On 05/02/2016 16:56, wrote:
I was sent over here from uk.d-i-y in the hope that you might be able to help me...

In June 2014 I removed the patio and subbase from our back garden and replaced it with Rolawn's Medallion turf sat

on approx 6-8 inches of their Blended Loam topsoil. Underneath this was
the original heavy clay subsoil. Here's how things

looked once laid:

http://www.newtonnet.co.uk/permanent/lawn-jun2014.jpg

A year later it was still going strong:

http://www.newtonnet.co.uk/permanent/lawn-aug2015.jpg

However, the past few months have been a different story and we now have this shocking sight:

http://www.newtonnet.co.uk/permanent/lawn1-feb2016.jpg
http://www.newtonnet.co.uk/permanent/lawn2-feb2016.jpg
http://www.newtonnet.co.uk/permanent/lawn3-feb2016.jpg
http://www.newtonnet.co.uk/permanent/lawn4-feb2016.jpg

Does anyone have any idea what has happened?

As you can hopefully make out, there do not appear to be any weeds or moss but rather the grass has seemingly disappeared.

Note also that some areas (in the last photo) are still relatively
lush in appearance.

We have always had some issues with earth worms and last year I was sweeping away casts regularly. Could this be it?

I am assuming that I will ultimately end up reseeding, or at least overseeding, however I am keen to ensure that I

understand what has happened and how to prevent it reoccurring.

At the risk of biassing the diagnosis I thought I should share one thing with you: Last year I noticed that whenever I

removed the odd weed that appeared in-between mowings I often

found a 10-15mm long grub at the root of it. I thought nothing of this
fact at the time however I have just been reading

about leatherjackets and what damage they can do to a lawn. I can't help
but wonder if that's what these grubs were and


indeed if this is what has led to my loss? (And I really do mean loss -
am feeling pretty sad at what has happened given how much effort it took
for me to replace the previous completely-patio'd garden with a lawn!).


Any thoughts and/or suggestions?

Mathew

You don't say where about you are in the country.
Some parts of the UK have hardly had a dry day since the beginning of
October so waterloging could be a large part of the problem esp as you
say you have underlying clay.
Q. Is this a pan of clay or is it a deep layer that you cant break
through?
Q. Do you have water lying on the lawn after heavy rain?
Q. After prolonged rain can you walk on the grass without feeling as
if you are going to sink into the ground?
Q. Do you have dogs or children playing on the grass?