Grass.

[Rachel holliday]

I was getting all excited that I've got my new run coming so I can put my guineas out in the garden ( haven't even got any guineas yet ) but just gone out there and I realise my front garden is covered in moss and my back garden is mainly clover. Damn damn damn !
How do I improve it, any gardeners here ?

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

My lawn has tons of clover too (and dandelions and buttercup!) , but there is grass among and underneath the clover - perhaps yours is similar if you look closely? Guineas can eat clover anyway, my gp book says it is good 'conditioning'. You could try cutting most of the clover/grass where you want to put the run, using shears if you've time so there is some length left for the pigs to munch, leave a small patch uncut to see if they will eat it. That's what I'd do.

I was picking grass for my 2 this morning and thinking, how on earth do I get rid of all the dandelions without using weedkiller? They just seem to be spreading everywhere, even though I mostly keep them from flowering and seeding - it looks terrible

PS This time of year, remember to check the grass etc is dry before putting your pigs out on it - mine is always wet in the mornings and takes some hours to dry in the sun.

 

[Eriathwen]

With moss you can get a rake and get some of it up then put down grass seed. I'm not sure if its doable at this time of year though. Our gardens mainly moss too..but we rent, I'm not sure they would appreciate me turning the lawn into 99% bare soil for a few weeks!

 

[Guineapigfeet]

Scarifying (raking up the moss) is best done in Autumn/spring but what's the worst that could happen?! We did ours last Autumn put seed down and it is much better this year but it does take a long time for the seed to establish and the longer you leave it the better really. I encourage dandilions on the front lawn - pigs love them and they're invaluable for early spring bees.

It's probably a yearly job as moss does tend to come back!