Why Is My Lawn Thin Or Patchy
Many factors contribute to the failure of grass seed to grow as expected.
- Patches of your lawn may not be getting adequate sunlight. Shade from trees, structures, and other objects can cause thin grass growth, straggly grass, and bare patches.
- Hard or compacted soil can make it difficult for grass seed to grow because the roots are unable to access the air and soil nutrients they need to grow.
- Lawn diseases and insects like soil surface-feeding chinch bugs and sub-soil feeding white grubs can cause thin, patchy grass.
So If The Grass Is Greener On The Other Side Should I Be Taking More Care Of My Own Grass
The most simple and efficient way to repair damaged or worn patches in your lawn is to use grass seed. The first thing you need to do is to measure the size of the areas which need repair and choose grass seed from a reputable supplier such as www.thelawnstore.co.uk. The Lawn Store have a wide range of seeds to chose from including agricultural, landscape, golf course, pro commercial, sports pitch seed and popular wildflower seed.
For smaller areas there is plenty of choice from the Turfline range including, Multi-purpose Lawn Seed or even Eco Lawn Seed which contains micro-clover. Additionally, there are some excellent choices from the Johnsons range including Tuff Lawn Seed and Luxury Lawn Seed. The Turfline seed packages cover 50 square metres per pack and are ideal for lawn repairs. For large seeding projects we recommend using the DLF Pro Master range which is available in 20kg bags which cover 600 square metres when sowing at a rate of 30 grams per metre.
Prep The Soil For Reseeding
Once the old grass and weeds are gone and its safe to lay down new seed , its time to prep the soil.
Remove any large debris, then use a garden rake to level the ground and break up any large clumps of dirt. If the area is covered with mulch or compost, lightly work it into the top couple of inches of soil.
If your soil is compacted, you may also want to aerate it at this point. After aerating, rake the area level and loosen the top ¼ inch of soil. As a final step, spread a 1-inch layer of Scotts® Turf Builder® LawnSoil evenly across the entire lawn. Its specifically formulated with a blend of rich, composted materials to provide an excellent growing environment for young seedlings, and also makes it easier for them to sink their roots in.
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Tips On How To Fix A Dead Lawn
While your lawn might not look healthy and green right now, there is no need to worry. If the grass appears to be yellow and brown, the chances are it is just dormant.
Extreme temperatures force grass to protect itself. So you might think that your lawn is dying, but in reality, you can restore it.
Here is how to fix dead patches of grass and have a beautiful green yard all year round:
Water Alone Won’t Work
Most of us know that wishing and hoping bare spots fill in on their own is futile. Did you also know that watering those bare spots and doing nothing else won’t work either? Sure, water is essential for growing a green, healthy looking lawn. But water’s only a part of what you need to fix those dead spots in your lawn and keep them from coming back.
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Overseeding Turf In Fall For Summer Growth
Have you noticed your lawn is looking a little patchy or limp? Whens the last time you seeded? Overseeding your lawn helps keep your grass stay full and keep growing. It will fill in areas damaged by the summer heat, insects, or diseases as well as generally enhancing your lawns ability to fight back against these stressors. Overseeding works!
Aerating and overseeding in the fall are keys to keeping your lawn healthy and growing. As the heavy heat of summer gives way to cool fall days, youll start to notice a layer of thatch, a tightly interwoven layer of living and dead plant matter, built up just below the grass blades. At this point, the roots of the grass are normally short, which is not ideal for lawn health. Underneath the thatch layer is compacted soil. The more compact the soil the easier for thatch to develop.
Aerating your lawn has a host of benefits. Some of the long-term benefits include microorganism growth, increased effectiveness of fertilizer use, and the prevention of run-off. It will increase the activity of microorganisms that grow in the soil, helping them to decompose thatch. A little after a weeks time, aeration will also improve how well your lawn uptakes and uses fertilizer. Itll also help prevent fertilizer run-off from overly-compacted areas. Other long-term benefits include deeper infiltration of rainfall.
Aeration also includes a variety of short-term benefits such as:
WHEN
IMPORTANT
Can Your Lawn Recover From Brown Patches
The good news is that your turf can recover from brown patches. The bad news? You may have to wait until the active growing season to see an improvement in appearance. While a fungicide application can help prevent spread to other areas, spots that have rotted will need to regrow. Meanwhile, steps should be taken to ensure youre not transferring the fungus to healthy parts of your lawn. Affected areas should not be mowed, as that could cause diseased clippings to deposit elsewhere, spreading the infection. You should also avoid walking over the area so your shoes dont transport the spores. Finally, its important to not apply fertilizer during an outbreak. Sure, youll feed your lawn, but youll also feed the fungus, too.
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Applying Your Seeding Mixture
Choose a repair mixture suited to your climate, grass type and sunlight exposure. Premium grass seed, moisture-retaining mulch and stabilized-release fertilizer in Pennington One Step Complete safeguard germinating seed and nourish emerging seedlings until the lawn is ready for normal care regimens.
