🏡 Better Homes Lawn Lords and Garden Gentlemen

GTvert90

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My back yard is a mess. Patchy, Weeds, Crabgrass, ect. Ideally Id level it out with top soil and reseed but that isn't in the cards.

Whats the most economical way to have a more full lawn. I'm thinking for next summer when my daughter will be 1.5 and walking around and such. Seed over what I have? Till it up? This isn't a forever home, just our first one... It just needs to be better than what I currently have, Doesn't have to be "right".
 

WhiteKnuckle

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Start fertilizing and working on the weeds now. Weed control works better when there is moisture in the ground (allows weed control to work through plant as its growing).
Crab grass you can’t do anything with now unless you use a non selective herbicide aka roundup. Crabgrass isn’t a weed so normal weed control for broadleaf weeds won’t do shit. However, crab grass is an annual and will die with the first frost. The seeds left behind are what grows next year that’s why you need to put a crab grass preventer down in April next year.
This fall around September, rent an aerator and run it north to south and east to west across the lawn. Water your lawn really good the day before so you pull a good plug. After you aerate, overseed the lawn with a quality seed. If it’s sunny, usually a 75% Kentucky blue 25% rye mix will work well. Keep the seed moist while it’s growing.
A couple other tips that will help a lot: mow your grass tall. Most people cut it too short and it burns out easier this way leaving more room for weeds to grow. Lastly, water your lawn if possible. 1-2 deep waterings a week go along way. You want to encourage the roots to grow down deep to were the water is.
It’s a process, but if you don’t want to resod, these tips will work. Takes a year or more to completely turn a lawn around.
 

CMNTMXR57

GM, Holden & Chrysler Mini-Van nut swinger
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Getting a good yard program going that will treat what's there, will eliminate the weeds, crabgrass, creeping charlie, etc... Don't waste your time with Trugreen/Chemlawn, Lawn Doctor, Green T, etc. Find some local, reputable place. I found one for my other house and it turned around the yard completely. I then talked them in to doing my Elgin yard, and this is the nicest I've seen it in 15 years. They use natural/organic ingredients and don't penny pinch on quantities... Unfortunately they won't go up to your area, so I can't recommend them.

Usually in spring do a dethatching and core aeration, and perhaps grub control if you have this issue.

Once you do that, you might find grass fills back in most of it. If you still have bare spots, there are places (you'd have to look them up), that will actually turn the soil in the bad spots, seed, re-level, and put that green weave tarp down to promote growth. You could do this yourself too, but these places will do it quickly and probably with better results.

When you mow, especially as we get in to this time of year where it's hotter (and generally dry), DON'T SCALP the lawn. Just trim it down. Earlier in the season, when you see the grass having little seedlings on the end is when you mulch for sure as that is the grass reseeding itself, so getting those seeds back down can help.
 

DanJ

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Lot of good points here. I think the problem most people have is that they scalp their lawn too low. I’m mowing at the second highest setting every 3 days or so. In spring it was every other. Times are kind of tough now because we aren’t getting a ton of rain and it’s been so hot. When things cool down in late summer and early fall would be the time to get your lawn rejuvenated. I have some problem areas and plan on dethatching, aerating and Overseeding this September. Just hung up on what I want to use for my shady part of the lawn because I don’t like the fine rescue that typically thrives in shade. They have some shade tolerant Kentucky blue grasses but even their survival rates are only 82% and the seed is expensive.

If you want to do it yourself I’d check out this YouTube channel. Videos are informative without going to deep and he typically uses product you can buy locally.

 
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Blood on Blood

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Getting a good yard program going that will treat what's there, will eliminate the weeds, crabgrass, creeping charlie, etc... Don't waste your time with Trugreen/Chemlawn, Lawn Doctor, Green T, etc. Find some local, reputable place. I found one for my other house and it turned around the yard completely. I then talked them in to doing my Elgin yard, and this is the nicest I've seen it in 15 years. They use natural/organic ingredients and don't penny pinch on quantities... Unfortunately they won't go up to your area, so I can't recommend them.

Usually in spring do a dethatching and core aeration, and perhaps grub control if you have this issue.

Once you do that, you might find grass fills back in most of it. If you still have bare spots, there are places (you'd have to look them up), that will actually turn the soil in the bad spots, seed, re-level, and put that green weave tarp down to promote growth. You could do this yourself too, but these places will do it quickly and probably with better results.

