The age old question

Blade I don't think it's damage from your dogs. Does the lawn face north or east by any chance?

 

yes sheal , my lawn faces north ish , the ground under the top soil is chalk , really dont want to cause an arguement lads , just would like a few bits of advice so i can make a decision as to which way to go , dont really want my thread closed ! , there is a worn patch from back to front where the dogs run when i let them out , but the rest is just patchy .

Blade

 

Too much water? drainage not good enough?

 

I dont know Kristen

 

Well, if you've not seen standing-water on the lawn it probably isn't that. But if you do then it could be that

 

Blade what was the quality of the top soil? Was it as-dug and moved from one location to yours or was it a good quality blended and graded topsoil? What prep if any was done to the ground before the topsoil was added? Who supplied it and the turf, which turf was used?

 

:( i dont know , this is more difficult than i expected

 

So someone else provided the materials and laid the lawn for you?

 

yes , got a guy with a digger to come and level the garden , a lorry load of top soil and then he turfed it

 

how long did you let the lawn grow before you mowed it for the 1st time?

 

Cant remember , but i did what the guy said , it was fine for the 1st year or so but went down hill a bit after that

 

it's a hard one, especially when you say that you have tried overseeding and the seed never took

perhaps try scarifying and aerating in the beginning of autumn, then overseeding the whole lawn with a blend of seed that does well in shadier positions (assuming that your lawn is in semi shade)

here are a few examples from BSH for shady areas:
http://www.bshamenity.com/products.php?mc=landscaping&cat=shady-areas

perhaps the A9 blend may be the best bet, as you have dogs ... costs £113 per 20kg bag, but that covers 600 square meters (if you use their calculator on the link)

if your lawn is not in shade, perhaps a soil test may find what the problem is, b ut irrespective, you will need to overseed if you want to fill in the bare patches

as I previously mentioned, turf was recently laid at a home a few houses away from me .... they let the grass grow very long and recently mowed it .... it looks exactly the same as the pics you have posted

 

cheers dim , lawn isnt really shaded , ive never aerated my lawn , so ill give that a go , what does scarifing do , i thought you only did that if you had weeds , but my knowledge is very limeted , the prob isnt the dogs although there are areas where it is them . Maybe i just seeded badly , i lay seed on the bald ares and sprinkled with top soil ? . ive not let my lawn get too long , except over winter once . Its a puzzle