Lawn Repair: A Case Study
We thought it would be useful for anyone wanting to learn more about lawn care to write a case study on one of our first customer's lawns. A little bit of background information. One of our first ten customers, Mike, had a lawn care company come round and apply fertiliser to his lawn. Unfortunately, within a few days it was clear this had been overapplied to the lawn as it ended up being scorched, leaving behind dead grass which would take several weeks to repair.
Finding The Lawn Pack
This is when Mike found our company online and decided to take his lawn care into his own hands, allowing him to learn more about lawn maintenance but also understand what products the lawn required. We've heard time and time again that home owners have no idea what some lawn care professionals are doing to their lawn, and more often than not are just not seeing the results they hoped for.
Taking back control: the first step
Mike knew he wanted to fix his patchy grass and trusted our pack and advice to carry out the lawn repair. The first thing he needed to do was to fully scarify the lawn back to soil and healthy grass. Once grass has been heavily scorched by fertiliser it is very unlikely it will come back to full health. You can use a garden rake to scarify if you do not have too much damage or lots of thatch. Otherwise, we would recommend using a scarifying machine for the best results.
The scary part of scarifying is that initially your lawn can look worse than when you began with large bare patches but starting with a patchy lawn is actually a great starting point. To fix patchy grass you will be able to apply our pack which includes a durable seed mix to the existing soil and surrounding lawn. Sowing seed to produce new grass plants to get back your healthy lawn.
A great starting point
Now Mike had followed our guidance and carried out the initial prep work needed and had removed the damaged area. He began to apply our pack. He decided to use a thin layer of topsoil to improve the seed to soil contact which is vital to ensure the seeds germinate. He applied the grass seed onto the top dressing and gave it a light rake. Then he followed up with the rest of the products in our pack, all chosen to improve the germination process and improve the overall health of the entire lawn.
Timing
Mike actually began his lawn transformation in March, which is right at the start of the growing period. We recommend to wait until temperatures stay consistently above 10 degrees and the chance of frost is at pretty much zero. However, you can seed using our pack in spring, summer and early autumn.
Watering
Mike began to water gently twice a day for the first two weeks, using a fine mist as not to disturb the seeds. It is vital that you follow our watering requirements to ensure that the seeds germinate! This is when Mike began to see the first signs of germinating seeds across the whole lawn.After the first two weeks, Mike began to water less frequently and more heavily. Here is a picture from the midway point of Mike's journey.
Mowing
The new turf had reached around 5-8cm when Mike was able to begin mowing. The bare areas were now full of grass and had began to nicely thicken out. Mowing regularly is very important and will continue to promote lawn thickness. As you can see from this picture, Mike had saved his garden and was now able to enjoy a healthy, lush lawn in the sun.
Maintenance
Now all Mike needed to do is maintain his lawn, with regular mowing and he also chose to use our Winter Protection Pack which has vital nutrients for the winter period. We currently offer our Winter Protection Pack and Spring/Summer Booster Pack for the regular maintenance of your lawn.
Your next steps
Ensure to remove any weeds prior, we recommend Weedol For Lawns 8 weeks prior to the pack.
If you have any moss, both packs come with our Deeper Green Iron Sulphate which you can apply two weeks prior, wait for it to turn black and then rake it out.
If you are suffering from drainage issues or compaction then aeration would be really helpful - a budget version of this is lightly fork the lawn. However, we would always recommend an aerator for the job.
Get in touch
We are active on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Email so if you aren't sure where to start or would like some advice/have a question then hit us up on any of them and a member of our team will be in touch!Repair your lawn with The Lawn Pack or The Lawn Pack Plus which has double the amount of grass seed for totally re seeding a bare lawn.So if you want to get your lawn to the same level as Mike's, don't hesitate to start your journey!