Will last year's new turf grass come back?

Hi all,

Last July I had my garden raised slightly and laid with new turf grass. It looked fantastic until the winter and then it all completely died. It's now the first week of April and there is no sign of life in the grass at all. And weeds are starting to take over. Will the grass come back as the summer goes on?

 

Grass shouldn't disappear over the winter (it just stops growing) and it should have started into growth again by now, so my guess is no.
It's very strange that grass should disappear so completely. I can't even see the old dead grass leaves in the pictures. Wondering if there was something very badly wrong with the preparatory work. I can't imagine any UK weather conditions, pest or disease that would so completely kill off grass in the course of one winter if it was well-established and growing strongly by the autumn.

 

I guess it's because it wasn't established grass? It's just turf on top on new soil which was used to raise the garden.

This (front) garden is also quite dark. It faces east and doesn't get much sun. But being said, this garden did have established grass on it before the garden was raised with new soil and new turf.


Any idea what I can do to get grass to grow on it? Spread seed on it?

 

If the turf was laid in July and grew well through the summer and autumn, it should have rooted well into the soil and be established enough to get through the winter.

I think I would want to sort out what went wrong before spending money on seed, or time on removing anything that's left of the old turf and re-doing the prep. Was the area properly dug over before adding new soil? What's the drainage like? Could be loose new soil with a hard layer below? Grass is a bit picky - it likes good drainage but not drying out, and some sun unless you chose a mix specifically designed for shade. I suppose being completely soaked/underwater all winter could kill it. Not enough sun would weaken it and make it thin and patchy, but I wouldn't have thought it would have completely killed it in such a short time (unless it was totally covered up, such as a thick layer of fallen leaves completely covering it all winter).

 

But turf is (or should be ) 'established' grass. It should be cut from the top soil profile in such a manner as to be transportable and relaid. This last winter was not problematic weatherwise in relative terms so should not have killed grass*
You have a serious enquiry to make of the supplier/installer of this; the outcome should be free replacement. Trading Standards dept should be able to reinforce your claim.
Were you advised in the care of your turf following the work ? Was this done ? (would be a case of watering if dry and possibly lightly trimming if it had grown (more than, say ,2") otherwise keep off- especially when wet.
* Did any chemical get applied to the ground in preparation ? Was it a contractor who might appear to have Checkatrade/guild of craftsman type accreditation ?

 

All I would say is it looks like it was very fine grass, not your normal stuff IMO.

 

Even fine lawn grasses shouldn't die off like that. The main fine grasses used for lawns (fescues and bents) tend to be more tolerant of drought / dry sandy soils and of shade than the broader-leaved perennial rye grasses, they're not frost-tender. What they won't tolerate is hard wear (children, dogs etc playing on it or constant walking across the same part) but even if it had been worn too much there would surely be some of it still alive, round the edges etc. Fine grasses are they're much better with little-but-often cutting (it does look a bit long in the "before" photo) but I don't think not cutting properly would completely kill it.

It's difficult to think of anything that would so completely kill off grass like that once it had got growing. It looks like what you would get if you covered it with opaque plastic or something, as you might do if you wanted to turn an area of grass into a bed or border and you wanted to get rid of the grass without chemicals or stripping it off manually.

 

There's been no walking on, or covering the grass.

I gave it one last cut for the winter and then it looked like it now does.

Again, this part of the garden is quite dark and not ideal for anything much growing. But the old lawn did have established grass on it.

So what can I do to make grass grow on what I've got?

 

Do you really need grass at the front of the property as you say it doesn't get much sun why not put in a path and or some paving slabs and plant the area with shade tolerant perennials and groundcover. Less work and will look better.

 

Did anyone lay a weed suppressant membrane then lay the turf on top of that stopping the grass roots from reaching soil? The soil in the turf would have been enough to keep the grass green initially.

 

None of that, no. I really don't know why the grass just died like it did come the final mow before winter and never came back.

 

At the very front of the front garden is under trees. I gave up on anything growing under there a while ago and just have wood chippings.

I separate that area from the grass (or what was grass) with a border.

Any suggestions with which specific plants I can use in place of the dead grass area?

 

This is what it looked like. In the foreground I've laid woodchipings as nothing grows because it's under trees. Then there's the grass near the house which is all dead now. There is/was a strip of grass on other side of the path near the house also (which is also dead).

So where the grass was, on both sides of the path, is now just dead turf. This front garden does get some sun, but it's limited. It's mostly shade.

So I guess I could go down to the local garden center and see what shade-tolerant plants might look good to have in those formerly-grassed areas. And perhaps I could extend the woodchipings up to cover the rest of the dead turf around the new shade-tolerant plants.

The shame of it is that the newly-laid grass that I had last summer was lovely while it lasted. Really nice looking. Nevermind.


Or perhaps I could try sprinkling some shade-tolerant grass seed on the dead turf (if such seeds exist and if that method would work)?

 

Any idea what the weeds are that I can see in the first set of pictures.
Even if it was a shade problem I would expect to see a few tuft of grass remaining.

 

The weeds look like dandelions - you'd would think grass would be able to grow where dandelions can.