I really don't know what else to do. I fertilized the lawn, I dropped around 15 bags of compost while I was overseeding. There's been plenty of rain in Cork these days/weeks, and still, my bare spots with seeds are not germinating as much as I was expecting.
Please, can anyone help me 🥺
by Thick_Habit_2082
14 Comments
What seed is it?
I dont know anything, it’s my first year and just 1 ton of top soil on top of new built shitty garden, but my lawn looks exactly the same. So i just removed a thin layer of topsoil patch by patch, put a lot of seeds, cover again and water, patch by patch. Now I have another problem – patches are growing well and very dense and everything else from the first stage of seeding looks balding 😂. Planning to wait a bit and overseed again.
Keep watering 10 minutes, twice a day. 🥺
I’ve been through this last season, it just doesn’t work. You tend to get an great initial grass lawn, but it does back. My thoughts on it, and this isnt scientific, is that the roots just can’t go deep enough to sustain yearly growth. I would imagine that under the new compost, you have a dense clay like soil, roots just can’t penetrate it
What I did, and by no means an easy job, was I dug down 8 inches by hand, and filled back up with enriched topsoil, leveled (not rolled or compacted) and bought top quality rolled grass
Rolled grass in itself has a bad reputation, but that tends to be the stuff in hardware stores that have been harvested weeks before, there are grass harvesting companies around that harvest and delivery same day and when you get it down within 24 hours, the result was remarkable.
I’m in second year of it now and it’s outstanding results
It took me a few years to get a thick lawn. Keep growing, cutting, reseeding now and then, the patches will fill up eventually.
You could try pre germinated seed for the patches. Put seed into a mesh bag (like paint strainer bag). Leave in a bucket of water for 48hrs (change water 2x/day). Remove from bucket after 48hrs and keep an eye on the seed. Immediately when the seed starts to chit, get it down on the bare spots.
There is growth there , believe. Looks moist. More warm weather will help
I covered mine for a few days with breathable mesh that youd use in a roof held down with stones. After 3 or 4 days it germinated but it had been on the ground for a week or 2 before that but definitely covering helped also stopped birds
Like this
https://www.diy.ie/departments/glidevale-type-lr-grey-roofing-felt-underlay-l-20m-w-1m/5028212934017_BQ.prd?irclickid=XJuypWwu8xyZT-c0vG0n9QTvUkuUxm3EtXj41w0&sharedid=&irpid=1812968&utm_source=impact&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_content=&utm_term=1812968&irgwc=1&afsrc=1
I sowed in March and used fleece to cover it for about two weeks as the temps were still low and to stop me from constantly walking on it, it being a pathway and all. It was fairly patchy for a while and I gave it its first cut mid April regardless of the new growth coming through and it definitely helped move it along a bit.
Gave it a second cut today and almost all the bare patches have taken so it’s just a matter of giving it time. I picked up some dwarf white clover seeds that I was thinking might help invest some nitrogen into it over the next year or so and make it greener in general. I know it’s not a large space but the principle is the same.
https://preview.redd.it/86vz5bwmfdzg1.png?width=330&format=png&auto=webp&s=28d205c3568169a0f4a68482c69d917242901206
Looks good to me! Wait a bit longer and then cut and see how it thickens
I remember watching one of the nature show that focussed on how wonderful grass is, think it was an Attenborough series and he’s talking wondrously about how it has spread across the world and can set seed in almost any climate and deal with anything.
Apart from my poxy bastarding bog, I swear I’ve spent more time trying to sort my grass and just when it’s looking ok, Summer ends and the boggening begins again.
Throw down lawn sand it will kill anything but grass
Leave for 2 weeks
Then use a thatcher to remove it or a rake and get anything black out
Then with a fork stab wholes all over if you hit something hard try remove it
Cover the lawn in seed
Cover that with a mix of sand top soil and compost
And water and water and water unless it’s really rainy it should be always moist
Hopefully that helps
God dam wombles are everywhere nowadays,they used to be native to Wimbledon
Honestly I’d take out half the lawn and make a nice deep bed and fill it with plants