Lawn patches and weeds - Rennie Bottali

We had a new lawn ( turf ) 3 years ago and it is still very patchy with some weeds and is yellow to brown in colour in some areas. The only part that I would call lush and green is the rear lawn but only the part that is in shade.
I have tried all types of evergreen solution along with weed killer but with no success.
Any help would be great.

Regards

Rennie Bottali

 

Hi Rennie

When did you treat the lawn (time of year) and with what exactly

Yellowing of the lawn normaly means it is too dry or lacking ion food for the grass to grow , what preperation before the turf went down did you do or the people that layed the turf or was it just layed on to bare soil

What are the lawns used for ie kids dogs , football ?? or ornamental

What lawnmower do you use and how often in the summer did you cut it and how short this can all have a overall effect

Spruce

 

Spruce hi.

I used a treatment that was meant to make the lawn go green in 7 days ( I am sure that is not actually possible). We did have a french drain fitted under the lawn about 4 years ago because the lawn was becoming saturated in winter but now it is to dry in summer. in some areas. I did not lay the turf as it was a new house so I am not sure what the prep was. The soil is new and there is a clay bed about 12 inches below the surface of the soil. Lawn is used for kids and small dog. I mow the lawn once every two week but cut to about and inch and half long. The lawn has dead grass below the surface at ground level when it got a little long last winter. I would like a shorter cut and much greener if possible.

Any help would be great.

Kind Regards

Rennie Bottali

 

Hi Rennie

A french drain is new to me ??

Are you in the UK ??

You have the answer already clay soil (holds all the water over the winter then dries out in the summer) .
Kids running around
Dog thats does stuff on the lawn
And a new house with no prep done on the soil
We have all been their

If me and not wanting to start from scratch is to spike the lawn all over to allow air in plus the soil will be probably compacted with all the feet trampling down with the regulular use it is getting and get a more suitable grass seed that can put up with the rigours of children using it (tougher) a little top dressing check what is availabe garden centre local DIY shop.
To have a realy green lawn you need to plan ahead starting in the Autumn , then spring then summer the good thing is grass responds realy well to a feed and a good watering once a week in the summer if it doesnt rain , try and cut the grass once a week it will send out lateral shoots rather than reach for the sky then you cut it down again .

so :
Spike the lawn
Cut the lawn
Re-seed the lawn over your existing lawn
Top dress with new soil ,then brush in
Apply feed only NOT weed and feed it will kill the new grass growing from seed
Cut once a week all through the summer
If it doesnt rain , put the sprinkler on if you can
Train the dog not to pee on the lawn

Hope this helps

Spruce

 

Spruce fantastic information.

The french drain ( I am taking the name given to me by the developer of the house ) was several pipes that run across the length of the garden with holes in them. The are burried surrounded by stones the wrapped in a mesh. The pipes then run out to a side drain. This was initially a great idea to get rid of a very boggy garden but now in dry weather is to effective and we have stripes over the where the drain pipes run underground.

A very quick question. do I top dress with a compost lightly over the areas that have been reseeded and should I simply re seed the whole garden or just the patches. I have noticed there are different seeds. Yes in the UK so plenty of rain currently.

Kind Regards

Rennie Bottali

 

Hello Rennie.
Personally i wouldnt use compost on lawns. Top soil yes. I would top dress with top soil (after spiking). then sow the seed on top. Once done. Brush it in.

Does you French drain drain to a sewer drain or is it into a soakaway ? Im thinking of doing mine you see. In winter, even though the drain has got rid of the surfice water is your lawn still a bit squelchy ?

G

 

french drains are common in South Africa ....

as an example for a simple one on a boggy lawn that accumulates water in a specific area

you dig a deep pit .... add coarse stones on the bottom (even pieces of broken bricks etc) , then finer smaller stones towards the top, then top soil on the top later ...

relay the grass that you removed .... problem solved (we called them french drains?)

the excess water drains off into the pit .... we never bothered with running additional drainage pipes as the water would eventually seep deeper into the soil

 

Wouldnt the pit bung up with mud without some kind of fabric ?
The problem with my garden is that it sits of a very deep layer of clay. I dug a test pit some years ago and i never reached the bottom of that clay. So would a soak away from a drain be effective ? Or would the pit just fill up with water and never drain away causing more problems.
I thought a french drain drained to an outlet pipe ?

G

 

Hi Rennie

More good advice off the Grinch, I personaly like to sow the seed before top dressing as I find the seed germinate realy well when they have fallen down the spike holes ( look like Wayne Rooney) , plus the birds have less to eat and the seed is worked into the lawn rather than sit on the top but thats gardeners for you I am sure both ways would work realy well plus I have a major dove problem here when sowing grass seed, lots of diffrent answers and at the end of the day its what works for you best....

Let us know how you get on plus we love a photo on here especialy before and after shots

 

an old fashioned simple french drain was merely a deep pit filled with gravel and stone that allowed the water to accumulate in .... eventually, it will seep into the soil below the pit ...

many people made these around their foundations if drainage was a problem during the wet months

one of my clients dug a deep pit 3 years ago, where he placed the kids trampoline with frame in (so as to ensure that the rubber jumping part was flush with the lawn) .... his wife wanted to keep the trampoline and the garden is small and was an eyesore

there is no lining in the pit .... no pipes .... no stones etc (it is just a deep pit) ... at a guess, I would say that it is 5 feet deep.... soil is clay

during winter, the hole fills up to about half .... on sunday when I visited, it was still half full .... in a few weeks time when the rain is not so heavy, the water will eventually drain off deeper into the ground .... in summer of last year, the pit was bone dry

if you are very concerned with the clay, then use the method where they add a pipe to the pit, and run the water off to another area or to a stormdrain ...

lots of info on google and youtube