Yard maintenance

[Tonkaman]

Is that were your giant ass dog goes out to pee?

Ha ha actually no. That damn dog is very high maintenance. She has a 15’ circle in the corner and she will NOT go anywhere else! We’ve been on vacation many times when she refuses to go for days because we’re not home.

 

[nnnnnate]

I wouldn't expect that patch of dirt to grow grass back with just fertilizer or treatments.

This is the grass seed I use, Athletic Mix from Steve Regan in Murray. I'll have to take some pictures later this morning but after mowing my front yard last week real short I identified the low spots and added sand and some topsoil to try and raise them up. This was where I had to dig after putting down sod last year which made the spots sink or where there were some gaps in the sod. I bought a 5 lb bag of that seed and plan to put some down on those spots and also generally overseed the whole lawn as well.

I'd aerate your whole lawn then but a 25 lb bag of seed and spread that out adding some extra on the bare spots and if you felt like it add a little top soil to the bare spots as well. After you do that though you gotta water them to make sure it stays damp long enough for the seed to take. I shared some pics in that other lawn care thread from a few years ago on the progress of an area I leveled out and seeded from bare dirt to thick grass.

What I've found is that yard work becomes overwhelming very quickly if you do nothing all year then decide to clean up the whole yard. I try and budget myself 30-60 minutes on top of what it takes to mow and trim the lawn each week. In that time I'll pull weeds in the gardens, trim trees, or pull rocks. If you can keep to that schedule after things are under control then having a decent yard is manageable.

 

[Tonkaman]

I wouldn't expect that patch of dirt to grow grass back with just fertilizer or treatments.

This is the grass seed I use, Athletic Mix from Steve Regan in Murray. I'll have to take some pictures later this morning but after mowing my front yard last week real short I identified the low spots and added sand and some topsoil to try and raise them up. This was where I had to dig after putting down sod last year which made the spots sink or where there were some gaps in the sod. I bought a 5 lb bag of that seed and plan to put some down on those spots and also generally overseed the whole lawn as well.

I'd aerate your whole lawn then but a 25 lb bag of seed and spread that out adding some extra on the bare spots and if you felt like it add a little top soil to the bare spots as well. After you do that though you gotta water them to make sure it stays damp long enough for the seed to take. I shared some pics in that other lawn care thread from a few years ago on the progress of an area I leveled out and seeded from bare dirt to thick grass.

What I've found is that yard work becomes overwhelming very quickly if you do nothing all year then decide to clean up the whole yard. I try and budget myself 30-60 minutes on top of what it takes to mow and trim the lawn each week. In that time I'll pull weeds in the gardens, trim trees, or pull rocks. If you can keep to that schedule after things are under control then having a decent yard is manageable.

I think your right about needing to seed those bare areas. I’m mostly trying to be sure I fix any underlying problems first. Thanks for the advise!

 

[Homefryy]

I am not an expert but I have gotten a bit obsessed with my lawn since buying my first home a year ago. Most of my knowledge comes from reading rather than experience so I may be wrong.

You mentioned that it appears that the roots of the grass are completely gone. This makes me thing it is a grub problem. They will eat the roots causing the grass to die and pull up easily which seems like it matches what you are seeing. You can purchase grub killer in a granular form that can be applied with a broadcast spreader rather than paying somebody to come spray. There are grub killers that will kill what is there and degrade quickly and there are others that stay in the soil longer and release slowly to provide longer term prevention.

Any grass you plant now will have a tough time once the summer heat hits since it won't have much time to develop deep roots. It is best to seed in the fall so the grass has all fall, winter & spring to develop roots before the heat comes. Somebody else in this thread mentioned weed & feed which has an ingredient that prevents seeds from germinating. You do not want to use this if you are planting grass since it will stop both weed and grass seeds from germinating.

If you have kentucky bluegrass (I can't tell for sure from your pictures) it spreads through its roots so it will fill that spot in eventually. You could help speed this up by digging up plugs of grass from other places in your lawn and planting them spaced out in the bare spot. If you have multiple varieties of grass in your lawn you want to make sure the plugs you transplant are kentucky bluegrass since that is the fastest spreader. Kentucky bluegrass is fairly easy to identify by its canoe shaped tip. If you do this you will want to make sure those plugs get plenty of water while they establish. You can also purchase grass plugs rather than digging up your own.

That bare patch is an excellent place for weeds to take over since there is currently no competition. If it was my lawn I would plant some grass plugs in the bare spot and then put down a weed preventer (pre emergent) like what is in weed & feed and wait for fall to re seed.

If you really want to get into it you can get a soil sample tested and find out if you do have a soil issue then get the proper additives that it lacks.

