New Lawn problems

movingon

Hi, Hope this is the correct thread, but I am a bit desperate and total gardening novice.

Long story short, I have a south facing lawn approx 8 x 13 metres which is is full sun in the afternoon. I employed a recommended guy to take it up and replace, which he did last Thurs 9th May. Well, his two subbies did the work, he kept disappearing all day. They had to use a mini digger and they laid 4 tonnes of top soil first, then laid the grass down. It was raining at the time.

Head Honcho came back and told me not to walk on it and water it twice a day if it did not rain. When he asked me what I thought of it, I queried some dips in it and some bits where it did not seem to be meeting together. He got annoyed with me and started to tell me how much he was out of pocket on the job, and that it would all knit together over time .

I have done that, but it is very brown in a lot of patchy areas. I called him and he came round yesterday and told me that sometimes when they put top soil down, pockets form in the soil because it settles, and the turft roots cant access the soil. He said he might have to redo it if it doesn't settle down.

Later in the evening, I received a call from him, telling me that on reflection he feels it is my fault as I havent watered it enough.

It cost a lot of money. I'm gutted. I cant see how I might have any redress here with him, as I cant prove what I have or havent done. Is there anything I can do at this stage to retrieve it, or any other advise anyone might have.

Pic Added
Thank you in advance

Boohoo

From the photo it looks ok.


How much watering have you done and what did you use to water the lawn?


I would invest in a sprinkler and leave it running for an hour a day and move it all over the lawn so the whole lawn is watered evenly.


If after a week it still looks the same or worse then call the "recommended guy" back and see what he things of it and then take it from there. New lawns do need a lot watering for them to bed in and grow and as you know don't walk on them but you can put boards down and use them to spread your weight about.

Mr.Generous

That will be fine, grass is extremely resilient and hard to kill. Hot weather is not a good time to lay a new lawn it needs to grow roots. Turf is cut very shallow compared to a few years ago so not much depth of roots. New turf can yellow in 2 days during hot weather if its not watered properly.

Mojisola

movingon wrote: »

Head Honcho came back and told me not to walk on it and water it twice a day if it did not rain. When he asked me what I thought of it, I queried some dips in it and some bits where it did not seem to be meeting together.

he came round yesterday and told me that sometimes when they put top soil down, pockets form in the soil because it settles, and the turft roots cant access the soil.

There's no excuse for not firming up the newly-laid topsoil and leveling it properly before laying the turf!

I would also suggest that watering twice a day isn't good advice - one good soak, long enough that the water gets right into the soil is far better than several shorter waterings.

However, grass is very resilient - give it a bit more time and it should green up. You may have to sort out any dips yourself as your gardener doesn't sound willing to rectify.

movingon

Thanks everyone.
I have been watering twice a day with a sprinkler for an hour each time, but on reflection that was not the right thing to do when it was very hot last week.

Head Honcho is refusing to offer any further assistance and denying what he told me initially yesterday morning about the pockets, and putting the blame soley on me. He has told me to continue watering twice a day if it does not rain, and now said it is ok to walk on it, so I can move my sprinkler along (as the sprinkler is too small for the entire length of grass).

Do you think from the advice given so far, I would be better off
a) Not standing directly on it
b) Watering once a day, saturating with a pressure washer spray?

-taff

I'm not sure that a sprinkler will cut it for an hour each day, especially if you have to move it. When you grow pretty much anything that needs water [so not a succulent] if you just water the top few mm the roots don't grow down to find it. You need to thoroughly soak the earth underneath, not just the first couple of mm.
You can use the want attachment to deliver the water as long as it's set to the highest spread and you don't aim it at the grass.

Mojisola

movingon wrote: »

b) Watering once a day, saturating with a pressure washer spray?

-taff wrote: »

You can use the want attachment to deliver the water as long as it's set to the highest spread and you don't aim it at the grass.

This ^

If you're not careful with a pressure washer, you'll lift the turf and wreck the lawn!

If the sprinkler overlaps any of the flower beds, you can dig down and see how far the water has got into the soil after an hour - it likely won't be enough.

Justagardener

All the advice given is good, it will recover. Shame though when you spend the money for an instant lawn.
Out of interest, looking at the picture, the right hand side doesn't look to bad. Would the area on the left be west facing?...if so it might have suffered more than the east facing side and that would answer your question. It always helps to put a cup under the sprinkler to see how much water does actually fall. It's surprising how long it takes to fill a cup and therefore how much goes into the ground.

Justagardener

All the advice given is good, it will recover. Shame though when you spend the money for an instant lawn.
Out of interest, looking at the picture, the right hand side doesn't look too bad. Would the area on the left be west facing?...if so it might have suffered more than the east facing side and that would answer your question. It always helps to put a cup under the sprinkler to see how much water does actually fall. It's surprising how long it takes to fill a cup and therefore how much goes into the ground.

Lorian

Did it look healthy when they laid it?
have you cut it?
Where did the turf come from? I'd be asking their opinion.

London50

Like the OP last year we moved into our first house with a garden {after 50+ years in flats} I spent weeks removing the jungle outside{including what seemed like miles of brambles woven into the lawn} and ordered turf to lay.
In the end due to many jobs to be done inside and out the turfs were finally laid just at the start of our heatwave summer and watered it daily . For weeks I could see gaps,yellowing patches ect but slowly {over a month or so it knitted together and the yellow patches turned green.While my area is nowhere near the size of the OP's it has worked out well,ok yes there are a few lumps and bumps in the lawn but as a novice gardener I know my limits {and what I could afford} so I will put up with the mistakes I made and as much as I worried that I would never have a fair lawn area I am pleased with the way it bedded in and now looks many times better than just under a year ago.
Hopefully given time the OP's lawn will at least loose the yellow patches and they will have a lawn to be proud of. :0)