Smooth the seeding mixture over the soil, applying it at a rate of 1 cup per square foot. This ensures adequate sunlight for germinating and proper seed-to-soil contact for quick, thorough grass establishment. Forget about planting depth and seed stabilization simply cover exposed soil thoroughly, and water the seeding mixture well.
Proper watering is the most important and often the most neglected part of the spot repair process. Moisture-retentive mulch reduces necessary watering and keeps protected seed in place, even on slopes, but expect to water at least once daily. Let weather guide your efforts adjust your watering to keep repaired areas consistently moist, but never soggy.
Keep repaired areas evenly moist until seedlings reach the recommended mowing height for your chosen grass type. For example, a dense shade mixture should reach 2 1/2 to 3 inches tall, and tall fescue should measure 3 to 4 inches, before you reduce watering to a normal weekly or twice-weekly schedule. Seedlings emerge over seven to 21 days after repair, depending on your mix, and reach mowing height in three to four additional weeks.
Water Your Lawn Regularly
Keeping your lawn healthy in summer can be tricky because it needs extra care. So if you have just come home from a vacation and there are patches of dead grass all over your garden, the best thing you could do is to water the lawn with a hose or sprinklers.
Using the former is an excellent idea because it can reach every corner of the garden, especially if you happen to have a good hose reel cart on wheels.
Remember that less is more when dealing with a dead lawn. It means you shouldnt drown the grass in water. Keep it light and stick to your standard watering schedule.
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Problem: Lack Of Sunlight Solution: Look For Lawn Alternatives
Even so-called shade-tolerant varieties of turfgrass wont do well in dark corners of the yard. And pruning trees too aggressively to create sunlight can end up harming the tree. Youre better off cutting your losses and replacing the sun-starved patch of grass with a shade-tolerant ground cover, such as bishops hat or sweet woodruff. Or you might convert that part of the lawn with gravel or a perennial bed.
How To Repair Bare Spots In Your Lawn
Healthy green turf is a welcome sight as lawns spring to life after winter, but early days sometimes hold surprises. Even well-maintained lawns can yield bare or thin spots, but early spring provides excellent opportunities for corrections. Pre-blended, seeding mixtures eliminate the guesswork in spot repairs by delivering seed, mulch and fertilizer in a single, optimized product. Repairs are simplified, establishment is enhanced, and repaired areas should establish well before summer stresses arrive.
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How To Reseed Or Overseed A Lawn In 6 Easy Steps
Your lawn may look healthier at certain times of year than others. Some grass goes dormant during the winter or summer, and some lawns may battle insects, fungus, or high usage, which thins them or creates barren areas. To deal with these situations, some homeowners may consider overseeding or reseeding their lawn. Learning how to overseed a lawn or reseed a lawn isnt difficult, but it does require some planning and research. Heres a simple step-by-step guide to help you.
Fixing Small Sections Of Lawn
For an easier application, you could buy an all-in-one product like Scotts EZ Seed Patch & Repair for a quick fix to any bald spot. Youll simply have to rake the ground to loosen the soil, then apply the EZ Seed, and water it daily.
New seed is going to need more frequent watering, but be careful, since there is a balancing act to it. You want your soil to stay moist, but dont water so much you drown the new seeds.
Patch and Repair products come with mulch in the bag, which will retain water and help keep your seeds moist longer to improve germination rates.
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How Do You Reseed Bare Patches In A Lawn
Reseeding bare patches is quite easy, and it wont take too much of your time.
The first thing you need to do is to assess the damage and rake the patchy area.
Then loosen up the soil either by using a cultivator or a sturdier rake. Cover the area with compost and mix it up with the ground.
Then grab the seeds and sprinkle generously over the bare patch. Use the rake once again to cover the seeds with the soil.
Then continue to water the area for the next two weeks.
Do your best to maintain the moisture if the temperatures are too high.
Ask Us For A Free Evaluation Of Your Lawn
Every lawn is different therefore, we do not give out any prices online. One of our Nutrite Experts will come to you to complete the diagnosis form for your lawn and will make recommendations needed to get the best results. We believe this is the best way to ensure that you have a durable and healthy lawn. Expert know-how, a must for your lawn!
Fill out the online evaluation form and your Nutrite Expert will submit to you their diagnosis and recommendations as soon as possible.
Do as Maude and Jonathan
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Which Seed Should You Use To Repair Lawn Patches
There are broadly three types of grass seed mixes that you can choose from, as Homebase explains. Hard-wearing lawn mixes tend to include ryegrass and are good if you’re on the lookout for family garden ideas. Premium lawn mixes are a blend of a finer-textured grass seed for a high-quality result. Or, you can purchase a mix that’s suitable for shadier gardens which isn’t as reliant on direct sunlight as other blends.
