# The Woodsman English Lawn Journal



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Hello All,

I live in Staffordshire in the centre of the UK, I live a small holding/homestead with approx 4 acres of ground.

The order or care and attention is shown below.

1. Front lawn - 750sq Feet
2. Rear lawn - 3000sq Feet
3. 3 x grass paddocks

Equipment I have is listed below:

Masport Olympic 500 reel mower (pride and joy)
Mountfield SP53 rotary mower
Stihl fs56 strimmer
Stihl leaf blower 
Massey Ferguson 35 petrol/TVO vintage tractor
Major 6ft finishing mower
6ft spring time harrows

The main focus of thus journal is the small front lawn, I work away 50-60% of my time so I keep lawns 2 and 3 in order but number 1 gets all the love and attention.

I enjoy to watch YouTube videos by Connor Ward, Ben Simms and Ryan Knorr.

I will try to keep regular updates on my activities on all lawns.

Looking forward to the feedback and sharing my stories.

Thanks

The Woodsman


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Front lawn as of 15th April 2020


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

The masport is really paying off and I have height of cut approx 17mm.

Not sure if you can see on the photo but the glorious stripes lose abit of crispness as the lawn is not as flat as it could be.

There is a flow up and down on both sides of the lawn to follow the contours of the walkway.

So I have been building up supplies ready for a spring time Reno.

Equipment purchased in readiness:





I also managed to get some silver sand from wickes (local big box store), getting hold of this in the current lock down wasn't easy so I was happy to get 20 x 25kg bags.


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Apologies for the quick posting but it's first chance Ived had to update lol.

So this morning I did a trial run with the hand aerator and it worked ok, but no brilliant ground seemed a tad hard for it to work efficiently. So I gave it a really good soak with sprinklers and then it also rained for around 2 hours.

So I set about the aeration of the front lawn by hand.







The end result I am really pleased with, but that's not the full story!

It worked ok for the first few rows then it just seemed to block up and turned into more of a solid time aerator rather than the hollow tine is was designed for, it blocked up frequently and I got fed up of jumping up on down on it to get the required depth.
So I resorted to lifting it and ramming it into the ground with my hands/arms, didn't use my feet at all, not really the designed process but with the spring assistance it found it quite productive


----------



## Matix99def (Jul 15, 2019)

That's a neat aerator. Wonder if the plugs would come out better if the soil was a bit drier?? Maybe try again in a couple days?
Are you making us wait in purpose for a back yard pic &#129315;


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Finished aerating last night and got straight on with over seed and sand levelling/top dressing this morning at 06:30!


----------



## Stuofsci02 (Sep 9, 2018)

Looks great.. looking forward to seeing how it turns out. What seed are you using?


----------



## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

I see a couple of pink flamingos were displaced during the aeration/topdressing process. Have they made their way home yet? :lol:

Nice work! I like the border with the mini trees/shrubs. It accents the lawn without taking away from it.


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

@Stuofsci02 
Seed is shown below:


----------



## jabopy (Nov 24, 2018)

That core aerator looks very much like one I had! I found it hard to use. It was a Graham, made by a firm I used to do building work for in the 60s, Your lawns coming along well.&#128077;


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

@jabopy

Yes it was ok to use, helps to be young and fairly fit!

Not one for the faint hearted


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Watering in nicely!! Very sunny and very windy! So I'm watering 2-3 times a day at the moment.


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Not much done lawn wise, only watered in the front lawn this morning, no signs of germination yet.

But I did spend a good 5 hours.... emptied out my shed of everything, deep cleaned and then re organised and put it all back again!

Monster of a job but rather satisfying now when I walk into it!


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Some know when some days your luck is just in!

I managed to get a 3 year old Honda HRH 536 Pro Roller off Facebook marketplace for £200, sold as spares and repairs as the rear roller wasn't working.

Collected it and dropped straight off to my mower repair guy in the next village, he called me 3 hours later and said it's fixed, serviced and blade sharpened.... £50.60 all in!! Whooooooo


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Had a charity mow on the small paddock and front lawn, 14 days after top dress and aerating


----------



## Matix99def (Jul 15, 2019)

That backyard view is awesome. So jealous


----------



## PNW_George (May 28, 2018)

TheWoodsman said:


> @Stuofsci02
> Seed is shown below:


I have read about the short cut, premium English lawns many years ago and followed that tradition myself. I was surprised your sidebar lists Ryegrass, not the fine bladed FF and Colonial Bentgrass mix I expected but see you are planting Fine Fescue. Is that just for the small front area? That would make sense to plan fine bladed grass on smaller more managable areas and PR on the larger areas.


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

@PNW_George

Thanks for the message, yes only on the small front lawn, just as an experiment really and with the covid lock down I have lots of time to spend on it.
So let's see how it turns out


----------



## jabopy (Nov 24, 2018)

Hey The Woodsman that Honda is a great find!! Should keep your lawns in good shape fora long time&#128533; Maybe till you manage to get a reel at a similar bargain price.&#128077;


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

@jabopy

Already in the reel club with a masport Olympic 500.

I won't tell you the price I stole that one for @RCUK knows and he's green with envy 😂😂


----------



## RCUK (Jul 16, 2018)

You are one lucky guy, you won the mower lottery twice now 

I'm waiting to see how the sand worked for you, then I'm down to Wickes to get some plastering sand!


