my lawn is dying..... pleas help!!!

Hi everyone, i am new to gardening and trying to revive my lawn. i had new lawn laid in September.




looked lovely and lush, now it looks tired and dead




i watered it and mowed it but it didnt really survive the winter too well. now i am thinking of overseeding and topdressing and i need some advice. my soil i very clay based and i did not think the people that did the lawn in september added enough top soil before laying the grass, what i want to know is do i seed and then cover with compost, i have read that compost and grit or sharp sand would help being clay soil is this correct? do i just pour the seed on the ground and then pour the compost over it, does it matter the condition of the existing grass. what i have done so far is

1. mowed it to the current height seen in the picture

2. scarified it to remove the thatch and moss (my research said the scarifier would also aerate the soil, but my ground is so hard it didnt even get into it much) so i might now need get one of those aerating shoes

now i want to overseed. can anyone advice on how i might be able to get the lawn back to looking good.

 

Have you been rolling the lawn hence the roller being filled with water?

 

Yes i have " thats one more thing i did that i forgot to mention " The lawn had mounds and areas that were not level, so i rolled it to level it out. the rolling was done last week, and i scarified after rolling.

 

Well @Liz the pot is one of our lawn experts but would be interested to know if he agrees with my views on your problem lawn.

In the first pic you really let the grass grow way too long, its should have been carefully mowed to a much shorter length, did you leave it that long over winter ?

As for overseeding, well the seed you add will not match your existing grass and there is a chance you will get different shades of grass developing as the two types compete.

When scarifying it can look a real mess, but would suggest you leave it well alone and in a month or two it should have recovered.

Think a good water with a sprinkler once a week is all thats needed, though again Liz might suggest a feed ?

 

Hi Ricky, yes it was left over winter, it was new turf and i was told i needed to leave it for 3 or 4 weeks to settle before mowing, and that it had to be dry before mowing, unfortuntely by the time i had left it for 4 weeks and the rain had stopped enough for it to get dry enough, it was december and i went on holiday... so it just got left like that over winter.

what is the right thing to do with the lawn over winter, as it isnt practical to continue mowing ... or is it?

 

Ricky is spot on. Rolling it was maybe not the best way to handle the lumps, it should have been flat if prepared correctly but by rolling it you may have compacted and altered the level but that’s done and dusted.
Personally I would not have scarified it, chances are it was fine and just needed several cuts to get it down to a nice height but yes it was a bit long.
A gentle feed will help to bring it back, maybe a liquid feed may be worth it if you have never done this sort of thing before so it lowers the chance of scorching.

was there moss in the lawn?

 

+1

Always a bit difficult to be sure from a photo, but my first thought was that it had been over-mowed.

In a mild winter where the grass is growing a bit manic I would still mow it with mower on highest setting - but if that isn't possible (e.g. if you went away on holiday for a fortnight in Spring ...) then mow twice a week and take off only a small amount each time, until it gets back down to the desired height

I agree. Patience and regular mowing. I would also lift the blades up a bit, so it isn't cutting at that "tuft making" level

 

thanks Liz, i will get a liquid feed and give that a go with some patience. i mowed it twice to get it to that height that it currently is, but i guess maybe it should have taken about 4 goes instead of 2. it had already lost its lush green colour by the time the winter was over and i wasnt sure what to do to get it back... so i went online and read bunch of articles and here we are!


I think there was moss, dont really know the difference between moss and thatch, but the scarifyer got a lot out.... sorry i really do not know much about this

 

Thanks Kristen, i will lit the blades up for the next cut

 

It may seem impossible, but your grass will grow back ok, you just need to be patience .

Many of the lawn products are dry granular but its so easy to over use on a small area which just burns the grass, so do try and get a liquid feed, Miracle Grow and Wilko do one, but again, do feed as per the instuctions, do not over dose or you could make things worse.

Moving height is always one of those things everyone has there own ideas about , but for a general guide we would suggest this pic shows the time to cut and the lowest height to cut to.
If in doubt always go for higher rather than a lower cut.

By the end of June you should hopefully have a good looking lawn again.

 

thanks Ricky,
i really do appreciate all the feedback i am getting from the group! you guys rock


i will look at miracle grow and wilco. i have a flymo lawn mower but it can never seem to perform a neat cut like the one in the picture!!

not sure if that is me or the flymo... its a flymo hovervac 280

 

I would also think about a natural source like seaweed feed which is mostly liquid fed which is a good product to apply either mixed in or between treatments.
I tired out miracle grow lawn feed on my companions 2 years back in that hot summer with a common seaweed treatment thrown in as per first picture.
I even used the miracle grow hose attachment to see what results are possible.
The first picture is the lawn with this treatment and cut low with a basic hand cylinder mower.
I then moved on the following year and used a foliar feed and a different seaweed using my knapsack and got a very silky looking grass with a nice thick coverage. I’ve included the second pic showing this feed including a closer pic of the turf coverage.

Both have different looks and finish and you would be hard pressed to scorch the grass with liquid feeds which makes them a good product to learn from.

 

Just an update.... 5 weeks in and the ;awn if looking good again.... thanks for all the advice