Lawn care can be a lot like owning a jeep. You can leave it stock and do the basic maintenance it will be pretty good, you can pay somebody to modify it for you and make it better or you can get way to into it and buy lots of gadgets and spend way to much time getting it just how you want it. I got myself a battery powered 4 gallon backpack sprayer and am building up a collection of chemicals for each specific purpose.

 

[nnnnnate]

Now is actually a perfect time plant grass seed. It only takes 10-14 days for sees to sprout and you could likely now it by June.

The problem with planting grass seed in fall is you don't know when winter will come and the grass will go dormant. By seeding in spring you have all year for it to grow and fill in and take good root. Grass in summer doesn't care about the heat as long as it gets the water it needs. My parents seeded in the fall and the grass hadn't grown in enough so my siblings couldn't go out into the yard all fall and winter. This was in 2006 but later that next spring it all filled in nicely. I seeded an area in my yard in June or July and just made sure it got light water a few times a day so the seed didn't dry out and it did just fine.

I'd ask Derek what that spot looked like last fall. Was it about the same? When do you water? In the middle of the night? Do you know that that area is getting good water coverage and that the heads aren't buggered up or tilted away from that spot? I'd check the method for delivering the water before I'd assume that it was bugs or grubs but that's just me.

 

[Tonkaman]

You both bring up some good points.

I’m going to check out the water situation in the next few days. I’ve messed around with it before because my zones were designed by an idiot! I’ve got a mix of every style head on the same zone so it gets pretty uneven coverage. Last year I reworked it a bit to give me more even results. Perhaps this area is just not absorbing enough water?

I noticed this area getting pretty ugly in the fall last year. It’s odd that is seems to be a straight run down the slope from my patio. If I didn’t know better I’d assume chemicals or something else spilled. Maybe that’s the grubs working their way? Wouldn’t they eat more than that patch? If I dig would I see the grubs??

I will certainly seed soon. Worst case I try again in the fall.

 

[mbryson]

You can just grab at a hand sized chunk of grass and pull up. The grass will release and show you grubs. I found mine in the fall so I don’t know if you’ll see them in the spring?

 

[zmotorsports]

Agreed, now is a great time to plant. I just overseeded a few areas of my lawn last week and am hoping that I can start to see some improvement in those areas within the next week or two.

Mike

 

[rholbrook]

GRUBS as mentioned previously. It happened to me. You get a dirty neighbor bringing in all sorts of diseases. A couple of grub treatments on your WHOLE lawn, not just where its bad and then the grass will come back great. Suggest your neighbors treat for grubs too.

 

[Tonkaman]

GRUBS as mentioned previously. It happened to me. You get a dirty neighbor bringing in all sorts of diseases. A couple of grub treatments on your WHOLE lawn, not just where its bad and then the grass will come back great. Suggest your neighbors treat for grubs too.

I decided to add a coupe sprinklers for better coverage yesterday. While trenching I found this plump little guy

I dug up about 2 wheelbarrows worth of dirt and only found the 1 single grub. I’ll certainly be putting out some grub killer Incase he has friends!

 

[Pike2350]

I figured I could piggyback on this thread.

My backyard is very uneven....although the ground is relatively flat....there are a lot of divets and ankle breaking holes that make it less then ideal to mow. It seems fine when you look at it but walking on it is a different story.

If you were to fix this would you go over existing grass? My thought since I will need to redo my sprinklers anyway when I get further along in the garage build. Is to just take some of the dirt from the garage shift it to remove bugger rocks and lay about a 1-2" layer and then put new sod on top of that. I would just redo my sprinklers since they are laid out very poorly and the zones don't make much sense.

Is there an issue with doing this? Will the new sod be able to take root in 2" of amended dirt and push past the old sod next year for deep roots? I had thought about filling the holes but there are a lot and feel I'll end up with an almost dirt covered yard anyway.

 

[Spork]

For an uneven lawn I'd get sand to fill the holes if you don't want to scrape it all level and start over. You can lay the sand down a bit at a time and the grass will grow up through it. If you're using dirt to fill maybe a mud slurry that isn't too thick at a time might do something similar.

 

[Troop92]

Anybody know anybody in the business? Previous owners were do-it-yourselfers that shouldn't have tried. Want to start over with correct grading. Any recommendations for lawn/bed removal and grading? Once to that point I can do sprinklers and drainage.

 

[Tonkaman]

Is @BlueWolfF

Anybody know anybody in the business? Previous owners were do-it-yourselfers that shouldn't have tried. Want to start over with correct grading. Any recommendations for lawn/bed removal and grading? Once to that point I can do sprinklers and drainage.

is @Chocflip201 still doing his thing?? He’s the local go to guy for dirt.