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Lawn problem

mf21212mf21212 Posts: 20
in Problem solving
Hi There,
Ive had a problem with my lawn which seemed to be a classic "new build" problem ie that the soil is of very poor quality. If I feed it then it looks great for 6-8 weeks and then goes brown, but more troublingly stays brown all winter.... 

I have planted some trees on it however and noticed something curious. Where I have watered the trees the grass is perfect in a ring around them. Also under the childrens' climbing frame and by the fence the grass is pretty good too. It seems to me that the soil is having trouble holding water and the water just drains through.

How can I solve this? I had an idea of installing pop up sprinklers to throw water at the problem but I am not sure that is particularly clever. Someone also suggested top dressing with compost to me but given the area in question is around 0.2 acres this could be expensive. 

Attached is a photo of how it looks now. the problem is exaggerated a little because of the hot weather here in the south but the issue has been present all 3 years we have been here and the grass does not recover in the winter like other lawns where this is present (my front garden for example is fine). 

MF


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Posts

  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    I'm not convinced your issue is water not holding on and draining away. You may need to rake your whole area every time you cut the grass. There looks to be a lot of thatch matted over the surface. You need to scarify the whole area and then rake off the dead stuff, then mow over it a few times. The area needs spiking to allow air and water to get down into the soil.

    Then, when the weather is cool and the soil damp re-seed patches that do not grow back. Top dressing is far better once you have done the above first, and I don't recommend it until you have got your grass growing back to a decent coverage.
  • mf21212mf21212 Posts: 20
    I aerated it 2 years ago and it didnt make a bit of difference. I had it scarified last year to remove all the thatch and the grass looked good before it all died again.

    the thatch is just grass that has died this year... 
  • mf21212mf21212 Posts: 20
    what im trying to say is the green grass in the photo has not been treated any differently to the brown grass it has just had a lot of water due to the watering of the newly planted tree.
  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    mf21212, scarifying is a yearly task, if not twice a year sometimes. Even thatch built up for 6 months can block light and water getting into your soil. There had been some pretty dry weather this year and many lawns are still recovering. Once autumn sets in, and there has been sufficient rainfall, scarify your lawn again. Grass growth responds well to scarifying. Any areas that don't recover, you can re-seed in that time. 
  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    mf21212, I can see the newly planted trees have more greener patches. That's just due to additional watering. If you want to water your lawn, it will eventually green up like many lawns, but for a more uniform look, you need to do the tasks I have mentioned to maintain the lawn.
  • mf21212mf21212 Posts: 20
    Ok yes I agree that scarifying is a yearly task in an ideal world but I have never had a lawn this bad... The rest of my lawn has not needed scarifying and this lawn was laid at a different time so there is something "special" about this lawn which makes it very susceptible to just dying... 
  • glasgowdanglasgowdan Posts: 632
    I suspect there's a lack of organic content in the soil. The rootzone will have always struggled to develop properly so the plants are effectively just hanging on. Would it be a consideration to develop one area as a fine lawn, and leave the rest to wild meadow or shrub beds and so on? You could then concentrate on, for example, a 250m2 fine lawn, give it a thorough and regular top dress (not sandy), re-seed and water it more intensively.

    What happens when you put a spade into the ground? Can you get deep enough to take a 6 inch sample, for example?
  • mf21212mf21212 Posts: 20
    you can take a 6 inch sample yes... you can shove a spade in to maybe 10 inches and then you hit something hard.... guessing its the old sand school for the stable the property is built on.. 10 inches should be fine though to grow a lawn? 

    I would rather have a better solution than just developing some as a fine lawn... but that would be a good worst case solution...
  • glasgowdanglasgowdan Posts: 632
    What's the soil like?
  • mf21212mf21212 Posts: 20
    GlasgowDan I am not a soil expert. What should I be looking for? Would a photo help?
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