Bare Lawn

masonsmum

I am hoping to get some advice on getting my lawn into good condition, we paid a company to come in and turf a large area in our back garden 3 years ago, over time it has just got barer and barer.

The soil is very compacted and any water just seems to run off it, can anyone offer any advice on the best steps I can follow to get a nice healthy lawn again?

marlot

The company who did mine spent about four to five times as long preparing as they did actually laying the turf. If the soil is not rotovated to at least 150mm then the turf will always struggle in my opinion.

In my case, we dug some drainage ditches much deeper as I was having drainage issues.

MrsAtobe

How large is a 'large area'?

We're in a new build with a dog, so we've also got a compacted lawn. We've got 100sq m, which is why I'm asking. Here's what we are going to do, hope it helps.

Aerate the lawn. Basically making small holes in it, you can either buy an aerator, or just use a garden fork.
Brush sand over it. Get some lawn sand, spread over the lawn. This will aid drainage.
Apply some weed and feed, with moss killer if you have moss. Most badly drained lawns will have moss in them. Wait until the moss dies, and then rake over the entire lawn (this is called scarification, BTW, nothing to be scared about!).
Mow the lawn when it needs it, if you have any bare patches (and no dogs) then reseed them.

It is hard work when you do it manually, and if we had a bigger lawn, then I would seriously consider getting someone in to do it.