Help - what can I do about my lawn? (photo)

[Mitzi50]

Every time I look at my lawn I feel depressed.

It is covered in brown patches and scrape holes. I am not sure whether it is my 2 dogs or rabbits - a large number of rabbits live on the school playing fields behind my house and there are tunnels from the fields under my fence. There is hardly any grass left but loads of chick weed. I did think about returfing but that is obviously pointless if it is going to get into the same state again.

Do you dogs wee on your grass? I think that would turn it brown. Maybe returf then fence a part off as a dog toilet?

No idea if rabbits do damage to lawns though, sorry.

I think you can definitely improve it!! I am not a lawn expert, but I would hazard a guess that your problem is that it's not aerated.

I would give it a light mow and then a really good rake to get out any thatched grass. It looks quite congested and compacted. Then buy a cheap manual aerator (not a machine one!) and roll it all over. Basically, it makes lots of little holes in the surface which encourage gas exchange and get those roots growing. Give it a good water too and some fertiliser once you've done it.

Then you can try filling some of the bald patches with a mixture of topsoil and sand and sowing new grass.

You need to mow every week over the growing season (sorry!) to keep the grass in really good condition. Every time you mow, you increase the density of the grass. Make sure that your mower isn't scalping the soil and making more bald patches.

I would turn those shady areas at the edge into low-maintenance borders. Pretty flowers for you, and no worrying about the state of the lawn in the corners!

Thanks shovetheholly - my decent mower broke at the end of last year and I was using a really useless electric mower which did tear the grass rather than cut it. I've had the mower repaired so that should improve things. Forgive a stupid question but if I sow grass in all the patches, can I still mow?

Kreggle the dogs do wee on the grass but I think this is more than wee patches.

When you sow the grass, you'll need to leave it to grow for a bit before mowing. Wait until it's about 3 inches long, then give it a chop - and keep kiddiewinkes, dogs, etc off it while it grows (it's a pain, but worth it).

(This is why you need to mow the existing lawn before you start!)

Thanks again - I have mowed the grass (my decent mower is working again) and started raking out the dry bits which left some more bald bits . I am going to order some top soil and sand and borrow (I hope) an aerator. I think I will need to do some weed killing as well.

Before going to all that trouble, ask Green Thumb to come and have a look. They rescued our lawn when I thought it was beyond hope. It cost a lot less than doing it ourselves too - by the time I'd costed up hiring an aerator and all the other gubbins, it came to about half
the price and I didn't have to lift a finger.