Sad lawn
AmandaG
Posts: 3
My lawn is very heavily compacted in parts and has turned dry and yellow. Patches are starting to appear so want to fix this asap.
I'm currently sorting some stepping stones for the worst bits but what can I do to repair the rest? Aerate and topsoil? I have tried aerating but the ground was too hard- should I wait until wet weather?
Thanks so much, any advice greatly appreciated
0
Posts
At this time of year, compacted soil is very common, especially on very heavy soil. It will be impossible to do it when the weather is dry. Try to wait for a long spell of rain and the go out with a garden fork and literally wield your way down rotating slightly to move the soil around.
Ideally, once you've done that, you can brush sand or very gritty compost. Top soil should only be applied once you have raked over all the areas. Usually just raking hard will allow air into dead grass that is trapping water getting into the gaps and into the soil. Do this and then mow the lawn. Do that a few more times, it should help to even out the patches. Once it is done a few times, then consider top-dressing/soil. If you are doing this, make sure you have some kind of stiff broom to push it right into the gaps. Go over the areas a few times and this will even out hollows.
It is very time consuming and not something you do once and sit back. Plus, if you are trying to do this in high summer, you may have to wait between times as dry weather will not be ideal to do many of the tasks. If you try to sort your lawn out now, it will probably take longer so have patience between tasks.