Breaking all the Rules to Create the Perfect Lawn

[@CharlieDIYte]

🛠Charlie DIYte Amazon Tool Store amzn.to/3fcLnY4 - all my tried, tested and much loved DIY tools. ☕Patreon membership www.patreon.com/charlieDIYte - includes Discord access. ☕Buy Me a Coffee bit.ly/3xuQ3zb - to help support my Channel - also use it for membership a bit like Patreon. 👚Charlie DIYte Official Merch Store charlie-diyte.myspreadshop.co.uk/ - all new range of professionally designed merch.

[@neilgraves5069]

Love the stone sieve over the barrow . Superb

[@derekelizabeth809]

What size of holes

[@1959ticktock]

This should be a very successful video Charlie. Nothing closer to an Englishman's heart than his lawn. Seriously though, never cut grass too short. It has much more resilience the longer you can leave it. Feels much better walking on it as well.

[@roger4880]

Good job. Few tips... No need for pre seed fertiliser, it is very rare to have deficiency in PK nutrients in soil. Water 3-4 times a day then once germination occurs 2 times a day for a week then 1 a day then every 2-3 days in summer. 1/3 rule is a general guideline and not important but don't scalp every two weeks. As you tilled the soil you will have bought up weed seeds but now you have to wait 6 months at least to treat them. Grass seed in 10 or 20kg is best purchased from Hurrells or The Grass People. eBay sellers get the cheapest seed with varying weed seeds.

[@neilgraves5069]

Gardeners Dream is fantastic Seed , used this in the past i was very immpressed with it

[@Participant616]

No one's watering 3-4 times per day lol

[@dchall8]

I agree no need for the fertilizer, but for a different reason. Fertilizer only works on roots. There are no roots until the grass is already growing. By the time the roots come along, the pre-applied fertilizer will be washed away with the multi-times a day watering. Furthermore, there is about a 30-day supply of nutrients built into grass seed by Mother Nature. So there's really no need to waste money to fertilize early. I also agree on your watering up until germination. Here in the US it is very common to seed with a mix of rye, fescue, and Kentucky bluegrass in the northern states. Rye germinates in a week, fescue germinates in about 2 weeks, and KBG germinates in 3 weeks. With that in mind, if you changed the watering schedule after only one week, the fescue will come in thin and the KBG won't come in at all. Also as you tilled the soil, the soil will become fluffy down to the depth of the tiller blades/tines. The problem is when the tiller hits a soft spot it will dig down deep. When it hits a rock, pipe, clod, or root, it bounces up out of the ground. The big picture is that the soil will become fluffy at different depths around the yard. As that multi level fluff settles over the next three years, the soil surface will become bumpier and bumpier. Eventually it can be leveled, but it would have been better to avoid tilling in the first place.

[@anotherinternetaddict]

I did something very similar some years back. I wouldn't celebrate yet - mine did look good for four months too. Then turned into a baren waste land the next spring/summer. If it's still looking good in a years time then you're doing well. 😅

[@lloyd4011]

Do you know what you did wrong?

[@anotherinternetaddict]

​@@lloyd4011 I think the soil is just too dead, not enough nutrients in it.

[@anotherinternetaddict]

Four years later, numerous amounts of fertilizers and compost thrown on top and I'm at a stage where it looks like a lawn from a distance 😂

[@lloyd4011]

@@anotherinternetaddict ah fair enough. We're cursed/blessed with the opposite. If I put a brick on the soil, grass will grow on it. unfortunately, any open soil will spout a weed in about 6 minutes.

[@anotherinternetaddict]

​@@lloyd4011haha - that sounds like everywhere else on my property. Especially the gutters!

[@nattybking]

We have 7 massive trees on our back garden; 4 lime, 2 oak and a sycamore, all with TPOs on them. The lawn is always in shade and is always full of weeds, ants nests, battered by falling twigs and branches and then starved of light with leaves all year round. I only wish we could have a lawn that looks as lush as this one. This was a great video though, I'm binge watching a few today as I've got lots to catch up with.

[@valborchardt3596]

Thanks charlie. Lucky you having so much rain. We’ve had hardly no rain but in winter which it is now here we get very little. However the Cape has had terrible floods but Cape Town area gets lots of rain in winter, although not such floods as theyre having now. Your lawn looks great after you put in so much effort. You and yours take care. Much love from South Africa

[@CharlieDIYte]

Good to hear from you Val. Hope you're keeping well.

