Reducing or eliminating moles/ ground vole problem in your lawn would take a lot of patience and time.

Lawn moles are animals that live underground. They are about the same size as a chipmunk. They are typically six to eight inches long (about 15 to 20 cm) and weigh only three to six ounces (about 85 to 170 grams). They don’t eat the grass as people think but the burrow tunnels below the soil surface as they forage for grubs worms, earth worms and insects. They destroy the root system of lawn. First signs of lawn moles are the small mountains and pathways they form on the surface of ground as they create and burrow tunnels near the surface.

In the South area, Moles are called as Voles. You can reduce their food source by placing a long lasting grub preventative in your lawn during summer so their activity would reduced too. But this will not guarantee moles to leave but this could definitely help. In addition, you can also try to use mole repelling treatments for your lawn. Designed to drive moles away from lawn.

lawn moles prefer to stay deep underground where their tunnels are not evident from the surface. A lawn that is over watered, however, will cause the insects to move to toward the surface. As a result, the lawn moles will build new tunnels that are closer to the surface in order to hunt for food. Keeping the lawn properly watered helps keep lawn moles far below the surface, where they can benefit the yard rather than damaging it with tunnels.

Stripping is pushing the grass down in one direction then the other as you mow your lawn. Then you can see the effects in two different shades in alternate. In shades of light and dark green. Stripping a lawn could add up a dramatic and attractive effect just like a golf course. Alternating patterns by 90º or 45º adds up to the aesthetic and is good for the grass

How to do it?

A finely tuned reel mower is needed for a bold stripping of a golf course. This mower has rollers in the front and back, first roller sometimes grooved and helps in lining up the grass for an even effect. The reel cuts in a way for the grass to be lining up for an even reel and pushes the grass down in one direction and the rear weighted roller pushes the grass down a final time. Those mowers in golf course and ball fields are commercial reel mowers that creates a more bold stripes and very high tech machines.

Getting it Stripes..

Striping kits are being attached to the rear of the mower or right behind the mowing deck. This can ranged from a weighted back roller assembly to the firm rubber flap to lay the grass down. Another alternate for stripping is the home made attachment made of lumber that could also be used for stripping your lawn. Striping also depends on the grass you have for your lawn. The low growth habit and coarse leaf blade will not allow it to lay over. Bermuda grass may be difficult to trim for stripes since it has a low growing warm season grass.

1. Long Handled Shovel - A shovel is the one everyone thinks of for gardening: a curved head, a long handle, prefect for digging and scooping soil. A long handle gives you better leverage for all of that digging. The curved, somewhat pointed head digs through hard packed soil and lawn with ease. Use this for everything from digging holes for shrubs, to scooping compost or mulch onto your beds.

2. Spade - This is the shovel that has a straight, flat head. This has a very thick steel head and shorter handle, although you can find long handled ones. Short handled could be use for edging beds and removing sod to prepare new beds. In gardening, a spade is a hand tool used to dig or loosen ground, or to break up clumps in the soil. Together with the fork it forms one of the chief implements wielded by the hand in agriculture and horticulture. It is sometimes considered a type of shovel. Its typical shape is a broad flat blade with a sharp lower edge, straight or curved. The upper edge on either side of the handle affords space for the used’s foot, which drives it into the ground. The wooden handle ends in a cross-piece, sometimes T-shaped and sometimes forming a kind of loop for the hand.

3. Hand trowel - This is the most-used tool in my garden shed. Use for: planting annuals, digging out stubborn weeds, potting up containers, and planting bulbs.

4. Hoe - This is the best tool for weeding in established beds. Just run this over the soil, and it cuts all those rotten little weeds off at the soil surface.There are two kinds: the stirrup hoe (which, go figure, looks like a stirrup!) and the regular hoe.

5. Bypass Pruners - These have curving blades that, when you cut, end up next to one another. The other type of pruner is the anvil pruner, where the two blades just meet when you cut. Bypass pruners are perfect for light pruning of trees and shrubs, dead heading perennials and annuals, and cutting flowers for arrangements. They make a nice, clean cut that will heal easily.

A video about renovation of your lawn to attain a green healthy lawn. The key to a successful renovation is ensuring that new seedling has enough opportunity to grow healthy and not be damaged.

Scarifying your lawn during Mid-Spring or Autumn is important To remove debris from your lawn. It forms a cover of mulch over your lawn, stifling emerging grass. To allow air to reach the soil. Lawns with only a thin layer of thatch will not need treatment, this thinner layer actually helps to conserve moisture and help the lawn absorb hard wear. Scarify your lawn at least twice a month for a greener lawn.

How? - Either you can borrow or hire a scarifying machine, or you can scarify your lawn by hand using a spring-tined rake. Draw the rake over the lawn in short sweeps, digging the tines into the top level of the soil. Work in one direction across the lawn and then again at right angles to your initial sweep. Once you have completed the scarifying process, mow the lawn, collecting the clippings, to remove the thatch and even up its appearance.

Scarifying machines are essential for larger lawns and they will usually pick up the thatch for you. Mow after scarifying to even the appearance of the lawn, collecting the clippings. If you have a great deal of moss in the lawn, you may wish to consider applying a moss killer If you garden organically and have a problem with moss, this usually results from inadequate sun or poor drainage. Consider the viability of lawns in shaded or damp ground.