How To Restore A Lawn?

[Tefler]

In 2017, I had my old lawn lifted, new borders put in, the ground levelled and new turf laid. Since then, I've swept up leaves each week, spiked the lawn and watered it, as instructed by the gardener who did this for me. However... now much of the grass has gone and I've got a quagmire where it used to be - and the first signs of moss growing on the mud.
Possible causes of the difficulties are:
1) The neighbour has a very large tree which blocks out much of the sunshine much of the time
2) We have no path down to the gate or the shed, so we're forced to walk on the grass - shouldn't a lawn be walkable-on, though?

My question, then, is what can I do to restore and keep the lawn? I'm no gardener, so I'd appreciate idiot-proof suggestions!

[murraymints]

I'd reseed ..but too early for now.... possibly the turf did not "take " and simply died on you...always better result from seed....up here around April would be the time...prepare ground by lifting debris ..good raking out..left to dry... then I'd mix a quality of seed with sand ,depending on what use will be..I have ornamental as it is not played on etc by kids, but you may want something hardier with a rye content. A good idea to use a spreader as this will give an even dispersal of seed...keep watered but not overly 'till it starts to show.... most seeds have a bird deterrent element..but if you can string up with lengths containing paper bows ..old Cd's etc....you will get better results than with turf and it is worth the work

[bhg481]

Perhaps you think it's defeatist and not really answering your question but we had a similar problem where part of our lawn was in the shade of our neighbour's house, then his tree and then our own shed, so it never saw sunshine. Nothing we did stopped the moss growing and it always being a mess, so we replaced the grass with gravel. It might not look as nice as grass but it doesn't look as bad as muddy, mossy grass and you can walk on it as much as you like.

[murraymints]

if the lawn grew before..there is no reason why it wont again... think you were just unlucky..perhaps it was turfed at a bad time and just did not get a growing time to establish... or not bedded in properly ? if you have a clay type soil then surface water will always be a problem and top dressing with a sand/fertiliser mix would be advised perhaps 2 or 3 times in a season....

[murraymints]

I don't think recovery is an option..it is a start again !

[alavahalf]

"The neighbour has a very large tree which blocks out much of the sunshine much of the time "

Grass wont thrive in this situation, at this time of the year any shaded area will hold excess moisture and be ideal for growing moss.
In the spring you could apply moss killer and re-seed the area and maybe install stepping slabs across the area.
Once the weather warms up and the ground dries out a little. I would rake the surface before re-seeding. If the grass grew there before, it should really grow again.
In theory it should grow even better as you have improved the drainage by adding another layer of turf on top of the existing one.
The only other thing I could suggest is you approach the neighbour with the tall tree and advise them of your problem and suggest a cropping of the tree.

Failing that then you are left with astro turf as a solution. Provided the area is prepared properly, this can look really good ... or really bad if not done properly.

[Chipchopper]

The root of the problem appears to be down to poor drainage, so firstly, that needs sorting out.
Once thats done select a shade tolerant grass seed / turf.
maybe some stepping stones ?

[Chipchopper]

To achieve best results, I'd have it hollothew tined, dipose of the plugs, then rake lawn sand into the holes.

[woofgang]

If its a bog there is one answer which is to improve the drainage. hollow tining and gravel or sand will only get you so far, the best answer is to install french drains then reseed or turf with a grass that will flourish in shade.

[woofgang]

my next door neighbour has fake turfed her small front garden, it looks stunning.

[Chipchopper]

Just an afterthought that occurred to me. but has the ground been checked for possible leaks ?