Help/advice for a complete novice.

Firstly may I say hello and thanks in advance to anybody that reads this post and more importantly takes the time to respond with advice and knowledge.

I am by no means an expert gardner but i like nothing more than being in our back garden pottering about.

Up until a year ago we had a concrete back yard, but with the money we received from our wedding we decided to make it into a garden. We have put sods down that we purchased from B&q, i know this wont be the best lawn in the world but we are just beginning. The lawn has now been down for a good month and I must say was looking pretty good, i spoke to soon.

Over the past weeks i am getting patches which to me just look dead. I have attached a video which gives close up views of the area and also a wider view. When i inspect these areas in more detail they seem very damp, they also seem like there is grass but its almost.....rotten if that makes sense.



There are patches of healthy grass and that seems to grow at a rapid rate.

Any help from the experts on here would be hugely welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Alex

 

Welcome to GC Alex

 

T

Thanks very much, I'm hoping to gain some much needed advice from the forum. Maybe one day I will also be able to give advice haha.

 

I'm the same in honesty

 

Thanks for your respone.

The concrete was taken up some time back, we have had gravel laid on compacted soil. We then put top soil down and laid the turf on to it. It does seem to be constantly damp, i have laid off watering for a few days.

Is there anything I can do or is it doomed?

Many thanks

Alex

 

In all honesty the lawn as a whole is not wet or soggy, just these patches. Its only 20ft x 10ft.
If i hose it or it rains it never gets boggy or has surface water. Is it worth putting some fork holes in or is it to early in the turfs life to do that?

 

Cheers,

Is it worth purchasing one of these http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=290761400745&globalID=EBAY-GB

I have also read its good to fill the holes in with sand, is this right. The other thing im not sure of is how far appart should i dig the holes.

Thanks again.

 

I just bought a product like this for my 100sqf lawn and let me tell you IT WAS A BACK BREAKER! Firstly this tool will only work on a wet, damp soil, otherwise even if you jump on it won’t go into the soil, even on a wet/damp soil it needs a good force to actually piece the soil, I ended up jumping on the thing so if you’re in a fragile condition don’t even bother. Secondly its meant to pull out soil plug which it started to do but the hollow tines soon got clogged up and after a while it was too much effort unblocking them so 90% of the lawn just had holes punched in and no plugs taken out.

I would say if you have a small lawn, it’s not bad but medium to large don’t bother, a fork would be better.

 

Looks like animal urine spots to me? especially as the ground around them is so lush and unaffected. Water logging surely couldn't be so localised?