[@Timetorelasx]

Thank you I am doing my garden at the moment and you doing and showing this video really dose help a lot

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks. Glad you found it useful. 👊

[@matthewfield7649]

Love your work and videos Charlie- well done 👍🏻

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Matthew, really appreciate your support 👊

[@blagger]

Great video, I’ve just done exactly the same, had a square of lawn that had never been sewn so decided to start in April, just applied some more seed to patches. Love the soil filtering tip.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks. Glad to hear yours is turning out well. 👊

[@capitalinventor4823]

That a very nice looking yard. I do think, at least over in North America at least, there is way too much emphasis on having the "perfect" lawn. I was surprised when you suggested to mow the lawn using the second highest setting on the mower. It's nice to see someone doing that. I usually mow with the mower at the highest and the grass is taller just after I've mown it than the the height people around me start cutting it at. The "ideal" here seems to be the fairway of a golf course and most mow their lawn on either of the two lowest height settings of their lawn mower. My steps for my lawn are: - Keep the lawn mower at a high height setting. The extra height, along with mulching the grass, provides shade on the ground to help prevent weeds and keeps moisture from evaporating. - Embrace dandelions. In my yard they show up in the spring before the grass has had the chance to grow high. The long roots are good for aerating the lawn. - I've added clover to my lawn. Before I did I would notice during times that the grass was turning brown because we had not had rain in a while that there were some patches of green. Every one of those patches had clover and the grass was still green. Clover is a nitrogen fixer so it will feed the lawn throughout the year and free people from adding the spring and autumn fertilizers (which tend to give growth spurts). If you let your lawn grow longer than most people then clover will flower and become an important source of food for bees. It is able to stand up to wear better than grass so adding clover to areas that are used as pathways or where people sit often won't show signs of usage as quickly. Finally, I just think that it looks nice, which is the perfect reason to have anything in your lawn or garden. - It's a personal choice and I haven't added any chemicals to my lawn or garden in 20 years. I have added some triple-mix (compost, peat - didn't feel great about that, and topsoil). House builders are required to put a certain height of topsoil down before adding a lawn but it seems like that measure that from a low spot and not use an average height of the topsoil they are putting down. So lawns and other plants don't often have enough soil to thrive. When setting up garden beds I would add a few extra cubic meters of the mix, mostly to spread around, and some to specifically build up areas. When I was making a garden bed I used corrugated cardboard pieces laid on the ground, wet them, and placed the topsoil mix on top. This prevented anything from below from coming up.

[@hyland1984]

I did a similar project back in March, charlie. Weeds sprang up like crazy, grass yellow'd / light green. Put down that 4in1 miracle grow stuff. Within a week, the weeds were gone & the grass was a beautiful emerald green.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Glad to hear you got it sorted. All ok so far but I'm keeping it nice and looking which I think probably helps.

[@Pete.Ty1]

👍👍👍 Great looking lawn. Thanks Charlie

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks 👊

[@JurassicJungle]

Great video, this is a job i have to do late this summer or next spring

[@Mark-pk1fm]

That is a lovely lawn 👍🏼

[@nigelbullock9039]

What a result Charlie. For once the rain helped make you smile at the right time.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Nigel 👊

[@simonsorrin7768]

That's a lovely lawn!

[@witcherwoo8938]

Looks lovely

[@billysaunders544]

That charlie sieve was a fantastic idea, we hand sieved all the stones out of our vegetable patch at it was a lot of work, ill use your idea next time i reckon 👍

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Billy 👊

[@billysaunders544]

@@CharlieDIYte no, thank you for the idea 👍

[@ClaireLeung-pj2ri]

Impressive Charlie. From your hanging curtain rail days to DIYer to builder and now to gardening! Is there no end to your talent? 😆

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Claire, that's very kind. 🙏

[@geltonbeltonwelton]

Always great work. !!

[@kolifx]

Man, is there anything that you cannot do?! Well done.

[@EppingForest304]

Do a future video on weed control & scarifying… the weeds are relentless!

[@superamario6464]

Weeds are utter utter bar stewards

[@Participant616]

I also cover the grass seeds once sown, but I use general purpose compost as I find it retains moisture really well.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Fair point. I've found it accelerates the growth of the grass a little too much though.

[@GARDENER42]

A 6-8" bench grinder is the tool to use on rotary mower blades. Works great on other things, like shredder blades, plane irons, edging tools... ...or replace one stone with a wire wheel or buffing mop for even more options.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks. Yes I've got one of those. It needs new stones though.

[@gedgicat2063]

Great video, tools and recommendations to help me keep my lawn looking amazing🎉 Had to manually look up the seed sprayer which is a shame as you won't get a kick back.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks. Yes they don't sell the sprayer unfortunately on Amazon. Really appreciate you wanting to help out on that though 👊

[@MarieKent-ji5nk]

Impressive!

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks 👊

[@tonygreenwoodN10]

Can't believe you were using a open blade rotavator/tiller just wearing trainers 😯!!!

[@yamfingaz5598]

Yeah he probably got really dirty feet 😱

[@tonygreenwoodN10]

@@yamfingaz5598 Yeah, a good way to lose some toes. So dumb!

[@OliverHamilton]

I'm so glad you didn't go for artificial lawn! Looks like it was well worth the effort for the real stuff.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Oliver. Yep really pleased with it.

