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Supernova
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« Reply #30 on: July 05, 2019, 10:18:58 AM »

Bump for Supernova in case anyone missed it who can help.



But also - my wife likes the idea of using old chipped cereal bowls as pots for plants to put in our garden.

I can make the aesthetic work but I'm guessing this would mean plants/flowers with shallow roots and who can stand up to the occasional over watering (because of the lack of drainage through the bowls).

Anyone got any ideas of flowers or plants that would fit the bill? Or a way to put holes in cereal bowls without the bowl just cracking apart?

TYTY Jon MW!

Once you have cracked this, you might want to visit charity shops and the like for more pots for different heights, shapes etc if you are thinking of making a display somewhere (like next to a door) and not just random pots.
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« Reply #31 on: March 31, 2020, 11:25:54 AM »

Gone are the days when a few weeds caused us problems.

We now have issues with a lawn.

 Click to see full-size image.
Garden" border="0


I mowed it a couple of nights ago and you can see where the lawn has been laid. Its really patchy and it's all in lines. It doesn't feel like a complete lawn but lines of turf with ruts of mud in between.

Any lawn experts about? I have picked up some grass seed, do you just sprinkle it about?

 Click to see full-size image.
lawn" border="0

Why has this happened to my once lovely lawn?

How do I fix it?
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« Reply #32 on: March 31, 2020, 11:43:47 AM »

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Lawn-2" border="0

Jeez, look at the front compared to the Jones's over the road. Absolute state.
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« Reply #33 on: March 31, 2020, 12:52:38 PM »

Mostly due to the weather, most the garden near me look the same. Mine was fine, now looks very brown and downtrodden as me and my Son playing football in garden everyday.
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« Reply #34 on: March 31, 2020, 04:15:06 PM »

Yep, the garden was like an absolute bog for the last couple of months, front and back.

Am a bit concerned it won't come back to life though. I was going to have a go at it with a rake and I have some grass seed but I don't really know what I'm doing.
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« Reply #35 on: March 31, 2020, 11:04:58 PM »

I recommend getting a mole.
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« Reply #36 on: April 01, 2020, 07:49:44 AM »

Yep, the garden was like an absolute bog for the last couple of months, front and back.

Am a bit concerned it won't come back to life though. I was going to have a go at it with a rake and I have some grass seed but I don't really know what I'm doing.

Raking and over seeding might make it look a bit nicer short term but I'd guess it needs something a bit more substantial if you want to compete with the Jones's.

I'm not an expert but I have a rough idea based on what has worked on my lawn which was also a bog at one point... Most of it is just common sense to me but there's a chance I'm way off the mark so please do your own research and feel free to tell me that I have it completely wrong. YouTube is a great resource by the way, just search 'lawn care' and you'll have hundreds of tips available to watch.

Assuming every other lawn in the neighbourhood isn't a bog then it's probably just that your soil is overly compacted so can't drain.

Ideally as you have a bit of time on your hands you want to build a soakaway in the bit of your lawn that gets the worst of it. Whichever bit gets the most surface water is where the water is naturally draining to so this is the obvious place for a soakaway. You just need to dig a big f**k off hole (the bigger and f**k offer the better) back fill it with some big rocks that leave lots of gaps, stick some weed protection fabric over the top of that then fill with soil and top off with turf/seeds. Simple but hard work.....

Hollow tine aerating will also help to relieve some of the compaction but it probably won't get rid of your 'bog' issue. That's where you dig out loads of cylinder shapes from the lawn which then gives it room to breathe a bit as it slowly settles back in to the gaps you've created. One of these things will do the trick: https://www.primrose.co.uk/-p-125164.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1Iv0BRDaARIsAGTWD1sYPT9vQBo1sEqIzDfLfC6crY-7Tis9N5Rlmn2bDSL1BfhzHEqdjV0aAjmnEALw_wcB

I've never done this before as I have a natural aversion to hard work and it looks like a living nightmare. I did pay someone to do it for me with a machine last year and will probably do it again every year as I was very pleased with the results. I have a soakaway and also did the hollow tine aeration and my lawn looks decent despite having a dog regularly running around on it.

