dead / dying lawn
By Potplant
United Kingdom 
I had a lot of ivy coming through my lawn so i sprayed little bits of it with weed killer. I did not know it would also kill my lawn now i have paches of dead grass everywear what can i do
17 Jul, 2008
Answers
Good tip there Lori.I read it elsewhere on here and went out with the kettle to my side path.Worked a treat,far better than a weed killer chemical.
17 Jul, 2008
It sounds like you have creeping Charlie and if you do it will happily take over... but...it likes depleted compacted soil..so I would suggest you purchase a dethatching rake, take out all the dead grass...aerate, either by renting a machine or by hand, you can usually remove it with a rake but there are fancy machines to do the job too... once you've pulled as much as you can... top dress with fresh compost...reseed and water...There are different weed killers too and it sounds like you purchased the wrong type. the most common herbicide for lawns is 2-4D, which does not kill monocots (grass), just dicots...broadleafed plants...You obviously got the type that kills everything...hope you were very careful with it...
It is interesting that boiling water will cook a plant and it's root effectively doing the killing and not poisoning the ground...you should remove the topsoil from the dead patches...very carefully and dispose of it as toxic waste...because that's what it is...topdress and reseed...water and hope for the best.
17 Jul, 2008