So Many, But Which One?????

Good to know. Thank you.

The gym is very much Mrs Lao's department; I know there are some around, but I’ve not seen them.

Yes. Presumably, they should be deep enough not to interfere with the grass roots (10 to 15cm?); whenever I've had brown patches, it's either been stones, or grubs.

 

Well, not anymore! Below are examples of it today (15-08-2024). This always happens eventually, no matter how much care the lawn has received (waterring - moderate fertilizer - wetting agent - seaweed - nematodes - weeds removal by hand - spiking)

As you see, the closer to the house (camera position) the worse the patches get (?????). The mid to far distance is okay.

What ARE those patches? To get rid of them now is not an option because the entire lawn would be dark brown reseeded topsoil patches (even worse).

 

Two possibilities....the first is that the drainage under those patches is sharper, i.e. rubble or stones closer to the surface than they are further away from the house. Second is leatherjackets. Do you notice an influx of daddy-long-legs in summer? Birds pecking enthusiastically at the lawn?

 

Hm … Yes … Thank you, Noisette. The first possibility is the more likely, we haven’t seen daddy-long-legs this year.

So, even though I had been dissuaded from doing so, it would seem that digging up a fair amount of the lawn is going to be de rigueur and replacing whatever comes up with top soil. Disturbed soil “sinks” … I am concerned about levelling, which I was hoping to improve on.

I wasn’t familiar with the term sharp drainage; is it that such debris accelerates water drainage and leaves the ground too dry?

 

Spot on. According to my mentor, who was boss of a lawnmower Company, in the old days, a proper lawn had a layer of rubble under it. This would have been evenly distributed so it stands to reason that odd patches of stone or rubble could lead to patches of 'dry' lawn. Even my grass has noticeable patches and strips where drainage or outflow pipes run so the soil dries more quickly there.

 

You could also just try not cutting the grass so short. It would then be less likely to turn brown if you don't have good rainfall regularly throughout summer.

 

Thank you both.

Points taken. Remedies, compromises, acceptance, in the light of how quickly things can turn around. Difficult to believe that the photo below was taken a mere 24 hours after the ones in the previous post! This, the result of prolonged heavy rain last night, only one really bad patch remains. But just a few days without rain and it’ll all start again … Do you use nematodes in autumn?

Good advice, of course! ... With this lawn, though, medium length is a problem inasmuch as the brown patches (as those showing badly yesterday) grow a lot less, compared to the rest, and that leads to a really uneven, unattractive surface. So, a choice resting on the least evil: the fire or the frying pan?
I suppose, philosophically, rather like people who have to live with pain, good and bad days must be taken in unequal measure ...

 

Nematodes? On roughly (rough being the totally appropriate word) 2000m2 of scrubby rye grass, clover, Poa annua, cow fodder grasses, couch and assorted field weeds? It gets a shot of selective weedkiller if it's lucky and the bits near the borders get 'serendipity water'. Oh and the cracks in the clay get the occasional, unwary foot

 

When you wrote “Even my grass ”, I had naturally assumed yours was the finest, with "even" being the operative word. Looking at your photographs, I now see that indeed it is. So, I don’t know what you are on about, get some nematodes!

 

Well Lord knows when the photos were taken....must have been during the 2 weeks of the year when it's something like a lawn You surely remember what a lost cause it is trying to produce a classic English lawn over here? Anyway, back to yours......is it really worth digging up the dry patches, sourcing the culprits and infilling, sowing etc? I'd be tempted to slosh a canful of water on them, given the area.

 

Pour votre attention particulière:

Le gazon kikuyu, idéal en région sud

 

Unless you want to remove it all and start again, which is a big job, the only other option is to go up, ie - add several inches of new soil, and a decent enough edging to contain it, then turf or seed. You'd probably need to add more organic matter to all the borders too, depending on how big a 'drop' there is to start with.

Very few gardeners are that particular about their grass, even if they describe it as a lawn, because they naturally get used for various activities, and even if you're only walking on it to maintain the surrounding planting, or to cut it, it gets compacted etc, so a 'perfect green space' is virtually impossible to achieve and maintain long term without constant attention. Most of us aren't looking for a perfectly level bowling green or croquet lawn, just something that stay green and looks half decent for most of the year, because it's the other planting that matters more

 

I do not know how long the area you want to improve has been left fallow but remember, one years seeds gives seven years of weeds. You will never clear everything totally with one years treatment work.

 

Merci Celà a tout à fait l'air d'être le prochain chien dent!

 

Thank you for your (over?)estimation of "the area", considering that my lawn is 1/24th of yours! That makes mine nothing!