Mowing the lawn

It was new lawn laid a couple of years ago. Just seems to have perished over the winter.

If I get new lawn, would i just lay it over the top? Is there anyway to re-seed this?
 
Its all brown and dry, I used a wide rake to remove the dead grass from the top. But this is what I am now left with.

What would be the best process for overseeding?
 
First action is to find a suitable seed
If its all dry then I would look at a seed designed for low rainfall and one that is hardy

Overseeding is simply spreading seed and ideally very lightly raking.
You may need to cover the area for a week (with netting) to keep the birds off it, but if raked they may not cotton on there is seed there

I think your going to need to water that though. Maybe pick up a moisture meter and see what its saying before you start.

You could alternately just give it a good water and see if it springs to life.
Grass is very robust.
If no sign then you should at least have hopefully got some water penetrated well into it.

Raised beds always drain well compared to ground level.
 
Thanks Mercenary.

I will give it a good watering this afternoon and tomorrow morning, then try re-seeding and raking. Nothing ventured.......
 
I’m learning as I go but this is the first year I’m trying to go from terrible full of weeds lawn to hopefully a good lawn! First attempt at seeding 4 weeks ago was not great, weather and I was lazy and just dumped it on top and ran. Some grew well, some didn’t.

I’ve now aerated all poor areas with a garden fork as no chance of coring it, managed to snag 500kg decent top soil with more if needed to spread before and after over seeding. More grass seed and starter fertiliser. I’ve even got a cheap lawn leveller and drop spreader to hopefully help.

Hoping we get some decent weather over the weekend as that’s when I want to tackle it. Certainly have to put a bit of graft in that’s for sure!

What’s the best place to host images nowadays if I am successful that is :cry:
 
booyaka said:
Is that even grass? Looks completely dead to me.

Personally dig it up and turf it would be my suggestion. Looks bone dry ground.
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Need to understand why it's bone dry. We've been having rain. Does it get sheltered?

Just seems very uniformly dead.
 
Bazzards said:
Also if I were to re-seed, how long before I would any semblance of a lawn?
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It depends on the seed species.

I've done the standard rye grass before and it's quite fast, but at the same time it won't take lack of water. This year I've started patching in and oversowing with a slower growing mix that more resistant and deeper rooted, the down side is a slower germination and growth - I'd estimate about 12-15 days ago, but there's about an inch above ground. Either way you'll to cover the seed and need to water regularly.
 
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Thanks guys. I watered, overseeded and raked yesterday afternoon. It is not sheltered so sunlight from mid morning through to the evening. Not sure why it died, as we have had a pretty wet winter.

Hopefully the seeds take and I have something to show in a couple of weeks.
 
I've figured a possible solution for the cat issue - plant support sticks. You know the long green sticks. Like a roman hill fort.. a parameter of those around the dirt they paw at and a few inside to prevent them just leaping over in habit. The sticks allow the light through, rain but are tough enough for a cat back end to find uncomfortably inconvenient.
 
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Aerated, top soil down and levelled (not great but loads better), seed down, raked and fertilised. All done yesterday and paying for it today :cry: hopefully a lot more successful this time around especially as weather is a bit better! Roll on proper mowing days again.
 
Grass at the back of my garden is worse than I thought, it's so mushy like a peat bog. You can sink if you stand on your tip toes, lot of the grass has gone.
 
NickK said:
I've figured a possible solution for the cat issue - plant support sticks. You know the long green sticks. Like a roman hill fort.. a parameter of those around the dirt they paw at and a few inside to prevent them just leaping over in habit. The sticks allow the light through, rain but are tough enough for a cat back end to find uncomfortably inconvenient.
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I feel that cat and I have come to an agreement, quasi-cease fire.
1. She gets to use the ground under the trees/bushes at the side of the house and if caught short the old fertiliser dump at the darkest spot of the garden.
2. She refrains from dumping or whizzing on the lawn
3. She can sit under the bench for shade, with or without human present.
4. The human is allowed to sit on the bench and is expected to guard garden and cat so dirt rolling, fly chasing, cleaning and general kitten behaviour is allowed.
6. She is allowed to drink from the pond and sit on its walls early morning to catch the sun, or at dusk to maximise the heat stored in the walls. She can sit on the pond windowsill to keep feet warm.
7. She is not allowed under the net of the pond.
8. She is expected to keep birds off the lawn and cats out of the garden.
9. She is expected not to dig up the potted plants.
10. She is allowed to sit in the upturned chair stack (aka 'castle') at any time.
11. She continues to get a treat for breakfast
12. The human is allowed to enjoy time in the garden as long as the cat can say hello and head bump.
13. Any attempt to pet the underside of the cat and the ceasefire is broken and the murder mittens come out.

After Mrs and I gave her a telling off, and stopped her from doing her business on the lawn, I think she got the idea. Especially when I moved her poop and placed it in her favourite spot next to the old fertiliser dump at the back of the bushes.

The scaredy cat plants are pending delivery.. so they'll reinforce it later.
 
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robj20 said:
Grass at the back of my garden is worse than I thought, it's so mushy like a peat bog. You can sink if you stand on your tip toes, lot of the grass has gone.
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I'm thinking i might be best actually turning over the back meter of my lawn and adding in a load of sharp sand and some gypsum, letting it dry out a bit then levelling it off and reseeding, there's almost no grass there any way apart from a few tufts of couch grass and dandelions.
Anything else worth adding to improve the soil there?
 
robj20 said:
I'm thinking i might be best actually turning over the back meter of my lawn and adding in a load of sharp sand and some gypsum, letting it dry out a bit then levelling it off and reseeding, there's almost no grass there any way apart from a few tufts of couch grass and dandelions.
Anything else worth adding to improve the soil there?
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I’d say a good idea but I’m very new to this lawn business. I lucked out and managed to get a good amount of free top soil that was already sandy. Aeration has made a massive difference to my watering as water isn’t sitting on the surface now. Can’t wait to core aerate as I can only imagine how good that must be for the lawn overall.
 
Lawn is recovering nicely, the new seed is working well. The older lawn is bouncing back from the scarification too. The cat burnt spots are recovering. I'll re-seed again next week.
 
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