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Please tell me what's wrong with the lawn

AlxNicAlxNic Posts: 259
in Problem solving
I look after my mother's garden and this year the lawn is the worst it has ever been (pics - it bare earth rather than dead grass). I have done weed & feed, then another feed, a couple of months ago I  raked out dead grass and re-seeded the bare patches but nothing has grown. There about 10 patches like this over front and back lawns.

The only pest I know of is leatherjackets. I haven't seen any while weeding.

Please suggest what I can do to improve this
Thanks a lot

Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Unless there's an underlying problem with the soil, and what's below ground, what lawns/grass need more than anything  is water.
    If you've had the kind of weather many areas have had since late winter/early spring, that's the most likely issue. Drought. 
    Constantly feeding is pointless unless it's actively growing, and there's adequate moisture. Ditto for seeding - the ground and conditions need to be favourable for grass to root well.  
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • K67K67 Posts: 2,506
    If you don't apply the weed and feed exactly as instructed it can have this effect plus you fed it again so that might be the cause.
    If you rake out the dead thatch in September then you can overseed it.
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    I asked my OH about this and he suggested spiking the lawn using a fork.
    Apparently there's a knack to it.
    You need to insert the fork vertically and remove it in the same direction without moving it backwards or forwards. Once you've done that, stand on it to make sure the tines go down to a good four inches if possible, or as far as you can, then pull it out. A little wiggle from front to back if it gets stuck won't do any harm, but make sure that you pull it out vertically once you've done that, otherwise so you might start to lift the turf up.
    You should make the holes you make about 6 inches apart. You can brush some kind of topdressing into the holes you've made, but you don't have to.

    He says it's  best to do it in autumn, and you don't need to do it all if you don't want to. It's best to concentrate on the areas which are obviously compacted .

    Hope this helps and makes sense, he was dictating while l typed !  :)

  • AlxNicAlxNic Posts: 259
    Thank you all for your suggestions.  It looks like I'll be putting all those jobs on the calendar for Sept/Oct.

    I'm slightly relieved that no one has stated categorically that both lawns are populated by leatherjackets.

    I'm in North Devon - I would say that until lockdown we had daily rain from last September, followed by a glorious spell of no rain, blue skies and sunshine. 
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