This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
new grass badly prepared
i moved into a new house 8 yrs ago & the garden was a nightmare from the start- water logged, rushes, moss! everything but grass. so last year i invested significantly in it last year to try & sort it out. i had 2 diggers in & laid deep drains with smaller drains running into the big 1s. we also have a problem wit blue clay in our area so we removed as much of that as we could & replaced it with good stuff. this has made a significant improvement. the problem has arisen from the bad choice i made when i selected the guys to prepare for & seed the grass. they have done a bad job stemin from lack of preparation. parts of the garden still has no grass at all a year later & the ground is bumpy & with holes. if you kneel on the grass you can feel a lot of stones & im constantly picking up stones lying on the surface. the areas where no grass has grown is no green & slimy looking. i started to rake these areas tonight with the intent of layin more grass seed & the stones i have collected from the small area ive done is ridiculous. some of them are huge, its no wonder the grass hasnt grown. so my question.... how can i fix this? im not a gardener but after the money i spent on trying to make the lawn nice last year, i really cant afford to pay someone to do it again. i could cry ! please help me make my lawn nice ???? thankyou !
0
Posts
Have you tried calling back the people who did the lawn and telling them that it's not good enough?
What about Trading Standards?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hi kat - I can sympathise enormously. Is the 'slimy' area constantly wet? I can only guess, but it sounds like that part hasn't been improved well enough and is acting like a 'sump' for all the water. You may have to dig that part out to a good depth and replace with decent soil/compost and grit to aid drainage. The stones coming to the surface may have come from the soil that's been put in to replace your sticky clay. If they're small it won't really cause a problem. Trying to get a good lawn from the type of area you describe will always be difficult - the water table in your area could be the issue.
In general, for lawns which have poor drainage, and therefore poor quality grass, you need to spike regularly and brush grit or sand down the holes. In the worst cases, you can use a tool with hollow tines which remove a long plug of soil and that's replaced by coarse grit.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
My garden is about half an acre so a big enuf area to rake.
I did express my dissatisfaction to the guys that did it. The lawn was originally worse, very sloped in parts with massive holes. The came back & made it btr but were supposed to come back but never have & i doubt thy will at this stage.
I wouldnt mind if id paid cheap & got a half done job as id think i got wot i paid for, but i didnt go for the cheapest quote, instead i gave the business to my local garden centre as it thought it wud b nice to give it to my neighbours. Pity they didnt think it wud b nice to do a good job for their neighbour ????
The slimy areas dont seem that overly wet but the soil is very very compacted & their appears to be a lot of stones very close to the surface. Some of them are massive.
Ill rake these areas out and do as youve said & hopefully my hard work will reap its reward.
Appreciate you all taking the time to advise me.
Kat