Steps for a greener, healthier lawn

jameshopkins0709

Hey there,

Am very much a newbie at gardening in general, but am really enjoying looking after and tending to my gardens, recently.

I'm on a journey to make my grass more lush, thicker and look generally a bit healthier. You can see from the photos attached, that although it's relatively green, its pretty patchy and in some places, has quite a straw'y texture, rather than thick blades of grass. At the moment, my routine is:

* Cut every other week, on the highest setting with my (quite old) Flymo - although it has a new blade on it. 
* Lay Westland Aftercut Lawn Thickener Feed & Seed after every cut
* Water every 2-3 days. We live in a very windy street, so figured the grass and plants and soil will dry out relatively quickly.
* Aeriate every season with a garden fork so that the tines are about 10cm into the soil.

It is worth mentioning that we're in a new-build house, so it's safe to say that the top soil will be of bad quality. Without relaying new top soil and turf, is there anything I can do to improve the situation?

Thanks in advance

James

Achtung

Not only will the topsoil probably be poor quality but how deep is it and what's under it? Get a long screwdriver and have a poke around the grass to feel if the builder has left his rubble for your grass to grow on. 

jameshopkins0709

When I was aerating the soil. I could get my fork down 10cm in most places and 15cm in some others. 

AnniD

I think l'm right in saying that the Westland Lawn Thickener should be used every 3 to 4 weeks, so if you are using it every 2 weeks that may be scorching the grass ? Have you tried raking the dead looking stuff out? It may also be that you are overwatering in terms of little and often, so it doesn't encourage the roots to go down in search of moisture. For a new build that depth doesn't seem too bad !