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

@RCUK It looks ok, not much germination but seems smoother.

I just applied some fert yesterday to help things along after the charity mow.

A few bare spots in corners next to the walkway, thinking about making them into flower beds.


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Took the plundge and cut in a flower bed in the corner parts of my walkway.

2 seasons in a row it's gone bare as the turning point for the mower.

Before



After



Some mulch/bark to be added.

They are miniature dahlias, best I could source in the covid lock down


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Another mow with the Honda on the front lawn today.

I then watched a couple of good videos by Connor ward and Ben Simms and had a go at back lapping my masport reel mower, wow can't believe the difference it made!

Then when all lawn rebel and put down some double wide stripes - 17 days after aeration and top dress with sand


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

A little project on the back lawn, used mainly for kids and dogs to play on.

Since I built the property the ground has sunk a few inches and has created a perfect trip hazard for my 3 year old.

So Ived has a couple of ton of top soil dropped off thus morning and for speed and given its lockdown and kids are out all day I have some premium turf/sod being delivered this afternoon.


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)




----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)




----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Done 🤪


----------



## Matix99def (Jul 15, 2019)

There you go. Much better. Your Kid will thank you. I would have tripped on that myself several times hah. Did you put the dirt right on top of the existing grass?? I have no idea if it's true but I was told not to lay sod ontop of existing because the grass will decay and make gases causing damage to the roots of the new sod. Not a clue if that's true. Or if the soil is a barrier?


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

@Matix99def 
I broke up the sod with a fork and the topsoils was 6-4" deep so hoping it should be good enough

Mrs is happy so I'm winning 😂


----------



## jabopy (Nov 24, 2018)

I can't believe this !! I'm locked in not able to get anything to my garden, your the lucky one The Woodsman. I'm well jealous. :mrgreen:


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

All the local family firms have stayed open and also some good connections with a builder friend utilising his contacts!

Where there's a will there's a way my friend


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

My Mrs thinks I'm mental with regards to lawn care and she took this earlier!



End result HOC 16mm


----------



## jabopy (Nov 24, 2018)

That looks really good&#128077;. I must be very timid not wanting to go against lockdown, might have a chance next week. Fingers crossed I'll get out.


----------



## RCUK (Jul 16, 2018)

Looking good &#128077; How is the germination going?

Where did you get the T-shirt?


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Liquid application of amvista liquid iron 6% and amvista phyter on front and back lawns today!

How long should I leave before watering?


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Just been mowing with the masport Olympic every other day for the past 7-10 days


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

After years of strimming with a Stihl petrol strimmer/weed whacker On Thursday I treated myself To a dewalt 18v strimmer and leaf blower!





Wow!! Both amazing! Quite, powerful, no messing around with fuel, pull cords or fumes! Brilliant


----------



## Matix99def (Jul 15, 2019)

Nice!
I hear lots of people saying they will never go back to fuel. I'll stick with fuel a bit longer hah. As far as your iron question. I don't know if there is a specific time on your label but generally you want to leave it on aslong as you can. Most do it in the evening before their irrigation goes off the next morning.


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Ever had that I could cry moment with the lawn?!

Poa annua massive outbreak literally over night!!

&#128545;&#128546;&#128546;

Any suggestions for a plan of attack?

Let it dry out and die in the sun?
Spray with something?
Way too much to pull by hand


----------



## bigbew (Jan 23, 2020)

Been battling mine for a year, it's impossible. Mine never died out as last year we didn't have a sustained dry period, but you might have more luck being down South a bit.

I'm hoping this year that some will die off if I maintain a deep once a week watering cycle and leave the turf to stress as much as I dare. In the autumn I'm going to deeply hollow tine and fill with sand to try and keep those top couple of inches bone dry.

I did read an article about using organic fertiliser and sterile soil that was a good read, but I'm consigned to using cultural practices over the years to try and minimise it. Promote healthy turf rather than trying to beat the Poa.

https://bowls-central.co.uk/poa-annua-to-bentfescue/


----------



## RCUK (Jul 16, 2018)

Read that last night a few times 

The granular fert I use has Mycorrhizae but I fear the 18-9-9 liquid I was using with a 'high' phosphorus content helped the Poa.

No more liquid for some time now, let the Poa stress, pull them and paint with glyphosate if needed. This hot weather should help also.


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Just a few snaps of how things are not always as they seem....



And then ...


----------



## lfrancis (Jun 2, 2018)

TheWoodsman said:


> Ever had that I could cry moment with the lawn?!
> 
> Poa annua massive outbreak literally over night!!
> 
> ...


Yer I think most UK folks have noticed a sudden increase. Loads of seed heads right now, so I'm mowing twice a week. Makes me want to kill it end of the year and start again!


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Mown and strimmed the front lawn today.

Followed my liquid application of 6% iron and Amvista Phyter.

Really struggling with Poa Annua which has really got my goat!! Just fancied some time in the lawn and really enjoyed it!



The lawn seemed to have lost some of its vibrancy and wasn't sure is it was down to POA A taking over or it being 3 and a half weeks since my last liquid application.


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

Hey all!

Been a while! Been busy with work masters dissertation which is finally complete.

I have been keeping on top of the lawns.

Just applied form Moddus PGR to the small lawn (100sq m)







Been enjoying using the massey Ferguson and 6ft Major topper for the paddocks


----------

