Confused in what order to repair grass

[Popsicle30]

So having moved in to our house last year I now want to try and rescue the garden!

We have a good sized lawn but it is very patchy and thinning in a number of areas with some weeds.

The weeds I'm going to tackle myself without weedkiller. I plan to do this first.

I also want to fix the patches where there is no grass so my plan was to prepare the soil and put down grass seed.

Finally, I wold like to add a lawn feed to add nutrients and thicken the grass. The bit I'm not sure about is whether to add this before or after I seed the patchy areas...or whether I need to wait?

Any advice, thoughts on my plan would be appreciated!

Many thanks in advance

Get a lawn treatment service. For the amount they charge it isn’t worth you buying the stuff yourself. The charges are very reasonable, vary per unit area so unless the area is massive you will not have to pay out too much.
Green Thumb is the one I use, don’t know if they are national

Plus they are professionals with knowledge and professional quality stuff

Thank you for your speedy respond Kaddm.

I will bear this in mind but I think I'd love to try and do it myself to know I can do it. However, if it get's to the point I feel I need an intervention I'll consider this company (just checked they operate in my area). Many thanks!

*oops response!

Are there any relevant YouTube videos? I definitely think you could tackle it yourself!

Wilko are good for lawn products.

How much sun does the lawn receive? If any of the bare patches are in deep shade you might struggle to re-seed. There are more resilient grass seeds available but they tend to include rye grass.

I use Wilko lawn feed, weed and mosskiller twice a year before a heavy rain shower to wash it in. Apply it sparingly as it can turn your lawn black if you're too enthusiastic If you weigh the amount for 1m sq (35g?) you'll see how little it is. If you apply it before prolonged/heavy rainfall it's less risky and saves having to water it in.

I mow on medium height blades then lower them to avoid tearing at the grass on the first cut.

I'd probably concentrate on mowing and weeding followed by reseeding. Once the seed has germinated you could try an all over feed. The increase in temperature and sunlight ought to encourage it to thicken naturally especially with regular mowing which encourages spread.

Following with interest. We have the worst lawn in the world with clay soil, poor drainage and no light. As a result we've had it returfed twice (the first time they added a load of new topsoil) within about six years and both times it's ended up very bumpy and uneven and large patches have just died off and are now bald. It looks shite but I'm not sure we can do much to fix it without throwing many many pounds at it. I wondered if we could dump a bit of topsoil or compost or something on the really bald bits and throw a load of seed over it and hope that some of it grows.

What direction does your garden face evil? Is there anything you could prune/reduce to allow more sunlight?

I'd aerate it using a garden fork or those spikes you can strap on your feet
I'm on clay and my lawn looks good.

I think light might be your problem. Premium lawn seed and turf will really struggle in poor light conditions.

I vote for using a lawn service too. Waiting for grass to grow is up there with watching paint drying.
As soon as the new shoots pop their heads up (assuming the birds & mice don't get the seeds first).... you will be visited by pigeons, then dogs/children/cats will walk all over them.
Also, cats love soft, seed strewn earth as a litter tray....
Weed seeds thrive in a newly sown lawn too!
I have tried so many times. Get the professionals in - otherwise it's too stressful!

Shady lawn advice

Lawn advice for spring and summer

I love improving my lawn and don't really find it a chore but maybe I'm strange

Sorry meant to say evil the way to go would be to reseed or re-turf with a shady lawn product or the same thing will keep happening.

Gareth we're NE facing. Nothing at all we can prune; the only thing that would help is knocking down walls which sadly we can't do we don't have any visiting birds at all. It's a very tiny garden, part lawn and part paved. One side of the lawn gets a bit of sun for part of the day and the grass is ok there. The other side gets pretty much no light at all and this bit obviously struggles. Most of it is now just bald.

Thanks everyone. Our rear garden is east facing and most of the lawn at some point in the day gets sunlight. One of our hurdles is a large tree and treehouse that keeps some of it shaded all the time but I’m considering taking lawn from that bit and doing something else with it.

With only moving in last year the garden isn’t top priority to spend a lot of money on so where I can save money I’d prefer to. What type of costs do the lawn services charge out of interest? I could end up spending that much trying to do it myself and wish I’d just bit the bullet and gone with one ...

gareth I think I could get a bit addicted to getting it right. It is driving me mad and I just want it done now! 😂

I honestly swear by regular mowing (once a week or once every 10-14 days if I'm feeling lazy) and bi-annual weed, feed and mosskiller!

My main problem was weeds but I've had to do a bit of scarifying and reseeding in the time I've lived here. I don't have kids or dogs so it's fairly easy to keep off the reseeded parts.

I'm SE facing (well ESE really) with a monumental beech tree in the garden at the end of mine and a very tall tree on the right hand side of my garden which I've raised the crown of.

You could scarify and reseed with shade tolerant seed under the tree/treehouse or change it for something else as you say

Evil you have my sympathy! Could you take up the lawn and transform it into more of a "yarden" with some creative planting? Use sleepers to create flowerbeds/raised beds against the walls and introduce some vertical planting including evergreen varieties? Birds like corridors of foliage - I've transformed my fences with climbers, particularly the shady side. I actually discourage birds from the lawn as I have a cat who likes to hunt.

You could put down weed membrane and gravel up the middle with occasional slabs/ large planters. Shade planting sounds tricky at first but there are actually some amazing inexpensive plants. I tend to choose shrubs and climbers for impact and a good mix of evergreen varieties so that it doesn't lose interest over winter. Golden and variegated foliage is a good idea too.

The newer garden paint ranges are a great way of bringing colour into a shaded garden as well as outdoor rugs and bright furniture etc.

Gareth the problem is that I actually hate gardening! I wish I liked it but I just really don't. I also hope to not be in this house for more than another couple of years so really don't want to sink too much money into it.

Stupidly it didn't occur to us when we bought it to check whether it got any light, or which direction it was facing. Nor did it occur to us to wonder why half of it was (at the time) covered in gravel.

Ah fair enough! In which case I'd aerate it with a garden fork or shoe spikes, rake the bare earth as much as possible and chuck some shady lawn seed around. Water in well. I have no idea how much companies charge for this sort of thing. Maybe it's worth getting a quote if you really hate it?