"Bob H" wrote in message
.. .

When I was mowing it, usually in the same up/down motions everytime, I
found after a
while that the grass was going a very pale colour and growing
horizontally, in
thickish stems. I then decided to rake it regularly throughout the autumn,
in various
directions, and I pulled out a lot of what seems to have been dead grass.
This has
now left bare patches on my lawn, which I have attempted to repair.

Also, I noticed that the grass grows unevenly. That is to say, there are a
lot of
individual clumps of green grass growing, but then there is a lot of paler
areas
where it doesn't grow very well at all.

I have tried proprietry feed and weed powders each summer to get rid of
the weeds,
but I seem to have done more harm than good here.

We were given a good piece if advice from an old retired gardener who has a
perfect lawn (ours was going a bit like yours) - don't mow the same way
every time. One cut go up and down the lawn, the next cut go from side to
side - that way your mower wheels are not slowly making ruts in the same
place. This improved ours quite a bit.

The dead grass that you raked out is normal, and good for you for doing it
(classed as a boring job in this household). When you get rid of that, the
air can get around the healthy grass and improve it. If you can do that
every autumn and then feed with an autumn feed/bonemeal type product, this
will wash down to your grass roots and give it a good boost over the winter
period, ready for a good start in the spring.

We get greener patches too. We have a big sycamore growing on our perimeter
and I think its roots take a lot of moisture from the grass. Green bits
happen more in the shade of the trellis, and near pots (which continue to
radiate heat at night). We try not to cut the grass too short as it looks
greener all over if its a bit longer (that is, not scalped).

Scalping can also worsen weed problems if the grass is a bit weak. Any scrap
of bare earth (and that can be miniscule to a weed seed) and they're in
there and smothering the grass) The best way to deal with the weeds (and
we've tried many) is to get a little trowel and dig them out. We don't have
many now so it's not so much of a chore - in fact it's quite theraputic just
ousting a little handful on a sunny afternoon (with glass of G & T of
course!)

Best of luck
--A