HELP - Lawn not growing

After having leatherjackets infiltrate my lawn last year (turf laid the year before) and eat all my grass, I paid for the services of Green Thumb to get it back to normal, which in fairness they did. However, about 5 weeks ago, I started noticing dead patches on my lawn, and then eventually saw leatherjackets everywhere. They have been gradually ruining my lawn again but this time I've decided to try and fix the problem myself, mainly due to the lockdown.



I laid some nematodes about a month ago to treat the problem. I know it's not the optimum time of year for this to be done, I was just desperate to get my garden ready for the summer. I followed this up with fertiliser and grass seeds over 2 weeks ago.

As you can see from the picture, nothing is really happening and there is minimal growth. Before the lockdown, a gardener from GreenThumb came and looked at it and I explained my concerns, he said to just be patient. I can't help think that there is something else wrong.

The ground is very dense and when I water the grass (everyday) it doesn't absorb very well. I have made some holes in the hope this will help with the growth, but no luck.

Can anyone help give me any advice or tips to get my grass back please?

 

Hi.

Welcome to the forum.

We have some lawn gurus who might be able to help, but from your story so far, think we would consider an alternative to grass as it does look in a sorry state now and would be very surprised it it would recover as such this year ..

What time was the photo taken and what direction is it facing , eg does it get much sunlight ?

Careful planning of borders and plants can mean that little grass is really needed or things like bigger flagstones or shales/gravel could be used.
if an area for children is needed then some form of alternative like artificial grass would seem the choice ?

 

Just sprinkling seed on the surface doesn't really work. You need to cover it with a little soil - doesn't need much, just a few mm, but there needs to be some.

For reseeding though, you're unlikely to see anything much growing for around 3-4 weeks, even in the height of the season. It's still pretty chilly, so we aren't even there yet. And that's against bare earth - with existing grass there, it's going to be longer before you see real progress.

 

Hi Mark, sorry to hear and see that your lawn is not in great shape.

Your Neighbours grass does not look great either which leads me to the question regarding what’s underneath your soil.
Am I right in thinking during the winter when we had that lovely wet spell that your grass was pretty much covered in water ie. pooling?

i’ll be honest and say it should not be compact after just two years of new turf being laid and I wonder if your subsoil content is what is causing the issue.
Every lawn suffers a little with the old grubs and as you know there is no chemical treatment available now and you have to rely on natural means in which sadly Is not always effective.

was it a local company that laid the turf and can you remember what the soil was like or how they did the turfing?

 

Is the house fairly recently built? I'm just wondering (if it is) whether the builders buried all their rubble in the garden as they built the house, and wrecked the drainage