Neglected Tufty Lawn

Dear All

As much as I love my garden (although I have neglected for the past 12 months) I have no clue at all what to do to rescue the lawn.

I have neglected it for 12 months, I recently strimmed it back and what is left is a very tufty lawn. There are lots of tufty patches seperated by lots of bear patches (or should that be bare patches - there are no grizzlies in my garden as it is in London :dh.
A friend of mine, who is by no means a gardener herself, has suggested the following:

1. Strim the lawn right back getting the tufty patches as low as possible.
2. Rake out all the dead grass and moss
3. Cover the lawn in a mixture of sharp sand and top soil
4. Add grass seed
5. Let nature take its course

My question for this forum is:

i) is the above the right way to go about rescuing my lawn? I don't have much money so re-turfing is out of the question - the lawn is about 30square metres in size.
ii) if this is a good solution how much sand and how much top soil should I use? I also hear that top soil is quite expensive, where could I get top soil from at a reasonable price.

Please, please, please help me.

Thanking each and everyone of you in advance.

 

First thing is to cut it regularly with a lawn mower. Strimming the grass will only ever achieve a relatively rough grass finish.

I wouldn't cut it too short - cut it at a height where the grass stays green, and recovers to be mown again a week later. Gradually reduce the height over the course of a month or more.

That will encourage the "finer" grass to grow by discouraging the coarser grasses - which will not be able to withstand frequent mowing.

Come early Autumn over-seed the area. If you are able to afford to put some sand and topsoil over first that will definitely be better. If you can rake out all the thatch, or hire/borrow a scarifier, then even better still.

posting a photo so we can see how bad the patches are would help advise better.

 

Hi Kristen

Thank you for your advice. I took some pictures yesterday but they have not come out very good and don't really show the extent of the tuftyness.

I spent a good hour yesterday raking the dead grass off the lawn. I will probably do this again to ensure I have the majority of it gone before mowing it at a high mower cut.

The one thing I was confused about in your reply is regarding the sand and top soil. Shoud I add the sand and top soil now or wait until early autumn? I went to the building centre yesterday and found out the price of sharp sand - its only £2 per 25kg bag, so depending on how much I need its not too expensive and possibly a cost worth incurring to get a nice lawn. Not sure on the cost of top soil, I'm guessing this is more expensive.

Do you have any recommendation on the quantity of sharp sand and top soil to use for a 30 sq metre lawn?

You've been very helpful. Thank you

Regards

Mark

 

"Shoud I add the sand and top soil now or wait until early autumn?"

Do that at the time you over-seed (personally I would do that in the Autumn)

I would think that Sand and Soil will be about the same cost. Both are heavy, so its all in the cost of transporting it. If you have a large area to do it might be worth getting a builders-bag delivered - one eahc of Sand and Soil, or a pre-mixed bag perhaps.