what am i doing wrong?

Hi,

New turf went down about 3 months ago and has been doing ok. I have watered it EVERY night (well there may have been one or two i missed:wink. I have only mowed it 3 times since it went down. My garden is on a very slight slope, down to the left so i place the sprinkler on the right and drench the lawn as per the turf provider suggested. The soil is mostly clay and the water generally runs down to the left although by the time i turn the sprinkler off all the borders on the right are well watered (lawn area is approx 30SqM and sprinkler is on 30-45 mins per night).
Now the problem is this - in recent weeks the grass on the right is looking a bit dead in places. When i say places, its not patchy, just generally all over. When you look close up its as if there are dead pieces of grass mixed in with live pieces of grass. And even some individual strands of grass are alive at the bottom and dead at the tips. The grass to the left does not have this problem.
I'm guessing its a watering issue and just due to the really hot weather and maybe i'm not watering my new lawn enough? Or (at the risk of sounding crazy), the sprinkler is not damaging the grass in any way is it? Do i just need to leave the sprinkler on for longer?
Someone told me i can overwater my lawn but i would have not thought this possible cos surely the water will seep away after a while?

Thanks

 

I worked really hard to prepare the ground - dug it all over really well, raked, picked up all the stones, raked, levelled, raked some more. Just tried to raise one of the turf edges but its too well attached underneath - what i can see is wet though. Do i just have to see how it goes? Could any bug things be killing it off or anything like that?

 

Hi busybee

If you can't lift your turfs, then they've started to root - which is good. Since you prepared the ground so well, I doubt very much that any soil pests e.g. leather jackets , could be causing the problem.

It's just possible that some turfs were cut too thin (in the past, I've unrolled some turfs to find them in holes!) but that should only happen in a few cases.

By the sound of it, you've certainly not done anything wrong. I think your grass is just struggling to grow in a very hot and dry summer. Just wait and see how it goes.

My own lawn is looking desperate at the moment. In most places, it's the colour of wheatabix! But it will green up again when the autumn comes and yours will too, I reckon

 

Grass just wants water, water, water.
45 minutes a day is nothing like enough.
Pray for rain - a weeks worth non stop - to get that lush, green grass.
But grass is tough stuff. It will recover when the weather gets cooler and wetter.