How to revive partially dead lawn?

shrea

Hi Team,
I think I have couch grass in my backyard. It was severely dried out over summer, and much of it seems to have died — most of the grass comes up easily when tugged.
I applied Ezi-Soil soil wetter about 2 months ago and noticed a few green shoots. Today, after raking, mowing, and fertilising, it still looks mostly brown and seems that large areas may be dead.

Please suggest the best course of action to restore the lawn.

EricL

Hello @shrea

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about your lawn.

It does look like couch, and from the photo most of the straw-coloured material appears to be dead thatch rather than dormant grass. The fact that it pulls up easily is the biggest clue that a lot of the root system has died off over summer. The small green runners you’re seeing are couch trying to recover, but coverage is very thin, so waiting for it to fully fill back in would take quite a long time and may still leave patchy areas. The good news is couch spreads aggressively, so you don’t necessarily need to start completely from zero, but you’ll get a much faster and cleaner result by treating this as a renovation rather than hoping it rebounds on its own.

I’d keep going with what you’ve started and push recovery. Rake out as much dead material as you can (almost like scarifying) so sunlight can reach the soil, then top-dress lightly with a sandy lawn mix such as https://www.bunnings.com.au/scotts-lawn-builder-25l-organic-lawn-soil-topdress-underlay_p3010199 or https://www.bunnings.com.au/seasol-25l-lawn-top-dress-mix_p0274165 from Bunnings, brushing it into the remaining runners. After that, apply a starter fertiliser like https://www.bunnings.com.au/lawn-builder-4kg-scotts-starter-slow-release-lawn-fertiliser_p2962280 or a slow release like https://www.bunnings.com.au/lawn-solutions-australia-10kg-premium-lawn-fertiliser_p0283046 , then water consistently to keep the soil slightly moist. If large sections are completely bare (which a few areas look to be), the quickest option is to plug or lay small pieces of couch turf into those gaps rather than reseeding, since couch seed is slow and unreliable compared to vegetative spread.

I wouldn’t strip everything unless more than about 80–90% is gone. From your photo you still have enough live couch to recover, but it needs help. With warm weather and regular watering, you should start seeing runners spread within 3 to 4 weeks, and it can fill significantly over 6 to 8 weeks. If nothing greens up after that, then a full reset with new turf would be the better move.

Here are some handy guides:

• https://www.bunnings.com.au/diy-advice/garden/lawn/a-seasonal-guide-to-lawn-care?srsltid=AfmBOop8F5fdRm2FZgq5aPVKaLRhK4znxSpB_Qo9DjyiIqTOfGGOAToS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZtH59rcBGI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCkL1oPrnDM

If you need further assitance, please let us know.

Eric