Patchy grass

twr88

We turfed our small lawn last April but it's still very patchy.

Some of the turf wasn't great when we laid it, and it's never really recovered despite using lawn feed and new seed last summer.

Any suggestions on how we can improve it?

Cloggie

How sunny is it?  By that, I mean where does the sun rise and fall on it?

twr88

Garden is West facing. Left of photo is shaded by fence, so only right side gets sun.

All we've grown so far is a cat and some ankles.

Cloggie

Ok, so it should be ok light-wise.  What is underneath, it's not builder's rubble is it?  

Regardless, what I would do (and I have recently just done this in my garden) is stick a garden fork in the bare patches and wiggle it about to create holes - do lots of them and break the soil surface on the bare bits to make it crumbly.  Then brush in a sand and soil mixture that's heavier on the sand ratio (not all sand but has a fair bit in it - sorry this is vague).  Then throw some hardwearing grass mix all over it and throw a bit more of the soily sand over the top.  

Water well and keep it watered until you see grass sprouting through.

Try not to let any ankles or cats onto it until it does stuff (actually don't freak the cat out, they can walk on it!).

Best of luck.

twr88

Thanks I'll give this a go.

Fairygirl

Hi twr - I think you've hit on something if you can grow those...

Did you keep it well watered after laying the turf? That's more important than feeding. 

Lots if grass looks a bit dodgy just now so I wouldn't worry too much. Cloggies's advice is  sound, but make sure any new seed sown has proper contact with the soil below by walking on it. A shade mix might be better for that site.  Avoid seeding for about  4 to 6 weeks if you give it any weed treatment too.  

Cloggie

Yeah, good points Fairy.