# Chesh Lawn Journal (UK)



## chesh_lawn (Apr 22, 2020)

Hi all,

I'm a long-time lurker on the forum but thought I should get a bit more involved and compile my lawn tinkering into a journal. So far I've been chronicling my journey on instagram https://www.instagram.com/chesh.lawn

*Background*

We moved into our current home in Cheshire, UK 2 years ago and inherited 4 separate areas of lawn. 3 'micro' lawns (under 25m2[/sup]) and 1 larger area.

Back Lawn: 24m[sup]2[/sup]
Front 1: 72m[sup]2[/sup]
Front 2: 13m[sup]2[/sup] (not documented)
Front 3: 10m[sup]2 (not documented)​
When we moved in all areas were thick with moss, weeds and a variety of grasses, kept to a fairly normal homeowner (i.e poor) standard.


_Section of front lawn 1 from 2018, fairly representative of all areas._​
I lived with the lawns in this state with only minor attempts to improve the condition. Then in May 2019 I decided enough was enough and began a renovation on the back lawn.

*Back Lawn Renovation*


_Before renovation _​

_Turf removed by hand_​

_Soil rotivated before levelling _​

_Seed of choice was a PRG mix (40% Double, 40% Esquire, 20% Ponderosa) _​


_Area levelled and seeding begins_​

_Day 8_​

_Day 13_​

_Day 23_​

_Looking great, maintained at 19mm HOC using an Allett Liberty 35 with 10 blade cylinder - July 2019_​

_August 2019_​

_August 2019_​
*Front Lawn*

Whilst working on the lawn lawn renovation I started to slowly work on the front, removing as many of the issues mentioned earlier as possible through scarifying, verticutting and the use of a selective herbicide.

Through the growing season I also starting to overseed with Johnsons Premier Pitch PRG Mix (30% Monroe, 20% Europitch, 20% Eurodiamond, 20% Gildara, 10% Eurocordus).

I don't have many images of this process, but again this is where we stated:


_April 2018_​

_July 2019_​

_August 2019_​

_August 2019_​
In the next post I'll recap a difficult (and neglected) winter and bring us up to the current status.


----------



## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Welcome to TLF! That's a beautiful property and a great advertisement for PRG and Allett mowers. :thumbup:


----------



## chesh_lawn (Apr 22, 2020)

Chris LI said:


> Welcome to TLF! That's a beautiful property and a great advertisement for PRG and Allett mowers. :thumbup:


Thanks, Chris! you'll see from the next post that winter presented several challenges...


----------



## jabopy (Nov 24, 2018)

Hi chesh! Your doing very well on your own there in Cheshire&#128077; The lawns look &#128526; We've just had our first rain in over three weeks, the gardens were getting a bit on the dry side. Looking forward to your journal.


----------



## TheWoodsman (Feb 23, 2020)

@chesh_lawn

Another English journal! Fantastic!

Looking amazing


----------



## mopaNi- (Apr 22, 2020)

Love seeing English lawns! Something about your weather makes the color just insane.


----------



## chesh_lawn (Apr 22, 2020)

Thanks all for your previous comments, now time for a belated catch-up Winter '19 - present.

*Winter 2019*
During a very wet winter in the UK the lawns were somewhat neglected with only 2-3 mows between October-February and no products or treatments.

This led to very patchy and thin coverage. The wet weather was prime conditions for worm castings and also poa annua which was given free rein to take over in the patchy areas.



_Front Lawn - March '20_


_Back Lawn - March '20_


_Back Lawn - March '20_​
After consideration I decided that I should be able to coax the back lawn back into shape without too much trouble, however after only overseeding the front last year I would do a complete renovation to get rid of the poa and other existing grass types.

*Back Lawn Top Dressing - May'20*

After some basic overseeding in March most of the shady bare spots already had good coverage, there were quite. few small bare patches from digging out as much poa as I could by hand. This year I decided to seed with Masterline PM50, a Rye/Fescue mix which should be more suited to the shade created by trees surrounding the garden.


_Scalped down to 6mm_


_Seed slotter used on bare spots to allow seed to sit closer to moisture and away from the birds!_


_A light layer of 70/30 mix thrown down and levelled out with the lawn lute_


_Kept moist with 20mins of watering every morning and evening _


_13 days later, given a light trim with the rotary mower_​
*Front Garden Reno - May'20 *
As mentioned, I wanted to start with a blank canvas so decided to kill the existing lawn do some light levelling work and reseed with a quality mix of rye and fescue.


