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As I recently got a new (better) mower, just been messing with my "lawn" trying to make it look half decent. What I forgot was, the last time I went over it with a vigorous raking I ended up with a disaster zone...what's wrong with my grass!?

What I'm left with (in the main) after raking out the moss and debris, is...not grass. Just flat patches of mud, with tufts of stalks! Some of the stalks that the raking exposes are a foot long (haven't raked it for a while, forgot how bad it was last time).
Why can't I get any real grass growing on my lawn, with blades, that cut nice and look plush?

I had a huge mat of moss and stalks, now after the raking I have mud patches and stalks. Is this disaster salvageable?
I tried over-seeding it a while ago...comes up pathetic, like patches of needles instead of flat blades.
Anyone any ideas? Returfing is financially out of the question.

ok, I have a few questions.

First, I've never seen a Crown Allen Hover, or any "hover" mower for that matter. How short does it cut your grass? Longer grass will help retain moisture and crowd out weeds.

Second, how much shade do you have? If you've got that much moss, you must have a lot of shade. With shade you need to use a specific type of grass seed - basically grass that is much more narrow and "needle-like". Sounds like this may be what you used.

Third, how much water do you get?

The basic formula is to rake out all the moss, aerate and overseed. Cover it with straw to retain moisture and keep the birds off it, and then keep it moist until it takes root. Add some fertilizer (test your soil to determine what you need). Aerating is important because it helps the seed find footing, even in "washout" rain storms.

I don't know, this sounds like what you've been doing. I might look around the neighborhood for yards like mine (similar shade conditions) and find one that is doing well. Ask the owner what he/she does.

Finally, seeding takes a great deal of patience. Last year I had my septic system replaced, and it looked like a bomb went off in my yard. All my lush grass was gone - replaced with rocks, red clay and weeds. I killed everything with 8 gallons of Roundup, waited two weeks and had the whole thing aerated and seeded. It's been a year and it's just now beginning to look like it's headed in the right direction. One of the keys was getting the weeds under control - otherwise they take over and crowd out the grass. I hired a company to come once a month and apply all-natural weed control/fertilizer. It's been well worth the $125 they charge per month during the 6-month season. I think it would have been very difficult to get to this point without their help.

(post-script: since I had the yard aerated before seeding, some sections of the yard that were prone to washout now look like a bad hair-transplant - bald patches with plugs of grass in little rows. If I weren't treating the weeds, they'd take root in the bald patches and crowd out those plugs. Eventually though, the plugs will spread out and fill in the patches.)

Thanks for the considered response Mystreba, appreciated. This mower has had little influence so far, only cut this grass once with it. The culprit over the last few years was a cylinder mower that rolls everything after the cut. Hopefully this hover will give the effect I want...trimmed, vertical grass!

Most of the moss that I've raked out so far (leaving stalky tufts) has been under a couple of small trees. Maybe I'll have to treat that particular area special.

There are quite a few dandelions on the other areas, I suppose I could treat those with a bit more respect (certain times here the air is thick with seeds, leave a carpet of fluff all over).

Mostly I've been doing what you suggest. Plenty of water here normally, and if not, the sprinkler.
If the seed I used last time was the needly type they didn't say so in the shop. I've never had grass come up in blades, maybe my soil's crap. I do try to aereate. And fertilise occasionally (Miraclegro sprayed).

I'd stay away from the MiracleGrow. It has many variations, but mostly it's designed to zap your lawn with junk to make it very green. What your lawn needs is food! What kind of food will depend on your soil and conditions.

I highly recommend getting your soil tested - not sure what you have over there, but here in the states I can take a sample of soil to the local USDA cooperative extension (run through the universities) and have it analyzed. They'll even make recommendations regarding soil additives based on my needs. You must have something similar I would think.

That's the best place to start (unless you have a gorgeous yard in your direct neighborhood whose caretaker might give you some advice).

Miraclegro is not food? Hmmm, will investigate for lawn feed, thanks. Yes, must be some way of getting tested (or testing myself) the soil I've got here.
One other thing that's occurred to me--what's the difference between ordinary grass seed and "hard wearing"? Didn't occur to me that the hard-wearing might be the needly stuff I've been getting come up. I've been using the hard-wearing for overseeding....

Slugs said:

Miraclegro is not food? Hmmm, will investigate for lawn feed, thanks. Yes, must be some way of getting tested (or testing myself) the soil I've got here.
One other thing that's occurred to me--what's the difference between ordinary grass seed and "hard wearing"? Didn't occur to me that the hard-wearing might be the needly stuff I've been getting come up. I've been using the hard-wearing for overseeding....

Click to expand...

Not sure - the nomenclature may be different. As long as you're using shade-tolerant seed, you should be ok. You can also mix the seed, so you'd use shade-tolerant in the shady areas of the yard, and sun-tolerant seed in sunny areas of the yard. In cases of extreme shade, forget the grass and use groundcover instead.

I'm no expert - I only know what works for me. I'm hoping someone more knowledgable can chime in here. As I said MiracleGrow comes in many flavors, but most of it is highly geared toward nitrogen - the stuff that makes plants pretty (ie: grass green). If you've just seeded, you don't want to give the plants too much nitrogen because the root system can't handle it - you want more phosphorous and potassium to get the roots established. What you use will depend on your situation and soil. You may also need other soil modifiers, like lime - again, a soil sample will help you here.