Hi,

Just moved into a new house after a lengthy contract exchange. During the time taken from signing for the house, and moving in, the lawn (which appeared fine when we bought it) had grown to the point where it was over 30/40cm in height.

After cutting this, and an extensive rain (so the ground shouldn't have dried out, we are left with the lawn as shown in the attachement.

The large baron/brown patch to the left was like this when the rest of the lawn was 30/40cm in height, but once all cut to the same height, we can see more areas of concern.

Can anyone let me know what has happened to it? It looks quite sorry for itself and I don't know where to start, short of having to re-turf it all.

Many thanks for any advice!

Hi,

Just moved into a new house after a lengthy contract exchange. During
the time taken from signing for the house, and moving in, the lawn
(which appeared fine when we bought it) had grown to the point where it
was over 30/40cm in height.

After cutting this, and an extensive rain (so the ground shouldn't have
dried out, we are left with the lawn as shown in the attachement.

The large baron/brown patch to the left was like this when the rest of
the lawn was 30/40cm in height, but once all cut to the same height, we
can see more areas of concern.

Can anyone let me know what has happened to it? It looks quite sorry for
itself and I don't know where to start, short of having to re-turf it
all.


Go back to the seller and ask them to fix it. The house you agreed to buy
had a full lawn. Its the same as any other aspect of the house after all you
would not accept half the roof missing when you move in so why accept half
the lawn?

Mike

On 16/07/2012 17:21, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-07-16 13:15:43 +0100, SparkyUK
said:


Hi,

Just moved into a new house after a lengthy contract exchange. During
the time taken from signing for the house, and moving in, the lawn
(which appeared fine when we bought it) had grown to the point where it
was over 30/40cm in height.
snip

Is it a new house as in newly built? If that's the case, or indeed, if a
lot of renovations/alterations have been done, is it possible builders
have left rubble and general gunge in that area and someone has simply
sown seed over the top? And have you also checked that particular area
isn't more wet or boggy generally than other parts of the lawn? If it's
not draining properly, that might be doing this. Is it a newly sown lawn
and was there a prolonged dry spell, if so? If it wasn't watered when
new, that could cause problems.



I would also add to that the possiblity of 'dog' troubles - either bitch
or vixen. The fence is quite high, so more likely a fox which is able
to take such a fence in its stride. I suggest this because I see
something remarkably like a bone in the left foreground.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

On 16/07/2012 18:23, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-07-16 17:51:15 +0100, Spider said:

On 16/07/2012 17:21, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-07-16 13:15:43 +0100, SparkyUK
said:


Hi,

Just moved into a new house after a lengthy contract exchange. During
the time taken from signing for the house, and moving in, the lawn
(which appeared fine when we bought it) had grown to the point where it
was over 30/40cm in height.
snip

Is it a new house as in newly built? If that's the case, or indeed, if a
lot of renovations/alterations have been done, is it possible builders
have left rubble and general gunge in that area and someone has simply
sown seed over the top? And have you also checked that particular area
isn't more wet or boggy generally than other parts of the lawn? If it's
not draining properly, that might be doing this. Is it a newly sown lawn
and was there a prolonged dry spell, if so? If it wasn't watered when
new, that could cause problems.



I would also add to that the possiblity of 'dog' troubles - either
bitch or vixen. The fence is quite high, so more likely a fox which is
able to take such a fence in its stride. I suggest this because I see
something remarkably like a bone in the left foreground.

Time for new specs - I thought it was a bit of hosepipe!


I've never seen a white hosepipe. Perhaps you should take a colour
blindness test, while you're at it! :~))

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

"Spider" wrote in message
...




I would also add to that the possiblity of 'dog' troubles - either bitch
or vixen. The fence is quite high, so more likely a fox which is able to
take such a fence in its stride. I suggest this because I see something
remarkably like a bone in the left foreground.

--
Spider

I don't know what the cause is, looks like previous flooding. It definltely
isn't bitch/vixen damage as this would be spot burning on a lawn. Unless
all the vixens/bitches in the world have peed on that lawn for 50 years this
is not the cause for the damage I see.

In article ,
says...

"Spider" wrote in message
...




I would also add to that the possiblity of 'dog' troubles - either bitch
or vixen. The fence is quite high, so more likely a fox which is able to
take such a fence in its stride. I suggest this because I see something
remarkably like a bone in the left foreground.

--
Spider

I don't know what the cause is, looks like previous flooding. It definltely
isn't bitch/vixen damage as this would be spot burning on a lawn. Unless
all the vixens/bitches in the world have peed on that lawn for 50 years this
is not the cause for the damage I see.

I agree.

