Lawn maintanance

[EssexBreeze]

Hi everybody,
My lawn is a mess. I laid new turf 6 months ago and it was coming on fine. i took my time to mow it when the rain started and when i eventually mowed it I found the delicate fine grass ahd died and i was left with a lawn full of coarse grass and it looks like a few spikes of hair on a bald head.
What can I do to renovate it?
I was thinking on sprinkling some seeds and fertiliser. Is this the right time to do it?
Cheers

[mikew1972]

Wait until March / April when danger of frosts has passed. Any seed spread now will either rot or be eaten by the birds. You might be surprised how it greens up by the end of April as long as you do not walk on it while the ground is so wet and its not growing.

[Geewizz]

Some pictures would help to identify the source of your problems. From your description it sounds like your turf was laid on an inappropriate soil base. I get a lot of jobs where someone has laid turf and it has died after 6 months. I pull back the turf and find that it was laid directly onto the old lawn or onto peat compost.
The preparation of the soil below is very important. Spreading seed and fertiliser on dead turf is a waste of time. If the turf didn't take then the seed won't either.

Post some pics and a description of how you prepared the ground before laying and we'll take it from there.

[EssexBreeze]

Hi,
Sorry for the delay in getting back. I spent a weekend digging the thing up and getting rid of stones and weeds and laying it absolutely bare prior to laying the turf. There obviously a few roots left which have crept up now. I did the same to the front lawn and that came out fine.
I have uploaded a picture of the lawn. Looks awful I must admit. What should I do now?
Also, how do i get rid of those weeds? Every time I take them out they just come back after a month.

Doc1.doc

(1.53 MiB) Downloaded 162 times

This was the only way i could upload the picture. It is on a MS Word document. It would not allow me to upload the pic and I havent the foggiest how to decrease the resolution.

[thescruff]

Pics that are not so close up show a better picture.

[Geewizz]

That needs lifting and re-turfing, I'm afraid. If your soil preperation was perfect then it is most likely that you left it to grow too long before mowing and either killed the grass by cutting it back too hard or it flowered and died before you had a chance to mow it. More likely it was a combination of both. Other possibilities are that the turf didn't get enough water to allow the roots to feed and grow before they got into the soil below the turf, and it's also possible that your turf was overwatered and developed mould which killed the grass.
Nearly a year down the line, it's difficult to discern the causes from a single, tight photo of the remains. The photo doesn't show any potential shade, year-round conditions, drainage, the condition of the turf after it was laid or your mower.

The upshot is that you have no choice but to lift the dead turf and start again. It might be worth getting the experts in this time and getting them to have a look before you spend more money on turf. A proper assessment of the garden can't be done from a single photo. A full assessment will allow someone to pinpoint problems and advise you on the correct procedures to overcome them. You'll also get a recommendation of the best turf to be laying for your lawn. General purpose turf has a mix of grasses which are suitable for the average lawn. Sometimes you need to get a turf which has a more specialised mix of grasses for a particular use or situation.