Your problem could just be that your turf hasn't knitted in to the soil underneath because both were compacted. That would mean that your grass only has a few cms of mud to grow in to which isn't great. Try digging out a small section of the lawn and see if you can lift it in a sheet, if you can then it's still turf and hasn't turned in to lawn...... Common sense (not expert knowledge) would suggest that the hollow tine aeration will help this knitting process. Cylinder through turf and soil underneath slowly gets filled and they therefore combine in to one.....

Good luck with it, hope to see some impressive results by summer....

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« Reply #37 on: April 01, 2020, 09:11:27 AM »

Yep, the garden was like an absolute bog for the last couple of months, front and back.

Am a bit concerned it won't come back to life though. I was going to have a go at it with a rake and I have some grass seed but I don't really know what I'm doing.

Raking and over seeding might make it look a bit nicer short term but I'd guess it needs something a bit more substantial if you want to compete with the Jones's.

I'm not an expert but I have a rough idea based on what has worked on my lawn which was also a bog at one point... Most of it is just common sense to me but there's a chance I'm way off the mark so please do your own research and feel free to tell me that I have it completely wrong. YouTube is a great resource by the way, just search 'lawn care' and you'll have hundreds of tips available to watch.

Assuming every other lawn in the neighbourhood isn't a bog then it's probably just that your soil is overly compacted so can't drain.

Ideally as you have a bit of time on your hands you want to build a soakaway in the bit of your lawn that gets the worst of it. Whichever bit gets the most surface water is where the water is naturally draining to so this is the obvious place for a soakaway. You just need to dig a big f**k off hole (the bigger and f**k offer the better) back fill it with some big rocks that leave lots of gaps, stick some weed protection fabric over the top of that then fill with soil and top off with turf/seeds. Simple but hard work.....

Hollow tine aerating will also help to relieve some of the compaction but it probably won't get rid of your 'bog' issue. That's where you dig out loads of cylinder shapes from the lawn which then gives it room to breathe a bit as it slowly settles back in to the gaps you've created. One of these things will do the trick: https://www.primrose.co.uk/-p-125164.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1Iv0BRDaARIsAGTWD1sYPT9vQBo1sEqIzDfLfC6crY-7Tis9N5Rlmn2bDSL1BfhzHEqdjV0aAjmnEALw_wcB

I've never done this before as I have a natural aversion to hard work and it looks like a living nightmare. I did pay someone to do it for me with a machine last year and will probably do it again every year as I was very pleased with the results. I have a soakaway and also did the hollow tine aeration and my lawn looks decent despite having a dog regularly running around on it.

Your problem could just be that your turf hasn't knitted in to the soil underneath because both were compacted. That would mean that your grass only has a few cms of mud to grow in to which isn't great. Try digging out a small section of the lawn and see if you can lift it in a sheet, if you can then it's still turf and hasn't turned in to lawn...... Common sense (not expert knowledge) would suggest that the hollow tine aeration will help this knitting process. Cylinder through turf and soil underneath slowly gets filled and they therefore combine in to one.....

Good luck with it, hope to see some impressive results by summer....



Thanks :-)

Will do some digging both on Youtube and in the garden and see if we can get it back to something respectable.

When I was out fiddling out the front at the weekend, the old boy from down the road came to pass judgement and proudly told me he had astro turfed his whole back garden. Pffff, cop out.
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« Reply #38 on: April 01, 2020, 09:38:09 AM »

Yep, the garden was like an absolute bog for the last couple of months, front and back.

Am a bit concerned it won't come back to life though. I was going to have a go at it with a rake and I have some grass seed but I don't really know what I'm doing.

