a question for gardeners

hi, since the addition of my second dog my dads back lawn has become a lake of mud the 2 dogs have been tearing round on it and ripped practically all of the grass up,it is now a very slippy patch of mud last night my dad informed me that he was fed up with the state of the lawn and was going to gravel the garden and just leave a small patch of grass for the dogs to go to the toilet on,i have tried to explain that it is more than likely that the dogs will just use the gravel and most of it will end up being chucked in the bin.
i would like to know what time of year i should put grass seed down and what i will need(seed,sharp sand etc) also if anybody has any ideas for a different type of lawn i would be interested( clover/herbs etc),i would like to try and repair the damage my dogs have done to the lawn before dad gravels it,i will pay for the gravel etc anyway but i just prefer a lawn

I'm not too sure but my o/h is a grade 5 gardener so he should know, I will ask him later if you haven't got an answer by then I would have thought in the spring or just before to put the grass seed down so that it starts growing for summer.

thanks

The best times to seed a lawn are either spring or autumn because the weather is warmer and likelyhood of rain is certain.You can seed in summer,but would need to leave a sprinkler on for an hour a day.

Have you considered turfing??? Advatage with turf is-its instant,but costs almost 5 times as much as seed.

Whether you choose seed or turf is your descision,but would recomend a high percentage of rye grass for a hard wearing lawn.Its very hardwearing,establishes quickly,naturally sets seed during sumer,but does need mowing more frequently than the finer fescue blends.

ps.If you do opt for turf,inspect it first before accepting delivery because some people sell meadow turf as lawn grass and unless you want a wilderness in your garden...

thanks steve,my dads mate is a turfer and i enquired before about turfing my back garden(i have had to move back to my parents) and i asked for the cheapest quality as it is literally just for the dogs and it was only going to cost me around £80,it may be worth asking again

This sounds soooo familiar....

My mum has been working on her lawn for years and last summer it was finally looking really really nice... until we got our 2nd dog in october and now it's all patchy and muddy but what can you do, stop the dogs from playing?


if you find a solution please let me know as my mum is not happy!

i am definately not having gravel it would end up like a giant litter tray i will either turf it or re-seed it and maybe on one side look into a herb lawn the current situation is not helped as diesel has hurt her leg and has to stay in for 2 weeks and delaney won't walk without her

well i have began work on the garden,i am seeding the lawn in a few weeks!! i am digging the mud over and have decided to fence both sides of the lawn (it is split with a path in the middle) and that way they can play on 1 lawn one day and the next day they can go on the other to try and give the lawns a break,also with a fence hopefully delaney will slow down instead of reaching the lawn at a million miles an hour.