervousness throughout the process. We had however seen it done elsewhere though so knew it could be successful.
There wouldn’t be anything we done differently during this process if we had to do it again. We felt from start to finish all ran smoothly with big thanks to Mr Johnson and his aftercare as mentioned above.
The lawn is now a complete carpet of healthy Ryegrass and Fescue grasses with no weed grasses in sight. We continue to maintain this lawn with seasonal treatments as well as bi-annual aeration and scarification. It is vitally important to keep up the maintenance following a procedure like this to prevent the new lawn from regressing.
More details on our Lawn Renovation process can be found here.
Renovation carried out by Alex and Will.
