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Turfed lawn never takes

glenburdisBa_y4eNXglenburdisBa_y4eNX Posts: 1
in Problem solving
hi could someone advise what I need to do to achieve a successful lawn?

Last summer I was forced to turf a small lawn area twice. The first attempt resulted in the lawn becoming patchy at first and then it turned into stringy grass in patches of predominantly exposed soil. The second attempt I asked a gardener to lay a new lawn thinking I may have done something wrong. They did this by removing my attempt, putting new topsoil down, and laying a brand new lawn. Sadly, the same thing started happening just as we entered autumn. This time I tried seeding the patchy areas - before it thinned too much - without luck! The whole area is now just soil again with stringy clumps of grass in places; for some reason it’s lumpy and uneven!

Prior to it being lawned the area had been covered in plastic weed sheeting with gravel on top for many years! Two sides of the area do not get direct sunlight due to high hedges. Not sure if this will help solve my issues.

Best
Glen

Posts

  • dappledshadedappledshade Posts: 1,017
    edited March 2021
    Is your grass a variety that is shade tolerant?
    I tried shade tolerant grass in an old garden of mine, as it only had sun for about half the day and even that wasn't enough for it.
    It became patchy, thin and eventually with us walking on it and bad weather, died.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    As far as I know there are two areas that can go wrong with new lawns (4 if you count trying to put a lawn in an unsuitable location like deep shade).
    1 preparation of the ground so that when you lay the turf, the roots will be able to get down into it. A layer of new topsoil on compacted, unprepared ground probably means the grass won't root very deeply, and you might get waterlogging if there's a hard layer underneath.
    2 laying the turf - it needs to be in really good contact with the soil - not just unrolled like carpet .
    3 aftercare, in particularly stay off it until it's established, water thoroughly and often - probably a lot more than most people think, and don't start mowing too soon.
    All the steps are described here https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=410 so maybe you'll be able to spot what went wrong.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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