Old yellow grass looks like sad lawn's carpet

Hay again!

Past years I've had sad experiences with my Bosch Rotak 370ER lawnmower, where blunt blade would rip the grass instead of cutting clean.

Even after sharpening it, it was still the same (I've moved a few properties over the years, and each time the ripped grass would turn yellow).

I blame a chip in the blade, and now ordered a brand new blade finally.

However last year's damage has now become visible as yellow patches in the lawn, in the form of a "carpet", through which new shoots of grass are coming out as we speak.





How should I go about this state before I do the first mowing this year with a brand new blade? I really hope it was the blade, if not, does it mean I'm cursed with every lawn I mow turning yellow on me?


Cheers my dears!
Simon

 

Unless you're scraping by cutting too short, I'm not familiar with mowing the grass 'yellow'!
Let's see some more photos, but a little bit further away

 

Hi,

Well no lawn expert but clearly you need to do a cut to reduce all that top growth, ideally you want to reduce it by about 1/2 to 2/3 on the first cut.
If your new blade does not give a decent cut, might be time to try a different mower ?!

It looks like a mass of straw brown thatch, but that would seem strange as you mover has a grass collection box, assume you are using it ?

After the first cut you need to 'Scarify' the lawn to get rid of most of that thatch as its going to stop the grass from growing well.

You do not mention the size of your lawn, if its small you can use a hand scarifying rake or for a larger area buying or hiring an electric scarifier may be easier, though using any simple rake first to discover how deep that thatch really is.

What you can then do this time of year is Over Seed just after scarifying as the lawn will probalby look a little bare, but it will recover with a little rain and sunshine.
Instead of overseeding just giving the lawn a Feed will also help it recover.

 

Many thanks for the tips, the garden is ever so small, a mini rake or two people with a table fork in each hand should do that thatch away in no time

It seems to me that thatch is a remnant of the lawn of last year, when my mower ripped the tips and grass started turning yellow slowly but surely. I read online about many a diseases that a blunt or chipped blade may bring.. The mower does collect the clippings, so the thatch is certainly not made of those.

I never tend to go too low, in this last property I started with the highest mower's setting, and didn't go below the middle level.

This is the lawn from farther away:


A new blade just landed on the doormat today, good job Bosch threw in a replacement bolt as well, the old one will only undo itself after mangling it with a pair'a'mole-grips..!

 

New blades shouldn't rib out grass, but if you are pushing the mower to fast it will not let the mower do it's job, try mowing a bit slower and see if that helps

 

Looks like a particularly coarse type of grass to me.
Almost like the stuff that grows on sand dunes.

 

You could do as suggested above, but if its so small and as its the ideal time of year , think we might consider stripping off all that top growth, giving it a good dig over and either getting some turfs from the diy stores or a packet of seed.
That should give you the basis of a really good little lawn.

Ytubes on how to prepare the ground -

 

It now looks like a build up of thatch and moss. Moss turns quite whitish when the weather gets a bit warmer and there is a lack of water. A good scratching with a lawn rake will remove a lot of it

 

Thank you all! Tomorrow with warmer weather it will be the raking time!

The lawn looked just fine last year before the yellowing set in :} With your helpful pieces of advice we'll surely bring it back to its former glory!