How to treat newly laid patchy brown and yellow lawn?

[raniawhitford]

After our gardener laid new grass and it looking green and lush, my husband mowed it after a week and this is how it anppeared underneath. I have watered it but I need some advice as to what I need to do to revive this please!

[MitchellMc · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @raniawhitford. It's brilliant to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about lawn care.

It looks like your new lawn has been cut a bit too short, which is why the brown and yellow patches are showing through. Newly laid grass is still establishing its roots, so cutting it too low, especially in the first month, can stress it and leave the soil exposed. For now, it’s best to leave the grass a bit longer than usual, ideally around 30mm or so, which will help the blades shade the soil and encourage the roots to take hold. When you do mow over the next few weeks, set your mower to the highest or second-highest setting rather than cutting it down short again.

Watering is important, but balance is key. The soil should be kept moist but not waterlogged. Too much water can suffocate the roots and cause further yellowing, while too little can dry out the tender new grass. Over the next few weeks, the lawn should start to green back up as it recovers, and you can lightly top-dress with a thin layer of topsoil to fill in any gaps and help the roots establish. Patience is really important at this stage, new lawns take a few weeks to settle in and start looking fully lush again.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[raniawhitford]

Thankyou so much Mitchell.

That's eased my mind. I'll start repairing.

appreciate your help.

[raniawhitford]

Sorry I do have one more question.

the far left spot doesn't get much sun and it's been dead multiple times.

This time I'd like to make sure it doesn't get to that stage, is there an extra step for this issue?

[MitchellMc]

If that area consistently doesn’t get much sun and keeps dying back @raniawhitford, there’s unfortunately a limit to what you can do. All turf grasses need some level of sunlight to survive, so if it’s heavily shaded for most of the day, it will always struggle compared to the rest of the lawn.

The best approach is to let the lawn establish as normal for now and see how it goes once it has recovered from the short mowing. If that corner starts to thin out again, you can look at a hybrid solution by overseeding with a grass variety that is more tolerant of shade. There are lawn seed mixes specifically designed for low-light areas, and these can sometimes improve coverage where full sun turf fails.

Beyond that, there isn’t a fertiliser or treatment that will overcome a lack of sunlight. If it continues to die back long term, you may eventually need to accept a different surface in that spot, such as a shade-tolerant ground cover or garden bed. For now, though, keep the grass a bit longer, manage the watering carefully, and reassess once it has had time to properly establish.

Mitchell