Lawn advice Now with Pics

[fattony]

Im getting a little fed up with areas of the lawn going brown and not growing, I assume the soil below is not good or maybe there is some concrete under there.

Would I be mad to buy a few tons of top soil and spread it out over the garden then lay down grass seed?

Im only thinking of grass seed as I assume its cheaper then turf?

 

[oilman]

1) Cut the grass longer.

2) Scratch around and sow white clover in the autumn.

3) Use hundreds of gallons of water.

Other than that you just have to accept it's what grass does. It's the way it survives when things dry up.

 

[fattony]

its not just in the heat it goes brown, it just seems to always be like it, the soil in my area is clay like which is why I was thinking of adding some good topsoil then re seeding?

 

[r896neo]

are you sure its not patches of dog ****?

 

[fattony]

dont have a dog and its down one side, not just an odd patch here and there

 

[fattony]

Ok here are some pics of the lawn, different parts grow at different rates and the left hand side hardly grows at all:


This is how most of the left hand side looks close up



Another close up of the left hand side



General View



Another general view



This is not just down to lack of water its always looked like this to a certain extent and I just looked on google and it shows an old picture of my house with a path running down the left hand side. I'm looking for the cheapest method of sorting this out and is re seeding it the way?

 

[oilman]

Previous owners may have had it returfed, and whoever did it left at least the path foundation in. You'll have to dig it out where its brown, see what's underneath and go from there.

If it was a path they may have been using things like Pathclear to suppress weeds. I'm afraid these chemicals are inappropriate in a garden IMO, and should never be used. None of them are entirely safe, and they have unintended consequences.

If you don't find a visible problem, it's probably chemical, and the soil will still have to be dug out. Having said that, my guess it's just rubbish underneath, so that will need removing, and filling with soil.

 

[fattony]

ok thanks for the tips, I have a week off next week so will have a little dig around, would you then seed it or turf it and how would it match the existing grass?

 

[oilman]

I'd seed it with a rye grass/clover mix. Rye is tough, clover makes it green. I'd try and get clover to grow in the rest of it too, and cut it much higher. Don't bother feeding it, it will just need cutting more often.