Lawns

Ooops! Went a bit mad, did you? don't worry, I'm doing that all the time!What you do is this: get yourself a bag of grass seed from the garden centre. Scruff up the patches with a hand fork and get rid of the weeds and moss. Fork over the soil and refresh it with something - lawn feed will be...

I would say anything from 6-12" but the deeper the better. More important is the quality of the subsoil. Make sure it's got plenty of fibrous material (composty stuff in other words) and grit or course sand to give good drainage. And scatter some lawn feed on it before you lay the turf. Water it...

Hi Maxi,I'd go with all the obvious suggestion here of contacting the landscapers. Sometimes turf just doesn't take very well on the soil it was laid on; you can get an idea of this by trying to pull up a couple of the turfs - it it comes up easily it hasn't rooted into the native soil, and is...

yes we had done the same and it was just grass that had blown in and grew it can obviously grow in very little soil. I just used round up but it pulled out with very little effort really.

You can get away with a light scattering of soil on top of the seeds - generally it's wise to rake the seed into the soil, though only to a shallow depth. As Michaelmassdaisy says, if the seed is too deep it won't get any light.If the seed has germinated, there are some other possibilities to...

**MOD HAT ON**language!!**MOD HAT OFF**

That sounds like you've got birds feeding on Chafer Grubs Steve. The bulk of the mess is made by the birds digging, but the grass dying off is due to the grubs eating away at the roots.Have a look here and see if it looks like your problem - I've got no idea how well this stuff works, but...

Hi Will, This is the photo of lawn and border.The border at the bottom end just gets wider and wider. Would like to move grass over about 4 inches all the way down. Thanks Sewer Rat I will do the deed tomorrow if dry. Maybe I could put some fleece on top of seed.

hooray they've started to sprout!

I know the feeling michaelmas daisy. However that said, I haven't given up hope on mine - and morning exercises sorted the shoulder problems for me - thanks to my local osteopath.

Yes I have a dog, a bitch, and all the bare patched to prove it, still I've never really been one to worry too much about the grass (its not a lawn), but it does look a bit scruffy in summer or after a frosty spell. Thats an interesting artical, dont know if she'll like tomato juice, I'll have...

Thanks for the tip, Rudham (again!) I'm planning to relay my lawn as the chap who did it, put in 15tons of topsoil beforehand - almost pure clay! So after 5 years of struggle, I'm giving up and starting again!

Your female dog's urine is poisonous to your lawn, if possible have a special area for your dog to pee, also the drainage problem is possably the turf people but it could be that there is no grass to absorb all the water, don't cut the grass too short, let the grass grow normally and in spring...

Hi md, I bought some last year from local petshop by Vetzyme. It was for my sister's 2 dogs who tend to use gravel- apparently it worked well!

without further info, i have to assume some sort of black mould.......if so, rake vigorously wih a spring tine rake, aerate with fork to improve drainage, re seed when temperature is higher.... you soil needs to be 5 degrees C

Besides aerating, and raking the thatch - I would suggest feeding it once it starts growing again - and keep it trimmed. Blades set high at the beginning of the season, and then lower. Cutting the grass and feeding should cause it to fill out - unless there is something in the soil that is not...

Me thinks it's a bit late for lisa to worry about mad cow and all that! :D

Very well summed up Palustris. By not feeding you encourage the roots to look for nutrients in the soil beneath the turf which speeds up the knitting process.

Grass from seed takes quite a time to make a hard useable lawn, 2 years at least and you need a mix with ryegrass for strength and useability. On the other hand you could go the instant lawn way and that is ready for light traffic very soon but must be kept well watered for the first summer....

Before you go ahead with your plans to dig up and re-turf, what are the main problems with the old grass? What do you mean by tired? too many weeds? moss? Would it be possable to re-juvinate this sad grass, and save you money, time, and back ache. Lawn sand applied in February will kill off moss...