moss in the lawn

[patangman]

we have a shady lawn with lots of moss

how do we get rid of the moss

[logman]

Two ways of doing this, the first method involves lots of elbow grease.(1) Use a wire rake often known as a spring bock or leaf rake, vigorously rake (scarify) the lawn in strips until all the dead grass and moss is removed (thatch or thub) take this away for composting or for lining hanging baskets,in the spring birds may also use it as nesting material if you leave some available.

Method (2) invest or hire in a motorised lawn scarifing machine, this will pull all the dead grass and moss out for you and just leave you to rake it into heaps.

Its best done in the autumn whan the grass is not activly growing, but can be done at other times, as long as there is no frost about.

You can buy special seed mix for shady lawns, for sowing any bald patches. Silver lawn sand can also be obtained to treat your lawn after, to help prevent the moss comming back..

Best of Luck..

[logman]

Further to the above,Moss in a lawn is usually a symptom of poor drainage possibly due to the nature of the soil that may be compacted or heavy clay, also it could be due to grass cuttings not being collected regularly enough and forming a mat and preventing the water draiing through efficiently. To combat this problem the lawn can be airated either with a standard garden fork, getting the tines in as far as possible and spaced approx 4" apart (very labourious) or again specialist machinery is available in the job warrents it, a sandy loam top-dressing can be brushed in after this task..