[@Czechbound]

You got a great result ! Mine looks like a 7/10, but it's full of moss that you can pull out in tuffs. So I guess the drainage is bad. Does anyone know is that a full dig out and putting in a drainage layers of stones and new top soil ? If so, what grade of stones ? Thanks in advance.

[@mikeblackburn-v4m]

If you have heavy soil try adding a thin layer of compost each year for a few years in the autumn. It will make a difference. A lot cheaper and less disruptive than digging it up for drainage channels that are detrimental in long dry periods

[@Czechbound]

@@mikeblackburn-v4m Thank you for the advice. Good point about dry years, that no doubt we'll have more off. But I need a quicker result, so will have do something more immediate.

[@dan7777]

Get that soil sifter in the merch store!

[@ludicer122]

Do more lawn videos 👀👀

[@MarcusT86]

Fantastic video Charlie. I’m shocked you didn’t need to add any topsoil, just killed the roots in the original and sifted it clean!

[@CharlieDIYte]

Yes, crazy isn't it! Thanks, I appreciate that 👊

[@mr.rodriguez5099]

You will see if you ve done it correctly next year

[@andrewknots]

30% vinegar, 1:2 with water and some rinse aid is a great weedkiller

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Andrew. I'll try that 👌

[@ridgmont61]

Did you try a lawn leveller tool? Stunningly quick to use on large areas.

[@CharlieDIYte]

No, but thanks for the tip 👊

[@thomaslundberg5588]

What's the battery life like in your mower? I bought a Worx one a few years ago and I usually cut the grass at the front and back separately as the 2 x 2Ah batteries don't have the capacity to do them both on a single charge unless you cut more regularly than I do. Usually in summer when it is dryer I can get away doing both on a single charge but with the weather we have been having I've let the back get a bit too long again 😂 I looked into buying more batteries but it is too expensive to justify. I could have bought a petrol mower for less. I do like the light weight though 🙂

[@CharlieDIYte]

Yes you really need 4ah's for mowing. That lawn doesn't use up any battery really and I can do the lawn next to it too - which is about 4 times the size - on the same charge, but I'm not cutting it very short.

[@thomaslundberg5588]

Cheers for you reply. I agree. 2 X 4Ah batteries would have been perfect. Whatever square area the manufacturer says you can cut on a single charge it's probably best to divide by 2 for real world in spring and autumn. To be fair my lawn is also full of weeds which doesn't help 😂

[@Hollingsabre]

No collection bag on the mower? So do you have to rake all the cuttings up after each mow?

[@CharlieDIYte]

Sorry I should have mentioned that. No I'm allowing it to mulch into the lawn which in turn feeds it. So provided you cut it regularly so the mulch isn't too long and sits on the surface, you can do that.

[@therealcaldini]

Thank you for not putting plastic grass down.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Oof, couldn't have done that 🤦😉

[@DavePawson]

If you're forecast is right, spread seed just before it rains, same benefits.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Yes exactly 👌

[@RyanJohnsonD]

what kind of grass did you use?

[@CharlieDIYte]

There's a link to it in the Description. 👍

[@pault5947]

Hang about Mr DIYte There's no link to the lawnmower you talked about!!!! Yours sincerely, A Very Disgruntled Subscriber 😂😂

[@CharlieDIYte]

Sorry mate. I did try and find a link but they sell most of their stuff through Screwfix and it's not on there for some reason. I'll get on to them and find out where you can get it. Watch this space 👌

[@stickvac]

The next thing that lawn needs is a cylinder mower

[@CharlieDIYte]

I'm going to keep the grass long for the foreseeable. I agree though. My old man has one. I tried it here once and the rest of the garden was too uneven/ mossy so it kept getting stuck.

[@carolcooks1208]

Next years video, how to get rid of moss

[@CharlieDIYte]

I've got a lot of that on the rest of the lawn.

[@ballygarran]

I know you can’t beat real grass but I had a back garden the size of your patio lawn and I decided to astroturf it. Would you have even considered that?

[@CharlieDIYte]

No, not on here. How are you getting on with your astro?

[@ballygarran]

@@CharlieDIYte it was down for about 4 years before I moved house. I used to disinfect it twice a year for animal pee and used to brush it with a strimmer attachment as well. The new owner of my house loved it. I never had any issues with it at all. I know it’s not for everyone but it suited me.

[@dchall8]

Specifically, which rules did you break? Your installation looks fairly conventional to me.

[@truth3358]

Weed free service never happens The less grass seed you sow the better

[@greenrots]

Nothing wrong with spraying a gene mutating, cancer causing, gut bacteria killing poison that your kids will be playing on if you have the right PPE guys! *This video is brought to you by Monsanto 😂

[@YoucefGoumiri]

discord link please

[@CharlieDIYte]

You get the link once you've joined Patreon/ Buy Me a Coffee 👍