"Neil" wrote in message
...

Over the last 4-5 weeks my rectangular, suburbian, lawn has been badly
deteriorating in the four corners. It'd been in place on a new estate
since May 2005 when we moved in; didn't have the same problems last
winter,
and has been looked after by me.

The grass has gone really thin in a triangular area in each corner, and I
can see a lot of little mud spirals on the surface instead. The areas
affected are visibly growing each week.

I know that our whole estate suffers from leather-jackets, but from what I
read about that, this is the wrong time of year to see a problem from
that.

On three of the four cormers, there is either a brick wall or 6' fence
abbutting the grass.

I had problems of thin weak lawn that was constantly under attack from moss
and the like. It boiled down to winter conditions of lack of sunlight,
constantly damp conditions (not surface water as the soil drains well but
dews etc never drying out) and foot traffic. After several attempts to
remedy the situation I turned that areas in to far more productive paths and
raised vege gardens.

rob