When repairing lawn patches, try to use the same seed as you used for the rest of your lawn to avoid a variation of appearance.
Use the same grass seed mix as the rest of your lawn when repairing patches
Fixing Large Thin & Patchy Sections Of Lawn
If your lawn is looking thin overall, you can try over-seeding or re-seeding instead to revitalize it. The principles are the same as fixing bald spots, but youre applying to your entire lawn.
First, youll have to rake your lawn thoroughly to remove any debris, such as leaves or dead grass. Then youll spread the seeds over your lawn and cover with a half-inch of compost or topsoil. Rake again, gently this time, to get the seeds in the grass. You want good seed-to-soil contact for the grass to grow. After that, water your lawn in the mornings and evenings until the grass starts to grow.
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The Do’s And Don’ts Of Lawn Fertilizer
Most lawns need extra nutrients, but theres a right way to choose and use them, especially when kids and pets are present. Heres what to avoid, and what to do instead.
What not to do
- Dont use fast-release chemical fertilizers. Though their high concentration of nutrients will green up your lawn quickly, theyre tough on the environment and putting down too much could actually burn your grass.
- Dont use bone meal, blood meal, and fish-meal fertilizers if you have pets. Dogs in particular find them very tasty, and ingestion can lead to vomiting and diarrhea. Some are also mixed with highly toxic insecticides.
- Dont use starter fertilizer with weed control when trying to grow new grass. The seeds will not be able to germinate.
- Dont ignore the instructions on the label, including the type of drop spreader it stipulates. That will help ensure that the fertilizer is appropriately dispersed over the lawn.
What to do instead
How To Repair Damaged Lawn In Spring
Freezing, thawing, snow removal, rodents, insects, diseases various things can cause damage to our lawns, often leaving them with bald patches. Beyond the aesthetic aspect, dead patches of grass can bring you many problems during the summer if they are not repaired quickly! Be sure to restore them to avoid, among other things, an invasion of weeds. Heres how to proceed:
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How To Repair Lawn Patches With Seed: Simple Steps For Healthy Grass
Our straightforward advice on how to repair lawn patches will help you get your turf back to its former glory
ByHolly Crossley2021-08-30T09:00:47Z
Is your lawn looking a little threadbare? Don’t worry it’s easy to repair lawn patches with new grass seed to get it looking lush and green again.
A lawn covered in dead, brown spots is never a good look, even if it’s surrounded by smart lawn edging. Unfortunately, it’s a common problem, especially in the height of summer when the grass can become parched, or if you have children or pets running around. Patches can also form due to over-mowing, over-raking or heavy lawn scarifying, explains Andy Wain, Head Gardener at Euridge Manor and spokesperson for Stihl. ‘When they appear, it is best to act quickly to prevent them from becoming a breeding ground for weeds,’ he adds. ‘The best way to restore bald patches is reseeding them.’
You’ll be pleased to hear that this process is cheap and totally straightforward. We’ve rounded up all the tips you need to know.
Problem: Grub Sightings Solution: First Assess Then Address
These milky-white beetle larvae feed on grass roots, which can lead to dead spots in the lawn. Grubs also attract moles and raccoons. But a few here or there might not be a problem, says Kyle Wickings, a turfgrass entomologist at Cornell University. Ten larvae per square foot is a common threshold for treatment, however, this can vary by species. A very healthy lawn can tolerate higher densities.
If there are signs of damage, say dead or wilting turf, ask your cooperative extension for the best treatment, which will depend on the species of grub. Preventive insecticides are applied in spring, and curative measures are done in the fall. In some regions, chemicals are illegal or must be applied by a certified pro. Organic alternatives, such as Heterorhabditis nematodes, are often effective.
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How To Do Basic Lawn Repair
Don’t be frustrated by a lawn that’s patchy, full of weeds, or overgrown. You may be amazed at what a few basic lawn repairs can do to the aesthetic appeal of your property, and you can make major headway in a short amount of time. Aside from affecting the general appearance, the condition of your lawn can also be a significant factor in determining the resale value of your home if you are thinking about putting it on the market sometime soon.
While the process of growing new grass requires a little patience as Mother Nature does her work, the actual time you put in on physical labor will be minimal.
Step 1 – Clear the Weeds
The first thing you need to do is get rid of everything that isnt supposed to be there. This means any dandelions, thistle, or unsightly clusters of weeds. There are several ways to go about this, but the best way is still with a small hand shovel. Some folks also find that a long, flat-headed screwdriver works well. Dont just tear the weeds off at the surface level. You need to get the entire plant, roots and all, out of the ground. A common mistake is to pull up the weeds and then just leave them lying on the ground to chop up with the lawn mower. This is actually counter productive. When you leave the dying weeds on your lawn or chop them up, you release all of their seeds right back into your lawn. Next year you’ll have to repeat the process. When you pull the weeds, place them right into garbage or a lawn refuse bag.
Step 2 – Prep for Seeds
