Lawn patches

Hi all

struggling with these patches - tried over seeding and feeding..

any advice?

 

If you used a weed and feed product like 4 in 1, you need to wait about eight weeks before reseeding as the weed and feed will inhibit seed germination. Then rake out the dead moss, add a thin layer of topsoil, reseed, cover lightly with topsoil, water and keep watered if it does not rain. Grass seed usually germinates within 5 to 10 days but you need to use freshly bought seed for the best results.

 

Some more info would also help @DD97 - location, climate etc, but the grass looks quite chewed, so are the mower blades sharp? Grass that's been left to get long, then gets cut for the first time can also be like that, especially if the mower blades are blunt.
Also - soil and drainage are important, so any info you can give about that will help too. If the underlying soil is poor - for example, many new builds have that problem, then that can affect it long term, so even with reseeding etc, the end result can be the same. It can be quite frustrating

 

Is this a new problem?
Do you have a female dog?
If yes, it could be where she pees. The only way to combat this is to give her an area in the garden to use as a toilet area, or put down a bucket of water wherever she pees. The problem seems to get worse as the dog ages. (The voice of experience)

 

Thanks for replies all.

im based in west England. No dog/kids/pets and not a new build.

my mower is only a year old so hopefully it isn't the blades!!

the grass does get very thick in the middle of the lawn where those patches are and it's a chore to cut when the grass gets long, so perhaps it's that? Saying that, wouldn't you still see some green underneath?

 

If the grass is getting long, and then it’s cut, the lower growth and roots can get scorched in strong sunlight and die off.

It’s good practice to mow little and often, only taking off no more than the top one-third of the grass each time … that way the base of the grass is never too shaded by the top growth (which would result in pale grass lacking in chlorophyll) and then it’ll be more resilient as a result.

Hope that helps

 

Thanks, I'll keep mowing and see what happens...

the worst cut tends to be the first one or two in spring as it grows a fair bit over the winter

 

The first few cuts should be done with the mower height raised as high as it will go … and as I said ‘little and often’.

You can cut through the winter as long as it’s dry (tricky this last winter I will admit) and not frosty.

 

I agree with what's been said re the grass being long and then being cut short. That can often be a problem, as th elight doesn't get into the lower parts of the grass, so that's exposed if it's then cut too short. Grass needs to be cut little and often, so even if it's growing through winter, it can have the odd cut to stop it being too long in spring, just as @Dovefromabove describes.
If you have this problem with it growing a lot through winters, it would be better to have it a bit shorter towards the end of autumn, so that it's less likely to be long in winter, and needing a cut when conditions aren't ideal.
Doing the early spring cuts gradually is always the best way though, if that's not possible. However, if that's the problem, it'll recover once it gets some regular cuts and a bit of rain to green it all up