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  Paul McNulty October 15, 2015 at 2:09pm

  Narrow drop spreader, gone over in two directions, and overlapped?
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    terry mcburney > Paul McNulty October 15, 2015 at 2:16pm

    Good suggestion but actually spread by hand, so not applicable here
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  Daisy Lacey October 15, 2015 at 2:17pm

  What's underneath the lawn? Did there used to be paving there?
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    terry mcburney > Daisy Lacey October 15, 2015 at 3:17pm

    I believe it was a tennis court in the 80's before the house was built. The pattern hasn't appeared in the recent years that I've been tending  the lawn, gradually restoring it from a moss tundra to something resembling a front lawn, until the chess board that exists now.
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  Phil Voice October 15, 2015 at 5:12pm

  Hi Terry

  How deep could you work a fork into the surface?

  The pattern could be caused by paving stones/cobbles below the surface. The darker areas where grass is growing more healthily could be the joints between the stones, especially if the joints are soil.

  [edit: I should have been paying attention, sorry Daisy]
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    terry mcburney > Phil Voice October 15, 2015 at 6:05pm

    Hi Phil

    I don't believe there are paving stones as I would have noticed them before when digging some flower borders. However your question about the depth of forking got me thinking you might be on to something,  as it was to the full depth of the blades.  I'm wondering if this penetrated a soil pan with the same consequence as you described and the perpendicular hatching occurred due to the pan fracturing when the fork was levered back to extract it. Does this sound too far fetched? 
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  Neil Copeland October 15, 2015 at 5:57pm

  There are no straight lines in nature so has to be something to do with the sub base given the fert was hand spread. My guess is the fert application has scorched the grass but this has only manifested itself in the pattern defined by whatever is under the lawn. An exploratory dig seems the only method likely to yield any information. 
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    terry mcburney > Neil Copeland October 15, 2015 at 6:15pm

    Neil

    I think there was a little bit of fertiliser scorching in places as you suggest but I doubt whether  I could have replicated the chequered pattern so precisely over the entire lawn.
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      Neil Copeland > terry mcburney October 16, 2015 at 4:45pm

      "only manifested itself in the pattern defined by whatever is under the lawn"
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  Robbie October 15, 2015 at 6:34pm

  Need another few pictures