Hello!

I've started hanging about here a bit, having just taken possession of a an embarassingly and wonderfully large garden in February, hooray!:love: A whole 2/3 of an acre...yikes.

Having graduated from a tiny terrace with a tiny yard, I've got a lot to do and a lot to learn.
I'm very much a believer in give it a year to see what comes up before making any major changes, and so far I've made a few interesting discoveries, including a flowering currant, some lilies, and a mass of gooseberry bushes.

My burning question at the moment, though, is this: the 'lawn' is honestly 90% moss. Thick, soft, green moss, with the odd tuft of grass.
I have two young kids, and so far it's been working as a fantastic crash mat, so on that count I'm happy.
It also makes fab nesting material for the birds.

I'm aware it's very moist, so we always get a bit of a soggy bum sitting on it, and I'm worried that in the summer it'll all dry up and die.

Are there any pro-moss people out there? Or is there anyone who can give me a few pros and cons about keeping the moss beyond the general fondness for grass (I see lawn as a bit of a green desert, so I'm not dying to change it).

Thanks for any ideas, especially if you have experience of it being a good or bad thing either way.

Hello and welcome!

There is nothing to say a lawn has to be made up of grasses. I've seen one made up of mind-your-own-business, and while I wouldn't use it myself, it was very pretty.

Moss is very easy to take care of. It survives periods of drought remarkably well, and will soon perk up once the rain arrives again because it gets all it's nutrients from the air, not the soil, and this is why it can grow on walls, and paving.
It grows slowly, reproducing from spores. Because they are so low growing, you get away with not having to mow it...however, to spread it about, cut it without a grass box, and then water thoroughly for three or four weeks to help it take.

They prefer a more acid soil, a PH of something between 5.0 and 6.0. and most mosses prefer shade, hot midday sun may well burn it, but then the likelihood of that in the UK is slim....on the plus side, our summers tend to be humid, and moss like humid conditions.

Thank you, Hayley. Spreading it around to get rid of the grass patches may be an idea. I love how it's the opposite of all the lawn care rules :)

no problem, enjoy :D

Heretic.
I fight constantly to keep my customers lawns moss free. :hihi:
Rest assured, unless you water it copiously every day it will eventually succumb to the sun.
Kill it off and re-seed with a good lawn seed, it will pay dividends in the end.

Heretic.
I fight constantly to keep my customers lawns moss free. :hihi:
Rest assured, unless you water it copiously every day it will eventually succumb to the sun.
Kill it off and re-seed with a good lawn seed, it will pay dividends in the end.

That's my big concern, as we do get plenty of sun. But we also have 18 mature trees which haven't sprung out in full leaf yet, so I'm guessing we might have a good amount of shade, too.

If I murdered the moss and waited for grass seeds to grow, we'd have one huge brown garden, and I'd have to keep the kids indoors for aaaaages. This might make the teachers happy (I've been letting my oldest enjoy the spring sun rather than do homework this week, but then he is only 4 - who gives a 4 year old homework when the sun is shining? Grrr) but I'd have a mini revolt on my hands from the kids.

http://www.greenthumb.co.uk/

cheap and very reliable, got our grass sorted in no time and very very cheap, cheaper than doing it yourself

My parents have always had a very mossy lawn, and it looks lush. Even in very hot summers, the moss stays green for longer than grass, and it is also much quicker to recover when it rains again. It's very soft to walk and lie on, and ideal for croquet (no unfair deflections!) - far more fun for children than prickly grass that you are not allowed to walk on half the time (not after re-seeding, not just before mowing, not in the dry, not after rain - what IS the point?)

Heretic.
I fight constantly to keep my customers lawns moss free. :hihi:
Rest assured, unless you water it copiously every day it will eventually succumb to the sun.
Kill it off and re-seed with a good lawn seed, it will pay dividends in the end.

Does the moss not just come back eventually? Also, do you have any recommendations for what's best to kill it off with, that is ok for wildlife and cats :confused:

I've got a lawn that is pretty much all moss because it is in the shade for the vast majority of the day, so the moss never dries out and dies.

I've always been in two minds whether to try and have a grass lawn or just leave it... I'm scared because I'm a complete gardening noob but would like to have a go!

Well, I got a lawnmower, fab deal on ebay...so will faithfully mow the patches of grass :hihi:.
But I reckon we'll keep the moss for this year and see how we get on. If it doesn't work for us, we'll revisit it. My oldest had a huge fall from his rope swing and was very winded (scared us half to death) but I reckon the soft landing helped him escape with nothing but a minor blow to his confidence - which he quickly recovered.

[QUOTE=vwkittie;6174794]Does the moss not just come back eventually? Also, do you have any recommendations for what's best to kill it off with, that is ok for wildlife and cats :confused:
QUOTE]

You could try Lawn sand.

Lawn Tips (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=565649)