Newbie here! Please help with dead patch

[sully110]

Hi All

Newbie here - just joined so apologies in advance if i say or ask something silly.

I just have a dead patch of garden that refuses to grow any grass.

Would love some freebie advice as to how to go about it.

Just paid someone £500 to come and throw some seeds and said wait - it will grow in 5-6 day - well its been 11 and it doesnt look any better than before to me.

Im watering the lawn twice a day - once in the morning and once late afternoon.

What else can i do to make this dead patch grow?

I have attached before and after pics but nothing to exciting going on or is there?

Totally out of my depth here... Gardener now says we will come back for another £500.00 - im not doing that.

 

[cpp gardener]

Find out what kind of seed he used.
Get some and enough ‘topper’ (they’ll know what and how much at the garden center) and starter fertilizer to cover the area.
Spread it, tamp it down and water. Your schedule sounds about right. How long do you water when you water?
It will cost you a lot less if you do it yourself.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

That's a lot of money for not much, but I guess you know that. Couple of queries, how long have you been there? Could it have a history of being polluted by something? Also, have you ever stuck a fork in it? Could it have become severely compacted?
PS, Welcome to the forum.

 

[sully110]

Find out what kind of seed he used.
Get some and enough ‘topper’ (they’ll know what and how much at the garden center) and starter fertilizer to cover the area.
Spread it, tamp it down and water. Your schedule sounds about right. How long do you water when you water?
It will cost you a lot less if you do it yourself.

Thank you for your reply and advice.
Shall I add seeds again to the topper/fertilizer?
i water for aournd 30-40 mins.
My sprinkler covers only a 3rd of the effected area so 15 mins for each area.

 

[sully110]

That's a lot of money for not much, but I guess you know that. Couple of queries, how long have you been there? Could it have a history of being polluted by something? Also, have you ever stuck a fork in it? Could it have become severely compacted?
PS, Welcome to the forum.

Thank you Oliver.
You are right - we've only been here for 2 years but you may be able to make our that we have huge desirous trees surrounding that area where it just doesn't grow.
The "gardner" said soil is bad.., area is bad... he thinks its a heavy chalk and clay area... i don't know if any of this is true but I wouldn't know how to check.

Happy to try things.

 

[cpp gardener]

Yes get more seed. Put it down first, then fertilizer, then topper. The watering sounds good unless it gets hot.

 

[sully110]

Can i just confirm by topper you mean Top Soil

Topsoil

High quality, general purpose topsoil. Ideal for turfing, borders, beds, vegetables & raising levels. Bulk bag size approximately 1 cubic metre.

www.onlineturf.co.uk

Something like this.

Fertilizer would be https://thegrasspeople.com/revive-o...bBdBNVmIFp4tqMPjCmvg1vbnBoCJxIQAvD_BwE#185=41

Sorry - just want to confirm.

 

[cpp gardener]

For the topper you want fine organic matter, not actual soil.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

For the topper you want fine organic matter, not actual soil.

There is a lot of cheap, bagged compost about at the moment that is mostly wood fibre, expensive and not great. You would probably do better to Google 'Mushroom compost near me' and get a load delivered pretty cheaply.

 

[oneeye]

Thank you for your reply and advice.
Shall I add seeds again to the topper/fertilizer?
i water for aournd 30-40 mins.
My sprinkler covers only a 3rd of the effected area so 15 mins for each area.

Welcome friend. It looks like a irritation problem to me. A good recommendation is 1 to 1 1/2 inch or 2.54 cm to 3.81cm of water per week. If you want to measure the amount of water your sprinklers put out, just set some empty tuna cans in the yard. Watch how long it takes to add an inch to the cans when your sprinklers come on at the end of the week.

Take a long scwerdriver and use it as a prong and stick in the soil. Do it when the soil is dry and when its wet to get to know the your soil texture and best time to water. I use a golf club handle with the putter cut off as a prong and stick it in the ground to know when to water. Good luck

 

[sully110]

Welcome friend. It looks like a irritation problem to me. A good recommendation is 1 to 1 1/2 inch or 2.54 cm to 3.81cm of water per week. If you want to measure the amount of water your sprinklers put out, just set some empty tuna cans in the yard. Watch how long it takes to add an inch to the cans when your sprinklers come on at the end of the week.

Take a long scwerdriver and use it as a prong and stick in the soil. Do it when the soil is dry and when its wet to get to know the your soil texture and best time to water. I use a golf club handle with the putter cut off as a prong and stick it in the ground to know when to water. Good luck

WOW - Amazing advice - thank you.

 

[sully110]

There is a lot of cheap, bagged compost about at the moment that is mostly wood fibre, expensive and not great. You would probably do better to Google 'Mushroom compost near me' and get a load delivered pretty cheaply.

Thank you so much - ive searched that term up with so many different types - getting confused....
Can you just send me a link?

 

[sully110]

For the topper you want fine organic matter, not actual soil.

Hi - Thank you for helping so much.

i have no idea what that means...

Can you just send me a link of what I should be buying?

 

[Oliver Buckle]

The trees won't be helping, but there are specific grass seed mixes for shady places, a garden centre will stock them.
'Fine organic matter' is stuff made from living things, rotted down and broken up small, mushroom compost is just one example. The mushrooms are grown in a mixture that is largely horse manure and straw, and when they have finished growing the mushrooms it is 'fine organic matter'. I thought of it because there is a mushroom farm near me that will deliver in bulk, maybe not near you, but there are people who deliver nationally, it should cost around £70 -£90 for a cubic meter.
Another possibility is your local council, most collect 'Green waste' nowadays and process it into compost to re-sell, ask them if they do bulk compost deliveries, it should be a fraction of the price it would be bought in 50 litre bags, and you won't have all the bags to get rid of.
Failing all that if you simply google 'Bulk compost' you will get a number of possibilities.

 

[cpp gardener]

Here we get it bagged at nurseries, garden centers and Big Box stores. Simply labeled “Topper”; there are various brands.