Raking and over seeding might make it look a bit nicer short term but I'd guess it needs something a bit more substantial if you want to compete with the Jones's.

I'm not an expert but I have a rough idea based on what has worked on my lawn which was also a bog at one point... Most of it is just common sense to me but there's a chance I'm way off the mark so please do your own research and feel free to tell me that I have it completely wrong. YouTube is a great resource by the way, just search 'lawn care' and you'll have hundreds of tips available to watch.

Assuming every other lawn in the neighbourhood isn't a bog then it's probably just that your soil is overly compacted so can't drain.

Ideally as you have a bit of time on your hands you want to build a soakaway in the bit of your lawn that gets the worst of it. Whichever bit gets the most surface water is where the water is naturally draining to so this is the obvious place for a soakaway. You just need to dig a big f**k off hole (the bigger and f**k offer the better) back fill it with some big rocks that leave lots of gaps, stick some weed protection fabric over the top of that then fill with soil and top off with turf/seeds. Simple but hard work.....

Hollow tine aerating will also help to relieve some of the compaction but it probably won't get rid of your 'bog' issue. That's where you dig out loads of cylinder shapes from the lawn which then gives it room to breathe a bit as it slowly settles back in to the gaps you've created. One of these things will do the trick: https://www.primrose.co.uk/-p-125164.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1Iv0BRDaARIsAGTWD1sYPT9vQBo1sEqIzDfLfC6crY-7Tis9N5Rlmn2bDSL1BfhzHEqdjV0aAjmnEALw_wcB

I've never done this before as I have a natural aversion to hard work and it looks like a living nightmare. I did pay someone to do it for me with a machine last year and will probably do it again every year as I was very pleased with the results. I have a soakaway and also did the hollow tine aeration and my lawn looks decent despite having a dog regularly running around on it.

Your problem could just be that your turf hasn't knitted in to the soil underneath because both were compacted. That would mean that your grass only has a few cms of mud to grow in to which isn't great. Try digging out a small section of the lawn and see if you can lift it in a sheet, if you can then it's still turf and hasn't turned in to lawn...... Common sense (not expert knowledge) would suggest that the hollow tine aeration will help this knitting process. Cylinder through turf and soil underneath slowly gets filled and they therefore combine in to one.....

Good luck with it, hope to see some impressive results by summer....



Thanks :-)

Will do some digging both on Youtube and in the garden and see if we can get it back to something respectable.

When I was out fiddling out the front at the weekend, the old boy from down the road came to pass judgement and proudly told me he had astro turfed his whole back garden. Pffff, cop out.

There is a fella very near us who installs artificial lawns, so there are a few near us.  I have taken a bit of pride from making my front one a lot better by scarifying, raking and reseeding last year.  My mum put a soakaway at the back of her garden and that significantly improved both her garden and the one behind.

You might have difficulty getting hold of stuff, as the garden centres and B and Q have closed around here.  I have been pretty good at stopping my deliveries for now, but judging by the stream of delivery vans, my missus seems to have taken the opposite view.  I don't know what others are doing.  I was looking at getting a cheapo greenhouse, but have put that on hold.  I guess I will struggle to get things to fill it with anyway. 

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« Reply #39 on: April 01, 2020, 09:50:27 AM »


There is a fella very near us who installs artificial lawns, so there are a few near us.  I have taken a bit of pride from making my front one a lot better by scarifying, raking and reseeding last year.  My mum put a soakaway at the back of her garden and that significantly improved both her garden and the one behind.

You might have difficulty getting hold of stuff, as the garden centres and B and Q have closed around here.  I have been pretty good at stopping my deliveries for now, but judging by the stream of delivery vans, my missus seems to have taken the opposite view.  I don't know what others are doing.  I was looking at getting a cheapo greenhouse, but have put that on hold.  I guess I will struggle to get things to fill it with anyway. 


