How do I get rid of moss from my lawn?

Hi All,

Our back garden is covered in moss mowing the lawn is a joke because we are actually mowing moss instead - the lawn isnt huge....

What can I do - I need to get it sorted soon enough....is there product I can shake to kill the moss and then plant more grass??

Any suggestions, are welcome...

From a not so green fingered........J

hiya - if moss has covered more that 70% or your lawn, I would recommend a reseeding... kill everything on the lawn, rotovate, introduce some quality manure fertiliser in the soil, ensure good level of top soil, & seed with grass again... BUT few things:
- Might be issue with drainage in your garden - hence your moss growth - you get much sun in there? Is the ground "damp"? or has the moss just taken hold over the seasons?
- Now is NOT the time to seed.. you should wait till late summer before seeding, but over the summer you need to get the ground ready for seeding..
- You can buy moss killer - this will kill the moss, but you must rake it out once it's dead (turns black), then you can reseed the bare patches, good quality grass seed should be used.
- Also, you can scarify the garden - which will make it look very "torn" up - but also lets air, light back onto the soil again, so can patch seed on those areas...
All depends on the coverage of moss to grass & how much work you want to do...

Thank you Jazz01 for all your help,

There was a leaky tap/pipe all last year in the garden I think this may have contributed but there was always a little mos I would say now 50%.

The garden would have a bit of sunshine southwest facing but surrounding buildings would shade it a little, I suppose..

I will get moss killer this evening so..

Thanks again

... try to get a combined moss killer / grass feeder.... something like "evergreen complete" - lots of brands out there.. I find the soluble ones the best, just a bit messier - nothing wrong with the dry ones at all though

If you can give the grass a rake first, take out the top moss & grass thatch, then use the moss killer - don't over do though - cos you may burn the grass. If no rain within the next 3 to 5 days - then water the garden.

Make sure you rake out the dead moss once it turns black - might need to do that a few times over the next week or so... need to get the light & nutrients into the soil.

You grass will look a sorry state after this, but a few hours each week & it'll get back to a garden again... if reseeding patches in the grass, then don't use evergreen complete (or whatever equivalent) after the initial use - it's too strong for seedlings. There's a product called "patch magic" I think - which you could use for the reseeding of the patchy areas, which contains required nutrients for growth.

When cutting the grass, don't take too much off at once - just the top third at the most... regular cuts, each cut taking a minimum off, will encourage good dense growth in the grass. In the autumn, give the garden a feed again with specialised autumn grass feed.

Good luck with it...

That is a great help....Thank you for all the information and your time.. Jazz01

you are very welcome... best of luck with it...

This key post may give some advice Lawn care.

You may also get some advice [broken link removed].

When you have figured it all out and sorted your garden will ya come over and do ours Hate gardening.

Jazz01 said:

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Make sure you rake out the dead moss once it turns black -

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Most important. Lots of people don't bother. Back breaking work though. We filled 3 black bags from small front garden. It won't help if your neighbour doesn't bother as spores will travel.

Get yourself a [broken link removed] Bronco - we got one in Lidl, takes all the hard work out of raking the lawn!

Ìn order to aid drainage in your lawn it would be a good idea to "spike" it. You can get a specific tool for this but I do it with my garden fork which has prongs about 6 inches long. I just stick the fork into the ground at close intervals and push it down as far as it will go using my foot. If you do this all over the lawn in the autumn it helps to keep moss at bay. My garden used to get some moss but none now. Some people suggest applying sand to aid drainage but I haven't done that so don't know if it's helpful. In the meantime you could used the Evergreen Feed and Moss Killer and rake out the moss when it turns black then re-seed the patches later on.

Drainage for moss always puzzles me. I have moss on my roof and there is great drainage there

roker, waterlogged lawns always produce moss because the drainage is poor and also the ground can become compacted from walking on hence the need to spike the ground to aid drainage and break up compacted earth. One side of your roof, like mine, probably faces north and moss tends to grow in shade. Bet you don't have as much moss on the other sdie of your roof if it faces south.

Ceist Beag said:

Get yourself a [broken link removed] Bronco - we got one in Lidl, takes all the hard work out of raking the lawn!

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You can also get a scarifing blade for your lawnmower for about €20.00, a very efficient tool, maybe cut the grass a notch higher,I find this helps a lot