I suspect that a brand new lawn (turf or seed) is not robust enough to
withstand the shading/smothering effect of over 40 cm uncut growth. So
parts died.

If that's all that went wrong, it should recover in time; either slowly
as the grassy patches tiller out and spread into the bald patches, or
faster if you scatter lawnseed mixed in some fine compost.

Janet

On 16/07/2012 22:29, Spider wrote:
On 16/07/2012 18:23, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-07-16 17:51:15 +0100, Spider said:

On 16/07/2012 17:21, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-07-16 13:15:43 +0100, SparkyUK
said:


Hi,

Just moved into a new house after a lengthy contract exchange. During
the time taken from signing for the house, and moving in, the lawn
(which appeared fine when we bought it) had grown to the point
where it
was over 30/40cm in height.
snip

Is it a new house as in newly built? If that's the case, or indeed,
if a
lot of renovations/alterations have been done, is it possible builders
have left rubble and general gunge in that area and someone has simply
sown seed over the top? And have you also checked that particular area
isn't more wet or boggy generally than other parts of the lawn? If it's
not draining properly, that might be doing this. Is it a newly sown
lawn
and was there a prolonged dry spell, if so? If it wasn't watered when
new, that could cause problems.



I would also add to that the possiblity of 'dog' troubles - either
bitch or vixen. The fence is quite high, so more likely a fox which is
able to take such a fence in its stride. I suggest this because I see
something remarkably like a bone in the left foreground.

Time for new specs - I thought it was a bit of hosepipe!


I've never seen a white hosepipe. Perhaps you should take a colour
blindness test, while you're at it! :~))

Probably a faded yellow hose, but you get white hose on washing
machines, and after all all you can see is a few inches of it.

"Christina Websell" wrote in
:


"Spider" wrote in message
...




I would also add to that the possiblity of 'dog' troubles - either
bitch or vixen. The fence is quite high, so more likely a fox which
is able to take such a fence in its stride. I suggest this because I
see something remarkably like a bone in the left foreground.

--
Spider

I don't know what the cause is, looks like previous flooding. It
definltely isn't bitch/vixen damage as this would be spot burning on a
lawn. Unless all the vixens/bitches in the world have peed on that
lawn for 50 years this is not the cause for the damage I see.




Is it just me, or are the sods in-line.
Is it grass?

Baz

On 16/07/2012 13:15, SparkyUK wrote:
Hi,

Just moved into a new house after a lengthy contract exchange. During
the time taken from signing for the house, and moving in, the lawn
(which appeared fine when we bought it) had grown to the point where it
was over 30/40cm in height.

After cutting this, and an extensive rain (so the ground shouldn't have
dried out, we are left with the lawn as shown in the attachement.

The large baron/brown patch to the left was like this when the rest of
the lawn was 30/40cm in height, but once all cut to the same height, we
can see more areas of concern.

Can anyone let me know what has happened to it? It looks quite sorry for
itself and I don't know where to start, short of having to re-turf it
all.

Many thanks for any advice!


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|Download: http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=15160|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+



It looks to me as if the grass was left on the ground after cutting and
instead of drying it turned to mush and rotter#d off all but the tougher
grasses like Rye Grass.
If it dries then cut it close and collect the grass, sow fresh seed over
the whole area, give it a top dressing of coarse sand, then Water it
well (I did say IF it dries out.
If you can get hold of a cylinder mower for the next few months to give
the new grass a chance, and not to pull it up by the roots when you
first cut then you may well have a good lawn for next year.
David @ the wet end of Swansea Bay where we had well over an inch of
rain late night into the morning. The track was a river.

Thanks for all the replies, apologies for not getting back sooner.

The lawn is appearing in clumps as suggested, quite evenly distributed. Some parts (out of sight on that photo) are okay, but not great. The grass that remains is very course to the touch.

The house is brand new, on a new development, and the 4 houses yet to be occupied also have hideously long lawns now, too.

The excessive rain we've been having has clearly fuelled the growth spurt, as the house builder said they'd been maintaining the lawns. It was around 6 weeks where it was left to do it's own thing and something hasn't gone well.

I will investigate if there is rubble or debris under the soil where the lawn once was. The ground is fairly wet still, but drying out.

The front lawn is showing similar issues. The tops of the blades of grass are green, but lower down the blade it's yellow and damp - I've trimmed back quite aggressively, and raked the lawn to remove anything dead. I've probably done harm, but couldn't see it being any worse.

I'll also look into some seed and sand to improve it. I've never felt such a rough lawn before - is there a risk of me getting seed that develops different variants of colour/patches?

Yes, they are in a line, and evenly spaced out.