Artificial lawns are brilliant for small bits of lawns where it's barely worth getting a lawn mower out for. I'm considering one for a section of my back garden that's really awkward. I have a reasonably large main lawn that's pretty easy to attack with my beast of a mower but then there's a raised area with shapes, steps and a tree that's an absolute to negotiate with a large mower. Artificial grass up there would be brilliant if I can get something that vaguely matches the main lawn.

Give it a couple of weeks and the DIY panic buyers will have got all their paint and garden supplies to tide them over for the next few years. We're in this for the long haul so if I were you I'd treat it as a holiday for two weeks and then look at projects once all the idiots have had their shopping fix.

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« Reply #40 on: April 01, 2020, 09:56:24 AM »

Yep, the garden was like an absolute bog for the last couple of months, front and back.

Am a bit concerned it won't come back to life though. I was going to have a go at it with a rake and I have some grass seed but I don't really know what I'm doing.

Raking and over seeding might make it look a bit nicer short term but I'd guess it needs something a bit more substantial if you want to compete with the Jones's.

I'm not an expert but I have a rough idea based on what has worked on my lawn which was also a bog at one point... Most of it is just common sense to me but there's a chance I'm way off the mark so please do your own research and feel free to tell me that I have it completely wrong. YouTube is a great resource by the way, just search 'lawn care' and you'll have hundreds of tips available to watch.

Assuming every other lawn in the neighbourhood isn't a bog then it's probably just that your soil is overly compacted so can't drain.

Ideally as you have a bit of time on your hands you want to build a soakaway in the bit of your lawn that gets the worst of it. Whichever bit gets the most surface water is where the water is naturally draining to so this is the obvious place for a soakaway. You just need to dig a big f**k off hole (the bigger and f**k offer the better) back fill it with some big rocks that leave lots of gaps, stick some weed protection fabric over the top of that then fill with soil and top off with turf/seeds. Simple but hard work.....

Hollow tine aerating will also help to relieve some of the compaction but it probably won't get rid of your 'bog' issue. That's where you dig out loads of cylinder shapes from the lawn which then gives it room to breathe a bit as it slowly settles back in to the gaps you've created. One of these things will do the trick: https://www.primrose.co.uk/-p-125164.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1Iv0BRDaARIsAGTWD1sYPT9vQBo1sEqIzDfLfC6crY-7Tis9N5Rlmn2bDSL1BfhzHEqdjV0aAjmnEALw_wcB

I've never done this before as I have a natural aversion to hard work and it looks like a living nightmare. I did pay someone to do it for me with a machine last year and will probably do it again every year as I was very pleased with the results. I have a soakaway and also did the hollow tine aeration and my lawn looks decent despite having a dog regularly running around on it.

Your problem could just be that your turf hasn't knitted in to the soil underneath because both were compacted. That would mean that your grass only has a few cms of mud to grow in to which isn't great. Try digging out a small section of the lawn and see if you can lift it in a sheet, if you can then it's still turf and hasn't turned in to lawn...... Common sense (not expert knowledge) would suggest that the hollow tine aeration will help this knitting process. Cylinder through turf and soil underneath slowly gets filled and they therefore combine in to one.....

Good luck with it, hope to see some impressive results by summer....



Thanks :-)

Will do some digging both on Youtube and in the garden and see if we can get it back to something respectable.

When I was out fiddling out the front at the weekend, the old boy from down the road came to pass judgement and proudly told me he had astro turfed his whole back garden. Pffff, cop out.

In your situation I'd seriously consider artificial grass for the front lawn or even some other decorative low maintenance option.

It's a small area and barely worth transporting the mower from the back where I assume it lives in the shed. It's also always going to be bare at the edges because the paving sucks all the moisture away and that tree and couple of manhole covers really don't help. It's never going to be a beautiful lawn so anything other than grass is probably going to work better.

