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andyz0

Help! My lawn is very sparse

andyz0
9 years ago

Hi.
I was wondering if you could help me! I am not much of an expert on lawns so hope the expertise here will help.
I had a fairly decent lawn when I moved into my house 4 years ago. 1 year in I built a shed and greenhouse which took up about 1/3 of the width of my lawn which increased the amount of shade.
Over the last 3 years the lawn has got more and more patchy and sparse. I originally thought it was due to the shade increase (there is a fence on one side, a wall on another, and a shed on the last side of the affected area), but grass appears to be growing in a very shady area around the foundations for the shed which was dug up and disturbed. I have tried various brands of heavy duty and shady lawn seed. This made little or no difference. I kept this seed well watered and seeded in spring and autumn.
The soil is quite clayey so does get a bit waterlogged when it rains, and bakes quite dry when it is hot (made worse by the lack of grass!). I have tried aerating it with a garden fork and long thin spikes on an aerator. I have sprinkled the correct dosage of lawn feed on the whole area, which is being taken over by some moss (which I think is an indicator of poor nutrients), and I have also sprinkled compost with the lawn seed, and even lawn seed with compost mix!
I have tried mowing it shorter and tried mowing it longer.
I have two cats which have the odd run around or scratch but I don�t think can be to blame for the bareness of the lawn.
I also considered grubs eating the roots � like leatherjackets and the like. I have found some beetle grubs but not very numerous and I don�t really want to spend a lot on nematode worm eggs if I can avoid it (they are expensive and might not work!).
Lastly I have come up with this plan which I haven�t undertaken yet but if you think it may work or if you think it�s something else please let me know.
� Scrape off a 3 inch or so top layer of sparse grass and old clayey soil.
� Get some sharp sand, and a little bit of compost and some feed (to improve the organic content), and mix it in with the underlying soil, as it is a bit clayey and I think it gets a bit wet and poor.
� Use a garden fork to really thoroughly turn it over and improve the aeration.
� Level it off, but some rolls of turf and lay it. I think spring after the frosts will be good as it won�t be too hot. If it got too dry it would kill the new grass

Any thoughts?

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