New lawn disaster

[Nichola2310]

Our lawn was thick with moss and full of weeds, and after getting a couple of landscapers to look at it we picked a company to do the work. Their advice was that the only way to fix the grass was to dig up the lawn, put down high quality top soil and reseed. This, plus a hedge around the perimeter cost £5300 which for us was a staggering amount of money, but went ahead with it.

There were lots of issues with the company while they were doing the job in terms of being unreliable but I was delighted when they were finished up, which was mid-July.

The agreement was that they'd come back to check the lawn, put down more grass seed as required and do the first cut. There are also quite a few hedging plants that need replaced, and we've had to chase them every step of the way.

The first cut hasn't been done yet but the lawn is completely full of weeds, far worse than what we had before. The photos I've included are a few weeks old, so it's even much worse than what they show. The company are now saying it's because of where we live (we live rurally).

I'm so upset about it. Is there anything we can do to salvage it at this stage? We spent hours weeding on Sunday but it's an impossible task given how many they are.

Hi there, that sounds extortionate! For that amount I would have expected brand new turf laid at least.

Maybe they didn't put enough seed.down which has enabled more weeds to grow.

If I were you I would do the following:

Aerate the lawn area all over with a big fork
Scatter some compost over area, particularly the bare patches
Buy some grass seed - Wilko do fast growing seed
Water each day for week then gradually ease off

Oh and for maintenance scarify to get rid of moss before aerating

It doesn't look like they have put down enough grass seed?
I would ask them to come back and sort it.
Thats alot of money to pay do you have a really big garden?

Those seedlings looks like annuals so mowing them should sort them out.

5.3k is a LOT of money. How big is your garden?

How big is the area? That sounds expensive for seed. Have you been watering it regularly? Or has the rain been too heavy and dislodged the seeds?

That is a MASSIVE amount of money for the work done.

My lawn was in a terrible state 2 years ago. I arranged for a company called lawnkeeper to come and maintain it and after a year it looked fabulous. It costs about £25 a visit, 5 times a year, plus £80 for scarification but you'd only have to do that the first and second year.
I'd give up on the company you're currently using. Did you get quotes?

It is quite a big garden, and yes we have been watering regularly. I've added 2 photos and there's another stretch of grass at the back of the house.

They have been back a couple of times to put more grass seed on, but there still are patches.

Thanks for the advise.

These give a better indication of size.

I still think you paid too much but there's not a lot you can do about it now.

Consider getting a lawn service in to treat on a regular basis they come between 4-6 times a year and they are really good. Who does all the mowing? I'd be getting a robot for a lawn that size.

@NotSuchASmugMarriedNow1 we have a neighbour who has a John Deere ride on mower. He does it in no time for £10 a time!

It doesn't look great but long term, you'll have improved what you had. You said your old lawn was full of moss, which indicates a drainage problem. With the landscapers scraping away the old grass and soil and replacing it with fresh topsoil, hopefully the drainage overall will be improved. That's a great start.

Personally I would have wanted turf laying down rather than seeding, but either way you are still inevitably going to see weed seedlings popping up, as a lot of species rely on wind dispersal to spread their seeds. Unfortunately this is just a part of nature and to be expected.

Does your neighbour do applying weed and feed products as well as mowing? If not you could get quotations from a garden maintenance company to do this a few times and see how it goes on? (I'm tempted to do this myself, my newish lawn is now sprinkled with dandelions and other lawn weeds!)

Thanks for all the comments. I found a lawn maintenance company that do 4 treatments a year, £85 each time. The first treatment was done yesterday, so hopefully we'll start to see an improvement soon.

We used green thumb & ours has never looked better. We have the scarification & aeration package which is £13.50 a month.