How To Fix A Patchy Lawn (And Turn It Into A Green Carpet)
As you stare wistfully out into your garden, you remember the days when a gorgeous green carpet shone back at you. Whatever happened to that version of your lawn? Time (and other factors) have caused the grass to fade away in places, leaving you with an extremely patchy lawn. It takes away from your garden’s natural beauty – but is there a way to reconcile things?
Can you transform a patchy lawn back into a luxurious green carpet?
Yes! It takes a bit of time and effort, but you can do this. You’ll learn how in this post, and the best way to start is by understanding why your lawn turned patchy in the first place.
What Causes a Patchy Lawn?
Unfortunately, a whole host of things can make your lawn look less like a carpet and more like a baron desert. Some of the most common include:
- Foot Traffic – Excessive foot traffic will ruin your lawn as it means grass gets trampled. The trampled grass then dies and leaves patches, which is a particular problem when you’ve got young kids who love playing in the garden. If this is your issue, then maybe it’s best to switch to a synthetic lawn instead.
- Heavy Items On The Lawn – Do you place lots of heavy items on your lawn? Perhaps you have lots of durable garden furniture that lives on the grass. If that’s the case, you should try to move the furniture onto a patio or decking. It could be worth installing either if you don’t already have one.
- A Lack Of Moisture – Not watering your lawn regularly will cause patches to appear. Grass needs moisture to grow, so areas without a lot of this are prone to turn brown and patchy.
- Poor Mowing Techniques – If you cut your grass too short, it can ‘scalp’ the lawn and create these nasty patches. This is because you’re pulling the grass from its root and killing it, which thins out certain areas and causes the baldness you see.
- Bad Soil – The quality of your soil will always lead to patchy grass problems. Low-quality soil won’t contain the nutrients grass needs to grow. Likewise, compacted soil is too dense and prevents water absorption. Both issues lead to dead grass and horrible patches.
- Excessive Weed Growth – When your grass contains too many weeds, it tends to turn patchy. This is down to a couple of issues. Firstly, weeds attract pests, which can eat the area and cause patches. Secondly, you tend to use weed killer to remove the weeds, which means you’re spraying chemicals on your grass and killing the surrounding areas.
- Too Much Fertiliser – You should fertilise your lawn to keep it healthy, but applying too much will burn the grass and cause those nasty patches you’re looking at right now.
How To Fix a Patchy Lawn
Your first job is to figure out what’s causing the patchy lawn. Which of the things above do you think is your problem? Whatever it is, make sure it stops causing issues. For things like high foot traffic or heavy items, you should make your lawn a no-go zone until it gets better.
Then, it’s a case of following some of these techniques:
Prepare The Patchy Area
Kick things off by preparing the patchy area of grass for some emergency surgery. This sounds more complicated than it is – all you need to do is remove debris from the area and loosen the soil. If there are any weeds in the area, then be sure to remove them without using any harmful chemicals.
Loosening the soil is the only slightly difficult task. To do this, you should get a lawn aerator. They come in all shapes and sizes, and you can buy some basic ones online for under £30. The goal is to break apart the soil so it’s not overly compact. This makes it easier for the soil to absorb water and nutrients; in some cases, aerating your lawn and giving it some water will solve the patchy issue on its own!
At the end of this step, you should have a neatly prepared area of lawn to work on.
Lay Down Some New Grass Seed
Your lawn turns patchy because grass has died in some areas. Unlike male-pattern baldness, grass patchiness can be reversed! You simply need to lay down some new grass seed, and the bright green blades will soon start sprouting.
The key thing here is to get the right seed for your lawn. You must pick a seed that matches your lawn type and suits your weather climate. If you’re unsure, I recommend heading down to your local gardening centre or speaking to a lawn care expert, and they’ll point you in the right direction.
When laying the seeds down, make sure they are spread evenly. This will prevent loads of grass from growing in one part and none in another.
Feed The Lawn
It’s time to feed your patchy lawn.
This step involves spreading fertiliser on your lawn to encourage it to ingest vital nutrients. Experts also recommend Carbonizpn-G Granular Biochar, which is a type of biostimulant to use alongside the fertiliser. If you don’t know what a biostimulant is, then the best description is that it helps the fertiliser work better. It’ll improve your lawn’s ability to uptake nutrients, so the fertiliser becomes more effective.
Feed your lawn with both types of products, and it can start gaining all the vital nutrients it needs to grow thick and strong.
Follow A Regular Watering Routine
Water helps transport all those vital nutrients while also contributing to photosynthesis. In other words, a lawn that doesn’t get enough water will die. That’s probably why a lot of you see patchy lawns after the summer – extra sunlight and less rainfall will dry out your lawn and kill the grass.
Thankfully, dried lawns are the easiest to recover because you just need to water them!
You also need to follow a strict watering routine when trying to revive dead grass patches, especially after laying seeds. As mentioned, water will ensure the grass gets all the nutrients from the fertiliser and soil, allowing each blade to grow quicker.
From there, you should keep up with a consistent watering routine to ensure your lawn doesn’t dry out again. The amount you water your lawn depends on the weather conditions, but it’s kind of intuitive. If it rains heavily, then don’t water your lawn until it dries out. If there’s no rain, then you’ll need to water your lawn almost every day – especially during the summer.
Protect The Area
At this point, you’ll have a patchy area of lawn that’s ready to thrive. Unfortunately, certain things might try to stop this from happening – like birds and debris. Protect this portion of your lawn with a net – or any other type of lawn protection system you can find – and it gives it time to recover in peace. There are so many options to make life easier, if you search up robot lawn mower Australia you will see so many solutions!
Prevent Future Patchiness
After your lawn grows back and looks absolutely gorgeous, you should work on preventing future patchiness. Again, think back to what caused your patchy areas and prevent the same issues from occurring.
One of the best ways to maintain a lovely green lawn is by mowing it regularly. Cut the grass once every 3-14 days, depending on the weather – and make sure you only take a third off each time. This allows it to grow better and prevents weed growth.
And so, after this long journey, you’ve turned a patchy lawn into a beautiful work of art. It looks like a green carpet once more and becomes the pride and joy of your garden.
