The Grass Doctor

When is the best time to plant grass seed and how do you kill thistles in a lawn?

Public Comments

1. For the grass seed spring or autumn. April or September to be more specific. As for the thistles I would recommend Roundup. It is an excellent high strength weed killer. Hope this helps.
2. You can sow grass seed in the autumn or the spring. Basically this means when it is warm and moist enough to ensure the seeds germinate. Grass seed needs the same sort of growing conditions to grow that most annual flower seeds will need. It will appreciate a fine tilth of soil that gets some sun and rain. I always rake some in and surface sow a few too. That said, grass isn't over fussy if it's sowed in small patches. If you're thinking of seeding a large area, then reading up on how to would be very fruitful for you. Most gardening encyclopedias will have something on it. Hessayon or the RHS are usually a good bet. If you use a broadleaf selective herbicide containing something like 24D (lawn weed and feed) that should sort your thistles out. You could try pulling them out, tap-root and all, by hand. It may seem like hard work, but if you get the root out, it's probably the best method. So in summary. Autumn and Spring for the seed and Lawn Weed and Feed for the thistles. Hope you have every success. P.S. Round-up will kill the grass too if you get any on it. Paint it on or put a cardboard collar around the thistle to ensure you don't get any on the grass.
3. Thistle roots go all the way down to Australia, very difficult to kill. waste of time trying to dig them up, like some of the previose members have said, try painting them with a good strong weedkiller
4. You can cut the thistle off at ground level and apply some roundup, full stregth on the stem. We call it a cut stump treatment.
5. fall time is the best time . for killing those weeds I use just plain water and add salt to it and just spray weeds . it works every time.
6. Grass seed should be planted in September. To get rid of thistles, keep putting weed killer on the ground now at least every 2 weeks.