Why not have some nice bushes along the front, maybe a few up the sides and then just gravel it?
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« Reply #41 on: April 02, 2020, 09:31:08 AM »

Yep, the garden was like an absolute bog for the last couple of months, front and back.

Am a bit concerned it won't come back to life though. I was going to have a go at it with a rake and I have some grass seed but I don't really know what I'm doing.

Raking and over seeding might make it look a bit nicer short term but I'd guess it needs something a bit more substantial if you want to compete with the Jones's.

I'm not an expert but I have a rough idea based on what has worked on my lawn which was also a bog at one point... Most of it is just common sense to me but there's a chance I'm way off the mark so please do your own research and feel free to tell me that I have it completely wrong. YouTube is a great resource by the way, just search 'lawn care' and you'll have hundreds of tips available to watch.

Assuming every other lawn in the neighbourhood isn't a bog then it's probably just that your soil is overly compacted so can't drain.

Ideally as you have a bit of time on your hands you want to build a soakaway in the bit of your lawn that gets the worst of it. Whichever bit gets the most surface water is where the water is naturally draining to so this is the obvious place for a soakaway. You just need to dig a big f**k off hole (the bigger and f**k offer the better) back fill it with some big rocks that leave lots of gaps, stick some weed protection fabric over the top of that then fill with soil and top off with turf/seeds. Simple but hard work.....

Hollow tine aerating will also help to relieve some of the compaction but it probably won't get rid of your 'bog' issue. That's where you dig out loads of cylinder shapes from the lawn which then gives it room to breathe a bit as it slowly settles back in to the gaps you've created. One of these things will do the trick: https://www.primrose.co.uk/-p-125164.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1Iv0BRDaARIsAGTWD1sYPT9vQBo1sEqIzDfLfC6crY-7Tis9N5Rlmn2bDSL1BfhzHEqdjV0aAjmnEALw_wcB

I've never done this before as I have a natural aversion to hard work and it looks like a living nightmare. I did pay someone to do it for me with a machine last year and will probably do it again every year as I was very pleased with the results. I have a soakaway and also did the hollow tine aeration and my lawn looks decent despite having a dog regularly running around on it.

Your problem could just be that your turf hasn't knitted in to the soil underneath because both were compacted. That would mean that your grass only has a few cms of mud to grow in to which isn't great. Try digging out a small section of the lawn and see if you can lift it in a sheet, if you can then it's still turf and hasn't turned in to lawn...... Common sense (not expert knowledge) would suggest that the hollow tine aeration will help this knitting process. Cylinder through turf and soil underneath slowly gets filled and they therefore combine in to one.....

Good luck with it, hope to see some impressive results by summer....



Thanks :-)

Will do some digging both on Youtube and in the garden and see if we can get it back to something respectable.

When I was out fiddling out the front at the weekend, the old boy from down the road came to pass judgement and proudly told me he had astro turfed his whole back garden. Pffff, cop out.

In your situation I'd seriously consider artificial grass for the front lawn or even some other decorative low maintenance option.

It's a small area and barely worth transporting the mower from the back where I assume it lives in the shed. It's also always going to be bare at the edges because the paving sucks all the moisture away and that tree and couple of manhole covers really don't help. It's never going to be a beautiful lawn so anything other than grass is probably going to work better.

Why not have some nice bushes along the front, maybe a few up the sides and then just gravel it?


This is the other Jones's. They had a patch of grass on either side and just finished off pulling it all out and putting down gravel / slate. It does look pretty good to be fair.

Maybe I should think about another option for the front. Those man hole covers are an eyesore.

 Click to see full-size image.
IMG-20200401-151108787-HDR-1" border="0

I started attacking the back garden yesterday. Lots of dead stuff coming up. I have ordered some grass seed and have some left over compost from last year. I think I will try and re-seed and see if that works. The garden is dry as a bone now but very little alive grass left.

 Click to see full-size image.
thumbnail-IMG-20200401-145325993-HDR" border="0
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