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Help! Can’t get grass to grow

  • 17-07-2019 3:24pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 543 ✭✭✭Cerocco


    My problem is this. There are areas of my grass in the garden that got damaged by builders. Only small. I covered with compost and planted grass seed. Now I have Fxxker of a cat that is now using said areas as a litter tray so I put wire chicken mesh over these areas and now they aren’t seeding. All I’m looking at is dried out compost with old seed. I do water regularly but him this weather they dry out in hours. Is the meat blocking the sun. She squares are roughly 1” x 1” so the sun is still getting through. I’m at my white end as the bloody cat dug up an area that had grown a bit and deposited a big sxxte for me today. I just want a nice lawn my kids can play on so I can’t use any chemical deterrents for the cat. I tried pepper but as soon as it rains or I water it the pepper is gone. Can anyone advise me on why the grass isn’t growing in the areas or what new seed I can buy and secondly a way to keep the cat away that is child friendly that doesn’t include a shot gun ;o) Thanks


Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ Reed Scruffy Violoncello


    If it dries out that quickly then it isn't being watered enough. Water late evening and give it a long slow soaking.


  • Registered Users Posts: 30,999 ✭✭✭✭Lumen


    If it's only a small area, put an old bed sheet over it. It'll help to stop it drying out. The grass seed doesn't need direct sunlight to germinate.


  • Registered Users Posts: 27,902 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    The areas of grass that were damaged by builders were probably compressed hard till you may as well be planting on concrete. The layer of compost will dry out very fast, and it is not the optimal material for new grass to get going in. Midsummer is not the best time to try and grow grass either, the seed may well have germinated, then died of drought, so no amount of watering will revivie it.

    I suggest you fork over the patches to break up the hard pan of damaged surface (you will be digging in the existing compost as you do it, and this is good). Rake it level and tamp it down a bit - walk across it with little shuffling steps to just compress it a bit. If it looks a bit low still, add a bit of sifted topsoil (you can buy bags, it should not take much), then sow the seed and put the wire back over it to discourage birds and cats. Then water it twice a day, at least.

    You would really have more success with this if you waited a couple of months, but if you are prepared to do the watering - if the weather turns hot do it early morning and late evening - you may get it to take.


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