Small, bare spots in the lawn can be easily touched up. Unfortunately, this is not enough for an extremely matted and moss-covered lawn - renewal is the order of the day.
It's finally starting again, the "true" gardening season, because the first warm days of the year immediately lure us outside. Of course, there were also tasks that had to be completed in autumn and even in winter. However, spring and summer are still the most beautiful seasons for every hobby gardener.
However, frost and too many rain showers have also left their mark, which is particularly noticeable on the otherwise green lawn. Bare patches are suddenly visible where stalks of grass used to sprout, or the lawn is almost completely invisible because moss and weeds have spread.
Good advice is expensive now, because you definitely don't want to leave your lawn like this. First consider whether the "misery" can be remedied by scarifying. If this is not the case, the lawn must be renewed. In the following step-by-step instructions, you will learn what to look out for and the best way to proceed.
Step 1 - Remove old lawn
Best time: spring April / May or autumn, with temperatures around 10 degrees.
That sounds like a lot of effort, but it has to be done so that the new lawn can develop well again. Which tool you use depends on the size of your lawn. Small, manageable areas can be cut off with a spade. For larger areas, this method would take too long and push you to your physical limits. You can complete this task more easily and quickly with engine power. It is important that the old tufts of lawn, including moss and weeds, are completely lifted out of the ground, i.e. the roots must also be removed. The best way to do this is with a tiller whose blades rotate both forwards and backwards.
The 6 hp tiller from boels.de, for example, is ideal for this and can easily be rented by the day or week. The forward and reverse movement allows even particularly hard clods of earth to be “ripped up” and thus removed from the old lawnto free. Positive side effect: The soil is loosened directly.
Tip: If you mow the old lawn again before this action, you will have less raking later.
Step 2 - Clean area
Of course, matted pieces of lawn, moss and weeds cannot remain on the ground that has been chopped through. They would take up a lot of space and strength for the new lawn to grow and also look ugly. So now it's time to get rid of those leftovers. This works best with a normal garden rake.
Tip: Don't be afraid to wait half a day. Dried grass, moss, etc. is easier to remove than wet.
Step 3 - Level and compact the ground
If the surface is clean, it must be straightened. This is important so that there are no mogul slopes later on. But it's not just holes and hills that should be leveled out, the area itself should ideally always be the same height, which means it doesn't slope down to any side. However, if your property or the new lawn area to be laid out is on a slope, only the unevenness will be leveled out.
Straight or not?
It's best to test this with a string board. Stick small wooden wedges into the soil, to which a long string is then attached. This is then stretched across the lawn - stay on the ground as much as possible. If this method is not enough for you, you can now use a spirit level to check whether there are any serious differences in height. These are then leveled out with the help of a rake. Incidentally, large amounts of soil can be distributed wonderfully with the back of the rake.
Smoothing the floor - but how?
After holes and differences in height have been evened out, the ground still has to be smoothed or compacted. A lawn roller is usually used for this.
The roller is filled with water on site, giving it the required weight. If you don't want to buy an extra roller, you can do something else. Take a large board or wooden pallet and attach a rope to it. Now pull your self-made "smoothing machine" in even tracks over the new lawn. The weight is not comparable to that of a roller, but the smoothing effect is almost as good.
If everything is compacted, the soil is slightly "loosened" again with a rake. This creates a visually appealing soil that is perfectly prepared for the subsequent sowing of the new lawn.