Lawn Surgeon: Transplanting Old Grass To Your Low Spots

Lawn Surgeon: Transplanting Old Grass To Your Low Spots Lawn Surgeon: Transplanting Old Grass To Your Low Spots –...

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Lawn Surgeon: Transplanting Old Grass To Your Low Spots

Lawn Surgeon: Transplanting Old Grass To Your Low Spots – We’ll be straight with you: Marmite is a million times better than Bovril. There’s no contest. We know that’s got very little (read: nothing) to do with lawn care. But it was weighing heavy on our shoulders and so blurting it out seemed necessary.

Now we’ve done this, we’ll be straight with you in lawn terms: nothing sucks more than noticing you’ve got some low spots on your lawn. It’s not the first signs of an apocalypse or anything like that, it’s just a bit of a nuisance. It’s a nuisance to look at, it’s a nuisance to mow and it’s a nuisance to repair. Fill, seed, water, repeat. That’s the only thing you can do.

Or is it?

That’s right. We’ve found another way to repair your low spots and it’s totally epic. “Why?” We hear you whisper from a quizzical face.

“Because it involves you a) recycling your old grass and b) transplanting it to your low spots. Which makes you less of a gardener and more of a surgeon, and that is epic.

Yup. Instead of doing that whole fill-seed-water-repeat thing, what you should do is adopt more of a scrape, fill and re-apply technique. And here is how:

 

  1. “What Do I Need”

In order to become a turf recycling superstar, you need to have a good stand of turf. And the ability to save your old grass so that it can be used to repair those annoying little low spots. That’s how to get off on the right foot.

 

  1. “What’s The Point?”

Ahh, good question and the answer is: for a bit of fun. No. We’re kidding. By recycling your old grass, you’re also recycling the biomass. That will give you one heck of a headstart when it comes to faster lawn repair.

 

  1. “Okay, So What’s The First Step?”

Pull on your surgeon gloves n’ scrubs and make sure you remove your patches of old grass carefully so they can be recycled. If you’ve got a steady hand and abundance of patience, this can be done with nothing more than a flat-head spade. However, if you can get your hands on a manual turf cutter, then get your hands on one because this will get the job done way more quickly and neatly (and in long strips too).

 

Regardless of your chosen technique, the trick is a) removing the old grass with enough soil for there to be plenty of roots still attached to the turf and b) the old turf stays together when it’s removed.

 

  1. “Done. What Now?”

You know that old-age adage fail to prepare, prepare to fail – well, it applies to the low spots of lawn where you’re planning on making a transplant. Smooth the area, prepare the soil so that the roots and soil connect hen you transplant the grass and then add any lawn fertiliser and compost is added to so the grass will grow at a rate of knots once it’s been relaid.

 

  1. “All Done. Is That It?”

Oh, you wish. But no. Once you’ve replaced the turf, you need to make sure it’s all level with the grass around it. If you don’t, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll scalp your lawn when you next come to mow it and, trust us, that will fill you with regret quicker than a drunken night out. If you don’t know what we mean by ‘scalping’, we’re talking about committing the cardinal sin of setting your mower blades too low. It’s the most common mistake and the most damaging too.

Anyway, once you’ve levelled it all out, you then need to make sure your transplanted turf fits in tightly with the lawn around it. This is so important – not just because it will look weird if there are gaps, but because the edges of your transplanted grass can dry out and shrink if it’s not tightly knit.

 

  1. “How Do You Properly Maintain It?”

Once you done all of the above and correctly transplanted your old turf over to your low spots, your focus needs to move to all things maintenance. That means mowing your lawn properly, fertilising your turf with care and consistently watering it for the first few weeks. Do all this and you can be sure your whole lawn bursts to life and your repair job becomes as unnoticeable as it does effective.

 

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