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New lawn

james.maddenjames.madden Posts: 2
in Garden design

we recently laid turf in our garden and after 4 weeks we have decided to mow it for the first time. 

the grass now looks terrible and cut pretty much down to the soil. Can anyone let me know if this is now ruined or can it be saved?

thanks

james

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Posts

  • LG_LG_ Posts: 4,250

    It sounds like you may have cut it too short. A new lawn needs to be cut little and often - are you able to adjust the height of your lawnmower blades? I am not speaking from very much experience - I laid a new lawn in April, but all the advice I read said the above, and following it seems to have served me well. HOWEVER, after a few weeks of mowing twice a week I thought I would lower the blades - boy, did I regret it. Having had lovely velvety grass up to that point, I scalped it and it looked much like your description. I too wondered if it was totally ruined but it gradually returned to health and I won't be doing that again! (I have to admit to doing it once more a few weeks after that in case it was a one-off. It wasn't). 

    So there is hope! I think what I would do if I was in your situation is this: if it's been as dry where you are as where I am I would give it a really through watering as though it was brand new. And then I'd leave it and give it time to recover. Dont cut it again too soon, and don't cut it as short when you do.

    I have no idea about feeding and stuff like that - hopefully someone more experienced will have some advice.

    'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
    - Cicero
  • james.maddenjames.madden Posts: 2

    Thanks for the advice folks.

    i will keep you updated ??

  • Mitchbo1Mitchbo1 Posts: 15

    I too have done the dreaded scalping. My daughter was in hospital and the lawn was neglected for a few weeks. When I finally got chance I had the blade set quite low. ive just had to reseed the lawn (using evergreen 4 day fast grass, which took 10 days to start shoots!). 

    Ive found that cutting the remaining patches of what was velvet grass on a very high setting definitely helped.  I was looking at the grass when cutting at this height wondering was it actually cutting anything. The grass back had cuttings in so obviously. The remaining grass now looks a little healthier  

    Worst thing I did was put richard jacksons lawn magic on  Whilst it makes the grass looks beautifully lush and green, it makes it so that the lawn needs a trim 3-4 times a week.   

    Good luck  

  • worldinteriors9worldinteriors9 Posts: 9

    I have problem with my lawn as well, dry brown patches in gree lawn I was trying to recover it but not much result. Any suggestion how to make my lawn green again?

  • Mark56Mark56 Posts: 1,653
    worldinteriors9 says:

    I have problem with my lawn as well, dry brown patches in gree lawn I was trying to recover it but not much result. Any suggestion how to make my lawn green again?

    See original post

     Do you have dogs?

  • LoanaLoana Posts: 427

    In my experience it takes a lot to kill off a lawn, so give it time it shoukd be fine :) my son has a new housecand he is obsessive with it. He put moss killer on it as it was a bit mossy and was freaked out when lawn went brown and sparse, but a few months later it is looking better than ever. We have a new build in our front garden and we couldn't afford the cost of turf, so i seeded it, it has come up quickly, so we are hoping it will survive the predicted frosts this weekend....you can't beat a nice lawn ;) 

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