Dark green lawn patch

Good morning, I am new in the forum with my first garden. Thanks for allowing me to be part of this community!

I have tried to search for a solution on Internet and in the forums without a clear answer about this particular problem. Two months ago, and after heavy rains, I realized a darker spot in the lawn behind a tree. I waiting few weeks thinking that this could be a overflow of water. However the mark is still there.

The patch is darker than the rest of the lawn, with parts without any grass at all. In addition the patch is aprox 1.5 cm bellow the rest of the lawn (it is like the whole patch has sunk). Could you please provide any possible solution for this? Thank you

 

Could there have been an pond there and it was not taken out but broken up slighty and some soil put on top and grassed over

 

Fairy ring maybe?

Was there a tree there before?

 

You didn't buy any turf did you? I've only made that mistake once, the stuff came drenched in Nitrogen


Before ...


During ...



After

 

Hello, thank you for your answer. No, there was not tree or plan there before. It appear 2 months ago after raining quite a lot. No, I also didnt buy any turf, it is the original grass that was with the house 6 months ago when we moved.

Armandii, you mentioned in option A) to "replace the path", how? buying a Turf or seeds? Also for seeds, which one do you recommended? In the forum people mentioned GBW, but I am not able to find around (not available). Any recommendation for the soil? Thanks!

 

Longshot : Dogs choosing to pee there? (but I suspect there would be some yellow patches, rather than evenly dark green ...)

I'm scratching my head as to what could have increased the fertility/Nitrogen of just-that-bit.

Perhaps Fairy Ring doesn't have to have an old tree as a starting source. Mycelium growing underground will typically spread out in a circle, so starts out as a growing circle, and then the centre runs out or "extra symbiotic nourishment" and it then expands as a ring.

Duno why that would coincide with the ground sinking ... but might be coincidence.

 

I'm thinking probably organic material buried under the grass which as Kristen says is being decomposed by fungi, would be interested to see if you get lots of toadstools next autumn.

The sinking could be due to the organic material breaking down.

 

I've changed my view on Turf (in my defence the photo above was more than a decade ago). Environmentally absolutely dreadful. Scrape an inch off best topsoil off the Fens every other year and transport it right across the country.

And it has its own issues. You will probably only have one type of grass variety turf available, so Hobson's choice. Mine, as you saw, was hugely overloaded with Nitrogen. No doubting it looked amazing, and was "instant", but getting it under control that season was horrendous. "Don't mow it until the turf roots have bonded with the ground", and "water it every day" meant that the grass was the height of the house and a nightmare by the time I could cut it. "Only cut off a little bit each time" .. so basically it was growing faster than I was actually able to cut it.

I drove to the Fens to fill up my car straight off the field as they cut it, so some turf that has been lying around on a pallet for a week at the local garden centre might have yellowed enough to blend in ... but ...

For any "low bits" I would definitely favour stripping the existing turf off, top up with soil underneath, and replace the turf. It will be the same colour, same variety of grass, already known to be happy in its location. If the dip is not too severe then just top up with soil and let the existing grass grow through (or add "a little bit" of soil several times, allowing the grass to grow through and recover each time). Overseed at the same time if you like (no bad idea, but not essential)

For a small area of "dip" no need to actually remove the turf. Use a spade (or Half Moon) to cut slits in the shape of an H, peel back the top and bottom U parts of the H, top up soil underneath, then roll the "peels" back and tread it all down.

Grass, bought as seed, comes in all sorts of varieties - from Bowling green, to Kids Football Pitch, to Grow-in-the-Dark (well, I think they call that "Shady mix" but that makes me want to cover the label when I am carrying it home!!). So if that patch is North of the Tree then maybe Shady Mix would help (but it doesn't look like it is thinning at all from the photo)

When I have seeded areas I have planned in advance (i.e. including "living with it" until most suitable sowing season) and done the Prep to be able to sow in the Autumn. When seeding a new lawn the Weeds will be up faster than the Grass but in Autumn the weeds aren't trying very hard, and the grass will have all winter to establish before the weeds then get into gear. New grass needs 6 months before using selective weedkiller, so Autumn sowing also means that (for those that want to) chemical weedkiller can be used in the Spring, and then the grass has it all to itself Also much less watering needed that "first summer" compared to Spring sown

yeah, I didn't realise how low down on its Spring it was, until it was bouncing along the road on the way home. I definitely do NOT recommend that

When I left the Fen Field one of the workers said "That's disappointing"

"Why?"

"When we saw you arrive we had a sweepstake for how many trips you would have to make. No one picked ONE"

From memory it was 104 rolls. They were even on the front passenger seat up to the roof ... everywhere!

 

That’s not a fairy ring, do you know if your sewage drains run under the area by any chance ?