My boyfriend went to de weed the grass and it spread lots, we have loads of dead grass circles everywhere now! Its a rented property and im really worrying what the landlord will say about it when we next speak to him.
This is our first ever garden and we were really looking forward to making it pretty.
We really dont know what to do, we are trying to water it, not sure if that will actually help.
Please someone give us some advice on what to do!
Thank you

Hi Smiley, You dont say what he used ? but assuming it was one of the modern weedkillers like 'roundup' the one good thing about most of these is that as soon as they touch the soil they are inactivated and are rendered harmless unlike the older chemicals which oured the ground for 6 months !
Ok, what i would suggest is that you buy yourself a very fine sieve, ideally about 1/4" mesh and one of those 'fish tail' type scarifiers, like a wire rake in the shape of a fan ?? Next, sieve some soil and also some peat and add some very fine sand as well, it doesnt really matter about proportions but roughly, equal parts peat and garden soil and sand, mix this together. Get some grass seed, if the lawn is quite good then get some that is without ryegrass, B & Q or any hardeware store will sell it !
First thing to do is to vigorously scratch the soil where the patches are just to scratch the surface, lightly scatter the grass seed on this scratched surface, dont be tempted to think if you put it on thick it will be better, it wont, to give you a guide about a handfull to a square yard is about right. When you have sown the seed, use your mixture to LIGHTLY cover it, a 1/4" deep layer is what your aiming for, just enough to cover the seed. Finally, get your fish tail rake and blend this 'compost' that youve added to the patches into the surrounding grass. Now given that we are having a warm dry spell, you must every day water these patches, do it lightly, preferably with a watering can and the seed will germinate in about 4-5 days. You must keep these areas damp for a while (about 2-3 weeks) by which time you wont notice the patches (hopefully) During this time, try not to walk on the patches and when you start cutting the new grass, dont cut it too short or you risk it dying out.
best of luck, hope this helps and that your landlord wont come around for a couple of weeks !! Lannerman.

smiley783 wrote:
My boyfriend went to de weed the grass and it spread lots, we have
loads of dead grass circles everywhere now! Its a rented property and
im really worrying what the landlord will say about it when we next
speak to him.
This is our first ever garden and we were really looking forward to
making it pretty.
We really dont know what to do, we are trying to water it, not sure if
that will actually help.
Please someone give us some advice on what to do!
Thank you

I had a neighbor that saw another spot treating weeds with a spray bottle. So he
filled one with roundup, and sprayed every weed in his yard. Then, he sprayed
every weed in his nextdoor neighbor's yard. Both ended up just as you described.
His neighbor was ****ED!

Use a "lawn weed killer" for this job.

If you have some areas that need to be edged, you could transplant plugs of the
"edgeings" into the centers of the dead spots to help recovery.

On Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:56:51 +0000, smiley783
wrote:


My boyfriend went to de weed the grass and it spread lots, we have loads
of dead grass circles everywhere now! Its a rented property and im
really worrying what the landlord will say about it when we next speak
to him.
This is our first ever garden and we were really looking forward to
making it pretty.
We really dont know what to do, we are trying to water it, not sure if
that will actually help.
Please someone give us some advice on what to do!

If your landlord complains simply tell him to care for the F'n lawn
himself. No landlord should automatically assume that tenants know
anything about lawn care. Normal brained landlords automatically have
the discussion prior to formally accepting a tenant about caring for
lawn, garden, the entire property inside and out, covering all aspects
including who's responsible for what. It's extremely rare to have a
tenant who knows anything about gardening, at best most know just
enough to be dangerous, as in this case. Few tenants know not to
flush tampons, don't expect tenants to know didly about lawns. Any
landlord that is the least concerned about the lawn and garden should
be wise enough to supply a lawn care and grounds maintenence service
(really a big waste of money with the vast majority of tenants,
they'll just F it all up anyway, no grounds keeper on the planet can
stay ahead of a typical tenant). I've been a landlord most of my
adult life (some 50 years), I've owned several rental properties
simultaneously. I never concerned myself with how tenants cared for
lawn and grounds or even if they did anything but pay rent... I
learned very early on and the hard way not to expect any level of
grounds maintenence from tenants... about all I told them was to
please notify me if a large tree toppled over. I learned to operate
on the principle that I couldn't see the rental properties from where
I lived, far healthier that way... truth is a landlord can no more
expect a tenant to keep the grounds neat and clean as the inside of
the house neat and clean, or even themselves... especially themselves.
Before anyone becomes a landlord they must have a very serious talk
with themselves so that they truly comprehend WHY tenants are tenants.

On Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:56:51 +0000, smiley783 wrote:

My boyfriend went to de weed the grass and it spread lots, we have loads
of dead grass circles everywhere now! Its a rented property and im

Sigh. Somewhere on the bottle or bag, there's the name of the chemical used,
and the concentration, and probably a toll free number to call the manufacturer.Read carefully -- it's probably after the information on how to use that
herbicide properly, and how much to apply per square yard or meter.

If you have pets, restrict them from access to the treated property. Ditto
for your neighbor's animals, at least until you find out what you're
really dealing with.

Call or otherwise get in touch with the manufacturer and find out
what (if anything) you can do to mitigate your carelessness. Sometimes the
only thing possible is tincture of time, depending on what you put down and
how much. Don't bother to try to reseed until you've got better information.

And now you know that you have to read the instructions and apply pesticides
at the recommended rates, time of the growing season, and with the proper
growing conditions.

This is why, for most people, I only recommend a dandelion digger or mulch
for weed control.

I do hope you didn't choose something long acting and mobile in the soil,
otherwise you're going to be paying damages to the neighbors, too.

Another extrmeley helpful post, I am having the same problem myself, thanks!