Help with lawn, advice needed.

Hi all, I'm a total novice when it comes to gardens. Moved in to a house last November so haven't touched the garden till now.

It was between 6-8 inches long. I noticed alot of moss, clumps of grass and a few weeds. So gave it a medium cut for its first one then put down 4in1 feed and moss/weed killer. This was 2 weeks ago.
Came back today and raked as much dead moss as I could off and then gave it another cut this time on the shortest setting I could.

I've attached pics to show what I've been left with. Looks quite black, patchy, yellow in places, thin.
Along the left side next to fence and shed it's in constant shade all day. And I noticed in winter it gets really boggy/swampy in the corner at the shed so I've stabbed it a few times to try and aeriate(?) It.

So basically I could do with some advice on how to proceed if you would be so kind please.
Should I sprinkle fertiliser on top and scatter seeds? Which kind of seeds? How to stop It getting swampy in the shade when it rains?
Any help would be appreciated thanks.

 

Grass will be happier if you don't take too much off each time. That may mean that it takes several cut-and-recover's before you get it down to desired height. Otherwise it has to work hard to recover, and may well look pretty yellow for a while as a result. Best not to let it get shaggy if you can ... mowing in winter when mild, but on heavy ground it can be a challenge if the turf is very wet

Looks fine, although there might be an underlying drainage problem which would probably be difficult to solve long-term. "stepping stones" set into the grass for foot traffic to the shed, or at the point of busy areas (e.g. by shed door)

Is the bit along the edge of the patio slabs bad? Just wondering if water is running off patio only lawn there and making it wetter? Could perhaps try a narrow-ish, fairly deep, strip between patio and lawn and fill it with large gravel so that at least some of the time the runoff goes into that and soaks away before making the grass soggy.

Let's see what others have to say

 

Hi kristen thanks for your reply.

Ok I'll switch up the settings on the mower and keep it on medium for now. Should I let the grass grow a bit now?
If I've already used 4in1 I shouldn't put anymore feed down now for a couple months?
Wondering which type of grass seed would be best since half the lawn is shaded by fence and half isn't?

Yes, the edge of the patio is quite bare and poor and the same around the shed. I was actually planning to cut 2/3 ft path way down the fence side and in front of the shed and just fill it with pebbles and slate. Would this sort out the drainage and stop it becoming a swamp?

Thanks for your help.

 

Mow it regularly, at least once a week, but yeah if you've cut it very short it may take a while to recover. There again, moving the blades up, will mean you don't cut anything, or very little, so as soon as that mower-setting takes anything off I would start regular mowing ... i.e. not letting anything grow above that height for very long.

Yes, agreed.

I'd use some-and-some. Shady mix for the bits in the shade, and "regular" for the rest. The grass may look different, so maybe "blend" it where they overlap. The more the shade the more the shady-mix will outperform the regular, so over time it should sort itself out as to which grows best where, and you won't then have a "straight" line on the join between where Shady finishes and Regular begins. There aren't any hard and fast rules though ...

Presumably you use the path, on the other side, to walk down to the shed? If so I wouldn't rush to create another path.

Assuming that does get some foot-traffic (in winter) then i would definitely put some slabs connecting the door to the path. If nothing else so that I didn't have to put on Wellingtons just to go from House to Shed

A French Drain / Soakaway might ... basically a trench where the bottom is filled with gravel and then soil/turf back on top. If that "connects" to a bigger, deeper, hole filled with larger rubble, the "soakaway", that could sort out the drainage. But that might be in vain if there is an underlying problem - e.g. builders buried all their rubble there when the house was built. (When was the house built? FWIW the Victorians didn't do that sort of dishonest-building AFAIK ... )

These days it is more common to put some "perforated drainage pipe" in the bottom of the French Drain trench and then cover with gravel. It comes on a roll. The basic idea is that the pipe makes a "big hole" through the gravel to make it easier for the water to move along. Doesn't matter if the pipe goes up and down a bit (unlike a rigid drainage pipe), it will still do a job of "moving water along" ... although the fact that water doesn't flow up hill still applies

 

Paving Expert (sic!) is pretty good on Drainage Info

Drainage - Land Drainage for Fields and Gardens
Installing a land drain
Drainage - Soakaways

 

Thanks again for your help. Couple more questions ..

Once I've seeded the whole garden should I sprinkle top soil over the top of it all? If so how much would a 'sprinkle' be? Quite heavy or light?

In regards to the pebble 'path' at the side of the fence..I wouldn't walk along this, just use to separate the dead grass from the fence and line it with pots of plants. Like a thick border.
And then I'd continue the pebbles along the front of the shed and connect with the flagged path. So its something to walk ontop to the shed. (If rather use pebbles than start laying flags)

There is a small gap at the left side of the shed, could I try to drain/aim the water into that direction. This would then lead out of my garden to a off road pathway (where people walk dogs)

 

if there is a bit of a drop? then sounds like an option. French drain (with perforated drainage pipe) along the plot and with the means of "flowing [probably more likely "trickling"] away" would be good

This is my front drive



This photo was after the heaviest rain we have had here in the last decade. When we redid the drive I had put in a French drain, with perforated pipe, along the edge of the drive where it meets the lawn (including some vertical columns filled with "boulders" all the way to the surface). That is then joined to a rigid pipe into my old cesspit (now re-purposed as "rainwater harvesting"). That "lake" was all gone in 30 minutes

 

Jesus, that's huge. At least your lawn still looked great Haha.

To be honest I cant tell if there is a drop anywhere or which way the water would go.

I suppose when I dig it up, I'd have to make sure the pipe would slope towards back of the garden. So basically dig it up, make sure there's a slope and then just cover it with pebbles? Would it need a weed membrane under the pipe?

 

In principle, yes, but perforated drainage pipe doesn't have to be laid with a 100% consistent, precise, fall. But the outlet does need to be lower than the start, otherwise ... you'll be important water

Spoiler: PPPPPP

Proper Planning Prevents piss Poor Performance

so would be good to discover what the fall is before you start. One option is to get the hose stretched out to each end with the ends upturned (and approx level), and fill it up, and then the water will keep its level, so with two people and a bit of faffing, and a watering can on hand to top it up, you will be able to get a "mark" for level at each end (on the fence maybe?) and then measure down from that to ground level, and then you will have difference between the two ends. If the "measure down" is more at the shed end you are good to go Better still do the "measure down" to the "off road pathway"

 

Okay thanks you very much kristen for the help. Once this lockdown is over with I'll update with hopefully some progress

 

Good question as I'm about to do the same. I'm guessing enough to lightly cover the seeds but not too much that it covers the existing grass.

 

Yeah well basically that's what I've just done today.
I've raked the whole lawn, spread plenty of seed over and covered lightly with top soil and then watered the top. Hopefully if I keep watering every day itll end up looking alot fuller and greener.

Attached a picture of how it looks now

 

Attached a few pictures of progress after 10 days.

It's looking less yellow and thatchy. Possibly slightly thicker in places.
The seeds haven't really produced anything in the bald spots especially near the patio, near the shed and along the fence.
They've either disappeared or just sitting on top of the soil. How can I get it to grow in these places? I used shady seed and watered everyday.

 

Didn't attach to last post, here they are

 

You should still be able to see evidence of the seed - I doubt the birds have had them all ... but they might have done!

Grass seed all-of-a-sudden has a green-fluff appearance when it germinates, takes a couple of weeks (from memory, haven't sown any in a while) but over seeded (where there is already existing grass) can make that very hard to see

Might just need a little more patience ...