We are planning to put our house up for sale early next year......but my garden lawn is looking very much worse for wear (2 bitches and 3 kids have just about killed off my grass). I've got quite a few yellow, slimy patches on my lawn which I think is caused by my girls peeing on the grass. I put some grass seeds down recently, but I would like some advice on what I can do (if anything) to try and make my grass look a bit more respectable to potential buyers.

I've seen somewhere that there are diet suppliments which can help to neutralise dog wee - are they any good, and are they safe for my girls to take? - and are they available on prescription from the vet? :)

I wouldnt try to reseed your lawn at this time of year. With your young family as well the seeds wont have a hope and the whole area will look churned. If you can afford it you could turf the worst bits and keep hosing down after the dogs. Or you could bite the bullet and cover the area with bark chips or paving slabs. A large tub of evergreens like ivy/heather could also be wheeled in to disguise the worst bits, or you can create a distracting feature by painting a wall. Good luck with the sale.

I think you are talking about Green Um tablets which ar added to the dogs food. They neutralise the urine and no more yellow patches.
I spoke with my vet about them befor eI tried them and they are totally herbal so do not cause any stomach problems etc.
They are available at most large pet stores but for 2 dogs would work out costly a month!!!
I stopped using them as soon as my boy started cocking his leg....and now I just have brown patches on my shrubs!!

they did work on the grass when he was squatting though.

there is also another make but I cant remember the name, also a natural product but I tried it and they didnt work!

I was also told to give him tomatoe Juice as apparently that can help too.

I would ask your vet first though as all dogs are different and what is OK for ones tummy may not be for another.

Good Luck!

jude

Of course it depends on how many patches we are looking at,but I would cut nice shapes out of the grass,plants in some heathers (I got some good winter ones for only 1.99 each this weekend) and put some mulch around them! disguise it rather than patch it.Designer gardens are all the trend:D good luck with the sale!

I was advised by a friend that a few drops of tomato juice in their food does the trick as it neutralises the wee. Don;t know if this is true and have never tried it - maybe someone else knows?

There are quite a few patches - both bald and yellow ones in my garden.......would like a nice green, flat garden lawn but I've just accepted that owning dogs and having a lovely lush lawn don't easily go together :( My dogs are quite partial to tomato flavoured stuff (they love bolognese sauce anyway) - so I will try to give them a bit more tomato and see if that works.

I asked in the garden shop about putting grass seed down....and they told me it would be the right time to try it now (at least it only cost me a few quid so I haven't lost much money on that one)......anyway, maybe when we put our house up for sale we'll be lucky enough to have loads of dog loving people come to view?!!!! - we are only having to move because we can't get secondary school places from our street! - I will only have to move a few streets closer to the local secondary, it's a shame really because I really like my house ;)

Good idea about putting some more plants and tubs to disguise - think I can hide some of the mess with that one - thanks ;)

I tired the grass seed................dog ate it ! came out the other end!!!

now when I seed I make sure it is securely covered with netting !! maybe worth thinking of to avoid wasting your grass seed as I did!!

Good luck!

jude

When you put the grass seed down, put a thin layer of Sharp Sand over the top to protect the seed, I just mean a dusting, so you can still see some of the soil, And water water water. There hasnt been enough rain, around here at least, to soak more then the top 2mm!!!!!!
The Garden centers was right, now is the ideal time to plant seed, as there is still enough heat in the ground for the seed, and there should be enough water from the skys! to help juvination!!!!!
HTH
Lea :)

My aversion to grass seed in this situation stems from bitter experience with new housing developments. Any contractor completing now will finish offthe landscaping with grass seed and it never works well. Prospective tenants are shown houses with a ploughed field in front, and can they keep kids off the grass seed? Mary Poppins herself couldnt. Result frustrated mums,ruined new carpets, irritated housing officers and bare patches in spring. Turf is more expensive so you have to fight to get it down, but its better value

its also a good idea to replace the soil were its gone bare from wee, as the seeds will germinate alot better with fresh soil, i use the old compost/soil from my old planters do the trick, also keep you dogs freshly sprouted seeds for a good 2-3weeks to give the grass time to root.

Um, I have the landscaping contract for a housing development, and work on alot of other building sites. The majority of housing developments NOW put turf down as standard. But seed the areas that will be taken over by the council, ie service strips(we turf all areas, apart from the 1500m squared of open area) I will hasten to add that I have seen bad lanscapers, ones that just throw the turf down no matter what the ground is like(dont prepare the ground) We spend more time prepariung the ground than we do actually laying the turf. What I will sayis, if there is seeded areas, It is up to the parents to keep their children off those areas, and I am afraid it is their own fault if their children trapse mud into their houses. My sons 4&8 would npot even dream of trapsing all over newly seeded ground, and it broke my heart the other day when, I went to look at an area I had seeded and less than 4 hours after seeding it, there were footprints all over it
Seed is good to use for over seeding areas, as long as you do keep the kids of it until it is established(spring next year, and seeing as the weather has turned, that wont be hard) I am going to oversew my grass(I put new turf down in April, on a very bare patch)50m squared) of '"grass" when I moved into this house, now need to over sew it as the lawn has suffered from having neat urine on it, with no watering down from the rain :(
What I will say, is even if you do cut out patches of bare ground and 'returf' all you will get is a green patchy lawn, like a patchwork quilt. It will take a year or so(more times than not ALOT longer) to 'blend' in. It will look awful and any prospective buyer will just think it will need returfing anyway(believe me, I know what I am talking about, seen it, been to people that have taken on gardens like that!!!!!!)
If you are thinking of returfing, then you will have to keep the dog off the new turf, otherwise it will end up looking the same within a few weeks :( new turf is too delicate for dogs.
How about saying to prospective buyers that you will get landscapers in to returf the garden when they move in, you will pay????????? Just a thought.
Sorry for the Epic, as you can tell, I am a landscaper!!!!!!!! LOL
HTH
Lea :)

Thanks for the replies, - I could manage to keep the kids off the grass - but can't keep the dogs off. Unfortuately, they tend to churn it up by charging around the garden after each other :( .....which doesn't help at all does it?! Apart from totally filling the garden with shrubs, I think we're a hopeless cause aren't we?(LOL) :)
Just hope the state of my grass (or lack of it) won't put people off too much
P.S. I think some of the problem with my lawn is that it's not quite level and when I mow it, I think the mower is scalping the grass in places - I think the best thing would be to call in a professional, but I think it might cost loads to put it right - thanks for the advice anyway ;)