The main causes of dead spots in your lawn

English football lawn or turf is a rather frequently discussed topic of today. No wonder, a beautiful grass around any house looks great and offers a pleasant environment where you can lay down and be lazy. But to grow a perfect lawn you need regular watering – or better yet an irrigation system. One may say that only people who have installed grass patches and have automatic irrigation system are able to grow perfect lawn. Well, not everyone needs a perfect English lawn and we should try to preserve water as much as possible! Nevertheless, no one wants dead spots in their lawn. So how these dead spots arise and what should we do to avoid them?

Close proximity to concrete

If you have a lawn near a concrete curb, your lawn will dry more easily. This is because when the sun shines on concrete blocks they warm-up quickly and may reach very high temperatures. Concrete curb are cemented together and therefore they leave smaller amount of soil left for your lawn to grow and it dries out much quicker. So, especially in situations like that you need the irrigation system and you need to run it during hot days, otherwise your lawn will suffer.

Photo: Radek Štěpán

Overhang roof

Often grass does not grow well near a house or building. This is due to a roof overhang, which prevents rain from reaching the ground. As a result, the lawn does not get enough moisture and fades away. The solution is the same – watering.

Too much fertilizer

If you fertilize your lawn and do not use a dosage measuring unit, chances are that you will spread the fertilizer unevenly. This creates spots that literally burn the lawn. In this case, you need to loosen the soil again and saw new grass. If you do, grass should grow again.

Photo: Radek Štěpán

Poor quality seed

Are you buying the cheapest grass seeds? Well keep in mind that grass may grow but the quality will be poor . Thin grass dries fast as soon as high-temperatures hit. This poor quality issue also applies to grass patches, which are usually grown from low-quality grass seeds.

Lazy sowing approach

That is how we call a “sowing method” when you just throw seeds over dead spots. If you do and your seeds actually sprout, consider it a miracle. The ideal sowing way is to mix high-quality grass seeds with soil, then slightly compact the surface and water well using water that has been sitting for a while. Best is to sow grass before rainy season and success should be almost guaranteed.

Photo: Radek Štěpán