How can I manage an old dead lawn?

Question

I recently bought a house, and the lawn is dreadful. It is mostly dead, with some weeds and little signs of hope. what are my next steps in tasking care of this. I have never had a lawn and want to know what I can do rather than paying a service to do it.

Answer 1

The answer to your question lies somewhere between Fluff's answer and Steves answer. If your lawn is not in bad shape you may be able to get by with proper watering and reseeding. If it is really in bad shape you may have to start all over and renovate, and reseed or pay someone to install an entire new lawn. Before you do any of the above check your sprinkler system and make sure you have one and it is working. We are guessing since we cannot see your lawn. It might pay you to get several estimates from landscapers on what they would recommend to bring your lawn back into shape. If you get it straighened out and looking good again then it is easy to mow it yourself.

Answer 2

Overkill with the testing and I disagree with the compaction BS! The BIGGEST issue is water management. Start with the that- your irrigation system. If you don't have automatic sprinkler valves then you should think about installing them. Secondly, make sure that ALL the grass areas are getting "double-coverage" from the existing sprinklers. That is to say that every sprinkler is throwing far enough to reach the neighboring sprinklers. If not then make sure you redesign the sprinkler system to achieve this principle. Once you have sprinklers working correctly and double covering your grass throughout, rent a sodcutter at your local rental yard for $25/hr. Set the cut about 1/2"-3/4" below the ground and remove the entire lawn. The machine will cut about 500 sq. ft. in roughly 10 minutes so quick work. Throw the waste in your greenwaste can or borrow a truck to dispose of the old grass. When you drop off the sodcutter (less than 2 hrs later- $50) pick up a rototiller and 1/2 yard to 1 cu. yd. of compost to spread across the dirt. Use the tiller to incorporate and loosen the top 3-4 inches. It might be a good idea to 'pot-hole' an area between sprinklers to see just how close to the surface the sprinkler pipes are as hitting these while tilling will ruin your day. Once you've completed light tilling, rake the area level. Use a water roller (rental yard) if you don't have one, and re-rake/scratch high spots to achieve more level. repeat until perfectly level and compacted. Leave approx. 1/2" below sidewalks to account for sod. At $.35-45/sq.ft. its worth every penny. Seed is cheaper but you will most likely need to address weed seeds emerging along with your grass seed which will require expensive chemicals and more of your time. With sod you will be enjoying your new lawn within a couple weeks versus months with seed.

Answer 3

One of the most common reason why lawns die is soil compaction. Literally the soil is pressed too tight. It's also the least acted upon.



Most people just hit their lawn with fertilizer thinking that it will fix the lawn. No can do if your lawn is compacted. You un-compact a lawn my aerating it. I use aerating shoes, which are sandal looking things with nails sticking out of the bottom. you stomp all over the areas where the soil is compacted and the entire lawn a couple times a season. If your lawn is going to get used a lot aerate more frequently.



the aerating shoes also alert me to another common problem, lack of soil depth. If your soil is too shallow your lawn can't propagate (shoot roots and rhizomes) most lawn grass species need a soil depth of at least 5-6 inches. In areas where your soil depth is shallow the only thing you can do is add more soil.



If your entire lawn is dead, it's likely because someone killed it. You can OVER fertilize a lawn easily. The lawn will burn and die. If your entire lawn is dead it might be worth roto-tilling it and starting over. Start now and you'll be walking on it in June/July.



You may want to test your soil for acidity or lack there of (base). You do this with a PH tester. If you live in an area with acid rain, you soil might be too acidic for grass to grow. You would then take a spreader and run some limestone to help neutralize your soil.



Take a look at the amount of sun that your plot gets. A common problem with home lawn keepers is choosing the wrong lawn seed type for their area, and the amount of sun that your plot gets. Grass is a living thing that feeds itself from sunlight and the nutrients in the ground. If you have a Sun worshipping grass like fescue tall turf type and you put it in the shade it will die on you. Conversely if you have a shade loving grass, in full sun the majority of the day, it may not propagate fully.



So in review;



1. Test for soil compaction

2. Test for soil depth

3. Test for PH

4. Monitor amount of sunlight that your plot gets



Act upon the results.



If you have any questions shoot me a message.



Good Luck!

Answer 4

If more than 50% of the lawn is dead, truly dead and not just dormant......then you need to start over or reseed those bad spots. When less than 50% is dead you first manage the living grass encouraging it to better health while reseeding.



If you need to reseed.......dig up those dead area, shovel depth, turn and fluff the soil, add compost...about an inch over the top and dig it in. Rake smooth, water the area to settle the soil and then sprinkle the seed over the area. Cover with the barest covering of good soil, peat moss or compost and water again. Keep the soil barely moist until the grass starts growing. You may have to do this in sections while you maintain the remaining grass. Treat the weeds with the appropriate weed killer....you'll need to know what you have before you know what is approrpriate......web has many sites with weed pictures.