A patchy lawn isn't ideal, but it can happen for a whole host of reasons – from not having enough sunlight to dogs urine or fungal diseases.
Once you've found and fixed the underlying issue, you can resow the lawn seed, but it turns out there's a nifty trick you can use to transform your garden in just seven days.
It might seem strange, but a gardener swears by mixing toilet paper with lawn seed to create the perfect lawn.
Taking to their TikTok, home decor channel Homespiff uploaded a video trying out the hack, which involves loo roll and a lot of water.
In the video, the gardener can be seen mixing loo roll into a bowl of grass seed and water. It turns into a pulp, which is then placed on top of the patchy parts of a lawn.
The gardener then waited seven days, after which there was some incredible progress.
The camera zooms out, and you can see small blades of grass growing through the paper on the ground. "It worked," they claimed.
The Mirror caught up with two garden experts to see if this hack could actually work – and it turns out there is some science behind this weird trick.
Chloe at GetIntoGardening said she can't see why the "unique" hack wouldn't work. She added: "It's essentially a DIY hydroseed! Hydroseeding is the process of making a mixture called a 'slurry', which is typically made of seed, mulch, water and, often, fertiliser. In this case, the toilet paper serves as homemade mulch. It's then applied over any patchy areas of lawn."
According to the garden expert, this could be an "affordable way to help grass seed to thrive". She added: "This could be an affordable way to help grass seed to thrive. The mulch (in this case, toilet paper) helps bond seeds to the soil, protects them from harsh weather and adds extra nutrients as it decomposes into the grass. I’d imagine it could work well with shredded newspaper, too."
Suhail Patel, gardens expert and founder of Luxury Screens agreed, adding: "Toilet paper can help retain moisture around grass seed, protecting it from drying out and providing an ideal environment for germination, however, the success of mixing the two to repair patchy grass would also depend on various factors such as the type of grass seed, local climate, soil conditions, and proper care and maintenance."
However, there's no doubting there are some potential downsides to using toilet paper, such as it being "hard to get an even distribution of seed using this method which will result in uneven growth," which can leave "your lawn unattractive and with more patches or bare ground/sparse grass".
Meanwhile, if you're looking for a more traditional method, Chloe recommends: clearing debris and weeds from the area, loosening the soil and then scattering gras seed all over the patch. She added: "Stamp on it lightly to ensure good seed and soil contact, cover with a light sprinkling of topsoil to protect it from birds, add some lawn fertiliser, and water regularly."
Have you tried this quirky method? Let us know in the comment section below.
