Quote from bob on 7th February 2023, 10:49 am

Hello Chels 4903

You say your soil is clay, therefore it’s possible that your lawn area has just become waterlogged, combining this with frosts will not do your grass much good.

I personally would rake off any dead grass / thatch, then airate the complete lawn, this involves forking over the complete lawn, pushing your fork into the lawn at least two to three inches going pass the grass roots, one can hire professional machines to do this, they extract plugs of grass and soil from the lawn leaving holes in which you could brush in compost or lawn sand, check out the propriety brands in your local garden centre, on clay you need to assist drainage.

Then when the warmer weather gets here, go for a re-seed, so, rake your lawn, I would not cut it as it looks fairly low in your pictures,, airate the lawn fork or machine, if using a machine sweep of all the plugs, check out, lawn compost, lawn sand etc and just follow instructions, regarding the worms, you will see the small amount of soil that sits on top of the grass, just brush these over with a broom, reference the “green up “ product sorry I have no idea if these products will have an adverse affect on your grass, never used them.

Also check out Lee’s blog pages, some excellent videos on lawns and seeding, hope all goes well, looking forward to seeing a picture of your new lawn in the summer.

Bob

Quote from Lee Garden Ninja on 7th February 2023, 1:47 pm

Hi @chels4903

Thanks for getting in touch. Bobs advice is really useful. I have a bit more to add to help alongside his advice.

Based on my experience, it looks like you may have burnt your lawn seed with the green-up treatment. Looking at the pattern across the lawn, it could be that adding the treatment, especially in warm of dry weather, has scorched and burnt the roots of the relatively young lawn.

Don't panic though nearly all lawn issues are fixable. 

When should you feed or green up a lawn?

It's important to understand when and how we should feed lawns. There's hundreds of products out there for us to choose from. All claiming immaculate lawns. But which feeds do you need and which are there just to get you to spend your money?

The trust is lawns should only be fed either in Spring or Autumn. For most lawns, I rarely use any shop-bought feed at all once established.

Why? Well, most lawns simply don't need it.

What I do use is the following when feeding lawns:

• A top dress of sieved compost ever 2-3 years in spring (scattered over the grass finely - see my compst reuse video below to help)
• Liquid seaweed watered down 1 part to 10 watered over in spring
• Low nitrogen super weak feed in Autumn - usually again a liquid feed such as Comfrey tea watered down 1-20 parts)

How to fix a fertilizer-burnt or damaged lawn:

Ok, let's get down to fixing this lawn of yours.

The best way to fix this is to hire a scarifier or grab yourself a rake and then rake over the entire lawn in March this year. Pulling out the dead bits and thatch. This will encourage fresh growth. A scarifier would be best as this will slice through the rhizomes and cause side shoots to emerge, filling the gaps.

https://youtu.be/8oeYfHJvmsQ

After that, overseed with a suitable seed mix. If your gardens in shade choose a shade lawn seed mix or if not a general-purpose blend. Scatter over finely, then sieve some compost over the top to aid germination.

Avoiding burning your lawn:

In future, I'd stay clear of evergreen or green-up fertilizers. They are a short-term feed solution to brighten your grass but they offer no lasting value. It's money for old rope really. They are also quite harsh if not watered in correctly leading to burning of your lawn.

Using old compost is usually best each Autumn, the type that's been used for bedding plants. Follow my guide below to see how you can recycle this as a long-term lawn feed.

https://youtu.be/T1vVfz0r0U0

I hope that helps and let us know how you get on.

Lee

Quote from dewaldventer on 25th August 2023, 12:56 pm

I will suggest you to cover with mulch and use mulching blade with any john dere mover for better clippings later , here how mulching can help you

Mulch can act as a barrier to weed growth by blocking sunlight and preventing weed seeds from establishing themselves in the soil. This can reduce the need for chemical herbicides and manual weeding.

Moisture Retention: Mulch helps to retain moisture in the soil by reducing evaporation. This can be particularly beneficial during hot, dry periods, as it reduces the frequency of watering required for your lawn.

Soil Temperature Regulation: Mulch can moderate soil temperatures, keeping the soil cooler in hot weather and warmer in cold weather. This can create a more stable environment for your grass to thrive.