The ground is totally dry as was covered by the trampoline returning to grass will need the advice of someone who actually has grass - we don't.

Try forking over the area to loosen the soil and water again. You could re-seed the area also.

Put a sprinkler at the area, and water long enough to get 18 cm of water on the area. Check that with a wide mouth can after the first hour, could take 12 hours of continuous sprinkling to do it. Do it in stages if it runs off quickly. Then prepare the area for planting seed.

Personally I think its wrong to use so much water in this way and would wait for nature to do it as it will in the UK. If you start watering you will have to continue or it will just revert in a dry spell! as we all get parched lawns in a dry summer. I get big cracks in my front lawn(on clay) when its very dry, but they always recover. Certainly if you are on a water meter you might want to rethink this and wait for the wet weather to do it for you then you can feed it and keep it cut short to encourage the grass to grow side ways.

Many thanks for all your answers.It's nice to know that there are people who are always willing to help.:0)

I agree with Drc re the watering

Drat! I'm trying to apply desert practices to those lush, green isles again!
We water deeply a day or two before planting new seed so the soil doesn't dehydrate the seed during the first stages of germination, and so later waterings soak in better.

Due you have such an unlimited water supply that you can justify this Tugb? Here in our green isle we are encouraged, and through water meters forced, to conserve water.

Definite limits on our water supply, MG. However, due to our climate, our soil structure and chemistry, and our poor quality water, regular watering is necessary to maintain an attractive landscape, and watering works best here if it is deep and infrequent. So deep soaking like that is favored here, especially by the Municipal Water User's Association, and the Master Gardeners.

Lawn management is a good example: good watering practices here involve applying 2-3 inches of water once a week. Truely massive soaks like I recommended would be a once only application, for starting new lawns, repairing neglected lawns, or re-starting the summer lawn after killing off the winter lawn in late spring. The ignorant here feel the need to water their lawns shallowly every day, or even twice a day--thereby using up twice as much water per week, and multiplying their salt, disease, pest, and weed problems. On the conservation side, the Master Gardeners recommend that people use non-living or drought tolerant ground covers instead of lawns, unless they have small children, and then to keep the lawn area to a bare minimum. When the kids are older, they can go to the park to play football! In addition, we recommend watering early in the morning--watering at night causes disease problems--mowing relatively high, and applying humus in some form twice a year to keep the soil well aerated, so roots can grow deeper. If the population keeps growing here, there will probably come a day when water hungry landscaping like lawns and roses will be scarce as hen's teeth, unless genetic engineering or desalinization succeed beyond anyone's current expectations.

Hm, maybe I should do this as a blog. Anyway, there actually is a method to my madness.

Over here its more of an accepted practice to let our lawns dry out in the drought as they recover when it turns wet. Not only do I think its wrong to water a lawn just to maintain its looks, but I would be ashamed to have the only green lawn in high summer where I live. Sorry but a blog telling me how to water my lawn would not go down well with me! as yesterday it was announced that certain parts of the UK are very short of water and we can again expect hosepipe bans.

Nope, Drc, I was just thinking of how large a word count I used explaining myself. If I did a blog, I would just be explaining watering practices in the subtropical desert, not making recommendations for anyone else. If we tried to rely on the rain to keep our lawns green--or even alive--for any length of time here, we wouldn't have lawns! As I said, those days may be coming.

I trust and hope that 'common' sense is going to kick in soon and folk do not try to have lawns and grow roses in environments that are not suited to them! By-an-large the UK has a damp climate and lawns work - seeing the amount of water poured onto the and wasted in other countries is seriously worrying.