[wneva]

Lawn woes!!   A couple of years ago I laid new turf on one area of our little back garden lawn, after digging out an old box hedge eaten by the dreaded box moth caterpillars.  New lawn looked great except for the last few feet towards the house.  Here the grass struggles - it's thin and the ground feels spongy.  And now when I put a garden chair on this area - it gets the evening sun, so it's nice to sit there over an evening drink with my wife.  But the garden chair legs slowly sink into the lawn and I have to move to higher ground.  Not good for my image.

Two possible ways forward - I could aerate the soil if I can find that tool with hollow tines (it must be somewhere in that garage) and hope the lawn will drain and get stronger over time.  Second possibility - I could reseed the area in question and sprinkle new topsoil or sand () to effectively raise the ground level a bit.    What do people think?

Before you mention the third option - I could go on a strict diet and lose a couple of stone - I have already lost two and a half stone in the last year via the Michael Moseley regime, so I don't think I could solve the problem that way. And it's the same if she sits there - even then the chair legs start sinking.

Help!

[dave]

I used to play the tuba with a brass band and sinking chairs was a common problem at summer fetes-
I  put a tobacco tin under each leg to spread the load; the edge of the tin stops it sliding off

[Subversive_plot]

My immediate thought is somewhat similar to Dave's.  Also much less effort than aerating, reseeding, etc. etc., which IMO would not work.

Get a couple short sections of 2x4 lumber, longer than the distance between the ends of 2 adjacent chair legs (I would do 2 left legs, then the same with 2 right legs).  Mark the position of those 2 leg ends on one piece of wood.  Use a drill and a spade bit that is a little larger in diameter than the leg ends to drill holes in the wood where you marked it, going roughly half way through the wood. 

Do the same with the opposing 2 chair leg ends and the second piece of wood.  Put the chair leg ends into those holes.  You will have the chair on stable footing, no sinking.

[Hortic]

Yes, aerate it with the hollow tined fork and brush with sand to keep it open. But you know all this.

What you don't know is the flattened tin can trick. When I have to put the step ladder up anywhere on ground, I put a flattened tin can (those big peaches ones are best) under each leg. This distributes the weight and the legs don't sink. I'm 12st and it works for me so try it for your chair.