Patchy grass after new turf

Hi,

Caveat; I am a complete novice gardener.  I fully expect I have missed/done something wrong so please don't think "he must have known that" and treat me like a complete novice

I moved to a new property in October 2016 which had an established lawn that was >50% weeds.  I was careful to read lots of online articles about how to prepare, lay and water before starting.  In April 2017, I removed the turf with a petrol sod cutter, rotavated the soil underneath, removed the weeds/large stones and put a layer of compost/bone mulch down before laying a new lawn on top.  I was also aware that the soil in the area has clay in it, so I was careful to remove any of the clay from the top 6-12 inches of soil before laying the grass.  Most of the clay was in a layer 2 feet below the surface.  I then watered this once a day for 60 mins for two weeks and then 3 times a week for the following two weeks.  Since then, I have been watering once a week unless there was heavy rain that week.  Most of the grass seems to be growing really well.  Please note I also mowed the grass after a month and when the grass was more than 6 inches in length.

However, there are patches of grass that seem to have died?  The soil is sodden and the grass has turned brown/white.  In some places, there are very small areas of green mould starting to grow.  I googled/read the forums to find a solution.  After adding liquid lawn feed, some 4 in 1 granuals and putting “air holes” in the grass I am at a loss of what to do.  I was going to cut out the “dead” parts and buy some more turf to fill the holes, but I am concerned this will just kill the grass around the parts I cut out.  Please see attached pictures of a part of the lawn.  There is around 10% of the lawn, in patches, that looks like this.

What do you suggest?

Last edited: 11 June 2017 12:59:59