My lawn is sick - please help!
Amelia Crawford
Posts: 5
Hello everybody!
We recently moved to a new house in the suburbs of Melbourne, and we got a nice front lawn and a backyard to go with it. I don't know much about gardening, because I always used to live in big cities, but I decided to give it a try. This was until I noticed that my lawn is obviously sick with something and it looks like it's dying. It's not all the grass, but only some patches all around the place. I took some pictures to help show what's going on:
I am watering it regularly, so it's not because it's drying or something. I'm already considering consulting some local specialists, because I seriously don't know what to do in this case. So far I've narrowed down my choices to two companies I found online - http://www.gardeners-melbourne.com.au/ and http://www.jimsmowing.net/lawn-mowing.html . I don't know if there are any people from Melbourne here right now, but I would appreciate your help, if there are any.
This thing progressed quite quickly. The first day there was only a patch or two, and the next day there was more, and so on... The whole thing started roughly a week ago. I would really appreciate any feedback and advice.
Posts
Do you have a dog?
Bumping up the list.
I think most of us probably have the same initial thought as Dave and are waiting for Amelia's answer to his question before offering advice.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hi and thanks for the quick replies! Yes, we have a dog, and it plays on the lawn with my daughter sometimes. Can it be related to the problem with the grass? Please tell me, because the curiosity is killing me
And the thing is obviously killing my nice lawn
I think it's your dog peeing on the lawn that is scorching and killing the grass - it's a common problem - usually worse with bitches than with male dogs. There are products you can get to add to your dog's feed or water to make the urine less acidic, but I don't know whether they work. Your vet or local pet shop may have some ideas.
Otherwise the best thing to do is to train the dog to 'perform' elsewhere - maybe on an area of gravel or woodchip in a corner of the garden kept for that purpose - and otherwise to rush out with a pail of water and dilute the urine when you see it happening.
More info here http://www.lawnsmith.co.uk/topic/lawn-cuttings/dog-bitch-urine
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Well, now everything is clear. Thank you very much for the responses and the articles! I actually had no idea my dog pees on the lawn so often. We take her out for walks at least two times a day, but I guess that's not enough. I will consult our vet to see what can be done about this. I will also take care of the dead patches, as it says in the article Dovefromabove shared. I hope everything works out well and my lawn goes back to normal.. Thanks for the great advice once again! You definitely seem to know what you're talking about
Thanks Amelia and good luck
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.