_Glyphosate sprayed, after no moisture for around 10 days you can see some of the poa had started to brown off on its own_


_14 days after glyphosate - everything dead or on the way there. Ground heavily spiked to allow some of the dressing/fertiliser into the ground_


_1 tonne of top soil added and 500kg of 70/30 thrown down for good measure. Really could have done with a least 2-3x that amount of that material for a good, level seed bed. _


_Roughly levelled, ICL Sportsmaster Pre-Seeder 8-12-8 fertiliser added, surface raked, Masterline PM50 seed down, raked again then rolled to finish._


_Debris netting spread across surface to act as germination sheets. Moisture retention was my main concern as the UK was going through the driest May on record._


_14 days post seed - Sheets off. Still quite a few bare patches, nothing a little more time and moisture wont fix, but a light sprinkling of seed thrown down, just in case. Finished with a light roll with the cylinder mower_


_The 'lawn goatee' dividing our driveway from our neighbours was easily the best performing section(even with an Amazon delivery driver driving across the end) this section had germinated fairly evenly by day 3. I put this down to the way this area holds moisture, it doesn't have tree roots competing for available moisture, and is quite boggy in winter. _​
That just about brings us up to speed! looking forward to journaling the progress more frequently over the summer.


----------



## liamjones (Apr 29, 2020)

The back lawn looks absolutely fantastic and looks like the front Reno is going to come in nicely, interesting to see how other UK Renos are doing this time of year, I got seed down 16th May!

I hadn't thought about a seed roller, could of come in realer handy for me today doing my overseeding of bare patches, I used a meat fork instead to create furrows&#128553;

I noticed you mentioned you have a 10 blade cylinder, can you compare to the 6 blade cylinders?


----------



## chesh_lawn (Apr 22, 2020)

@liamjones Thanks! I'm finding that after some rain this weekend the back is just starting to loose a bit of colour but it's to be expected, I'm yet to throw down any granular fertiliser this year so I think any liquid fert remaining in the soil has been washed through.

The 10-blade cuts much finer and provides a noticeably tighter finish on flat surfaces. I find the added weight of the cartridge also helps the stripes to pop a little more over the 6-blade- but the same _could_ be achieved by adding brick on top of the mower...

The recent rain showers have definitely helped the bare spots to thicken out on the front, I always find just when I start to stress about bare spots thats when they start to come in- perseverance and patience.


----------



## chesh_lawn (Apr 22, 2020)

Quick double cut on the back last night at 19mm

Think it's about time for a thrown down of granular fertiliser as the colour has started to fade following a weekend of rain, plenty of showers forecast for later this week so still a good window to get some down.

​


----------



## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Looking good! :thumbup:


----------



## PNW_TurfNoob (May 29, 2020)

Wow!! Great journal so far. Need to see some golf balls or soccer balls on that lawn! I feel like a 2nd cousin to the UK here in Seattle. Weird to have a dry May right? We are still cool and rainy in Seattle. Good lawn weather! Cheers, Rick


----------



## weirj55 (Apr 13, 2020)

Beautiful work! Something about PRG that is making me itch for more of it in my lawn. I have KBG/PRG mix right now, but the way your stripes and others with PRG look. Snazzy! Keep it up!


----------



## chesh_lawn (Apr 22, 2020)

@Chris LI Thanks!

@PNW_TurfNoob Thanks Rick! Don't tempt me, I'm already having ideas about mixing in some bent next year for an attempt at a putting green...
The weather is never right here but it's what makes each year different from the last and keeps us on our toes, the challenge makes it all the sweeter when you get results.

@weirj55 PRG is the dream, so aesthetically pleasing. Last year when it was 100% PRG it was incredible, so green and so uniform. This year it's a 60/40 PRG fescue mix (plus some pesky poa A hiding in there) and you can definitely tell the difference in the appearance. Hopefully the compromise in aesthetic appearance now is offset by better longevity going into winter.


----------



## RCUK (Jul 16, 2018)

Nice looking lawns @chesh_lawn I follow you on Ins but didn't realise you were here! :thumbup:


----------

