New Turf -Does This Look Right?

I'm not sure that overseeding will help. Ideally they should take up the poor turf that looks like it'd been sitting around too long (drying out particularly at the edges, and browning from being rolled up with no light for too long) and replace with fresh stuff to match the good bits. But at least they've agreed to do something, and the poor turf might recover in time.

 

Fingers crossed you end up with Wimbledon Centre Court quality lawn, @Scotmac.

 

I agree @JennyJB - replaced with the same as the bit they had to add because the poorer stuff wasn't enough, and not over seeding. That in itself is a bit of a red flag. They should always be erring on the cautious side, and have turf left over - not the other way round.
The existing bits should recover though. The weather/climate in @Scotmac's area is reliable enough for the right conditions turf needs, hence my earlier comment about it recovering in a month or so. New growth should be visible by then.
Fingers crossed.

 

I do wonder if the first batch of turf was left over from a previous job. That's OK, saves on waste, as long as it's used up quickly eg the next day and not left sitting around over a weekend.

 

Thanks all for your advice and information. You’ve said what I was thinking. I think the turf was sitting around for days. The guy laying said that had been his trade for years, but…. They were the only company out of about 11 that even turned up, and were almost double the budget we had planned, but the garden was getting out of hand. As long as it takes, turns green and thrives so I can start putting in some planting I’ll be happy. Not sure Wimbledon will ever want to relocate

 

@Scotmac

Turfing is often tricky in terms of homogeneity, as they get stored at different times and different places.

Re the joins, it's a good idea to brush a little topsoil into the gaps and lightly overseed them, but you do need to know exactly what the turf's original seed mix was!

 

@LawnAndOrder thanks for your reply. You’re right about homogeneity being tricky. Many of the strips scattered about look like different types of grass, and I won’t be able to identify a particular type to overseed. The grass is currently holding its own, insofar as no more seems to have died. I’ll keep monitoring it closely.

 

What happened has happened; there wouldn’t be any point my being negative about a state of affairs which, even though you are clearly not happy with, since you are (judging from your photos) dealing with quite a large area, and the investment has been made; presumably the turf installers are not being helpful after the “event” (?).

The fact is, though, that you will not be completely happy until you have what you really want.

What I would do (other than what I am doing in my garden, which is rip the whole thing out and start again [long story illustrated elsewhere on the Forum] which is not really an option for you) is this:
once your turf has taken and is established, regularly scarify and verticut and, each time, overseed with a seed type you really like; after a couple of seasons, you will more or less have what you want.

Two things, however: during that period, your lawn will not look as good as it could because of the regular scarifying, AND, of course, this method assumes that you have a mower with scarifying and verticutting attachments.

The only problem with the above is that Wimbledon will probably want to relocate – and, trust me, you don’t want that (I live quite close and I wouldn’t want to be any closer!).

 

@LawnAndOrder yes, I’ve seen your other thread about replacing your lawn - what a job you have ahead. You’re not afraid of hard work!

I’m not looking for perfection and will happily let you keep Wimbledon, even if you don’t want it. I can hardly imagine the hassles of living nearby. I just feel frustrated that, having paid what for me was an extortionate amount of money, lots of the new turf has dead thatch through it and dried out edges, whilst the extra provided to cover the shortfall is lush and green. However it is what it is, and the landscapers have moved on and are not going to go beyond replacing half of one dead strip and putting down a very light dusting of slow release fertiliser pellets. I am going to persevere with it, and take your advice on scarifying when appropriate to do that. Verticutting is an entirely new word to me, and I’ve done a little reading up on it. That sounds exactly what the turf will need, as there are plenty of patches of dead thatch. I’ll look into that more. Good luck with your lawn project. If it inspires you to take a trip up to Scotland to do the same to mine I won’t say no….