New lawn traetments

[kelfoan]

I laid new turf in February this year. It has taken quite well but needs thickening in a few patches. Alot of the lawn treatments state 'not to be used on lawns within 1st 12 months'. Is there any tips on how to thicken the lawn this year

[Thunderbird+]

Buy some appropriate grass seed,ie fine lawn, hard-wearing, shady areas etc, mix it up in a bucket of compost containing, a few hand-fulls of silver sand may help too.

Scarify the sparse patches with a wire rake, apply you seed/ compost mix, then cover the patch with a piece of convex chicken wire, water with a watering can fited with a rose and keep it watered as nessessary. Good Luck.

[Thunderbird+]

I meant to say containing loam

[Clanad]

At least here in the U.S., all lawn fertilizers have three numbers in their make-up. Something like 22-12-18. The first number is indicative of the nitrogen content. You should be able to find a fertilizer that has all numbers below 15, but pay particular attention to that fist one and keep it a low number... at least 12 or lower. Apply at a rate of less than 3 pounds per 1,000 square feet. This will make a good top dressing for your new lawn but have little chance of burning it due to high nitrogen. As with any new sod be sure it gets a lot of water... at least an inch per week...

[WendyS]

I'd be tempted to thicken up the bare patches by loosening the earth,scattering grass seed and covering lightly with compost and watering in. Grass is very resilient and am sure you will soon find that your lawn is looking fine.