When you mow, especially as we get in to this time of year where it's hotter (and generally dry), DON'T SCALP the lawn. Just trim it down. Earlier in the season, when you see the grass having little seedlings on the end is when you mulch for sure as that is the grass reseeding itself, so getting those seeds back down can help.

Which local company do you use?
 

Turk

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if i were to do that, i'd bend over and just take it in the rear sodding the whole thing. F it.

also SUP BRO
Sup?!?
Id prefer seed. Seeded lawns, to me at least, seem to be healthier in the long run. Just gotta buy local/quality seed. I’d probably do a mix of blue grass and fescue. Would maybe even try full fescue in areas that get a ton of sun.
 

BeerOrGasoline

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Mar 15, 2009
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Kill it 2nd week of august then kill it again 1.5-2 weeks later. ot catch the stragglers.
Level it and slit seed it in two directions first week of Sept
Apply a starter fert and bio-stimulants, use heavy watering schedule
Another round of starter fert 30 days later.

By mid October you'll have solid growth and by spring you'll have the major reward.
 

FirstWorldProblems

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I'd just talk to a lawn service, they'll be the best ones to tell you if it can be fixed (especially since we don't have pictures).

The biggest thing is patience, any major change takes a full season to truly work. A dethatch, core aeration, and overseed this fall would help immensely. Additionally, depending on SF the basic Scott's 4 step is easy as hell.

What SF yards are you guys dealing with that you have no time?


Thank youuuuuuu. Never understood how people let their grass get so far-gone. I fertilize my yard 4 times per year max (scotts 4 step ftw) and it is absurdly green and thick. So on actual lawn maintenance I spend no more than an hour a year. I'm sure it helps that the yard is only 9 years old and has been maintained since it was fresh sod. And yes I have a super small lot so it's easier, if I had an acre it'd take 4x as long and cost 4x as much, but over the course of a year that's still not bad

My neighbors (also on small lots) have absolute shit yards even though they were all fresh sod <10 years ago, pisses me off to no end. Like you couldn't spend $160 and 1 hour per year fertilizing and now I have to look at this shit every day
 

frank

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No lawn pro here, I did what a few noted above, I started to cut my lawn on the highest to second highest setting with mulching the grass no bagging, as grass clippings are free grass seed.

For a few patch / dead areas I did pick up a bags of black dirt from Home Depot the used them to fill in a few low / dead spots.

When I needed to seed an area Or the whole yard I picked up the cheapest grass seed at Home Depot And always tried to time it with rain on it way ( not down pours ) If no rain I would water it for 2 times a day for no longer then 30 mins.

last project I did at the house I called a landscape company and had them drop off a yard of dirt and large bag of seed. Both combined were under $100.00 delivered which was a good deal.

crabgrass I would dig out where I could and then put more seed down.

A few of my neighbors would seed before a snow fall both late fall and early spring.
 
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Chester Copperpot

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I dealt with this a couple months ago. Front yard looked like shit with crab grass, weeds, and moss everywhere (doesn't help it's under 3 trees that barely get sun every day).

I damn near scalped the yard on the 2nd lowest setting of the mower then bought a dethatcher. Put that thing as low as it would go and ripped everything out of the yard besides the healthy grass that remained. Aerated it, threw down seed and fertilizer, and watered it twice a day for about a month. Looks so much better but it's still patchy in some areas but worlds better than it was. Granted, my front yard is maybe 2000 sqft total. The backyard is getting just as bad but that's about 17-18k sqft. With a 13" wide detatcher. :rofl:
 

Bru

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My backyard was pretty rough too. Patchy, bare in some spots and at the end of the summer last year I didn’t even need to mow the very back because I was mostly mowing dirt.

This year, I did basic stuff, Spring aeration, overseeding and multiple rounds of fertilization. Also had a bare spot from tree removal that I used patch master to fill.

First pic is April 16 this year. Second is June 10.

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F0D5D0C2-F953-4955-9B50-A718261133A2.jpg
 

Yaj Yak

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I'd just talk to a lawn service, they'll be the best ones to tell you if it can be fixed (especially since we don't have pictures).




Thank youuuuuuu. Never understood how people let their grass get so far-gone. I fertilize my yard 4 times per year max (scotts 4 step ftw) and it is absurdly green and thick. So on actual lawn maintenance I spend no more than an hour a year. I'm sure it helps that the yard is only 9 years old and has been maintained since it was fresh sod. And yes I have a super small lot so it's easier, if I had an acre it'd take 4x as long and cost 4x as much, but over the course of a year that's still not bad

My neighbors (also on small lots) have absolute shit yards even though they were all fresh sod <10 years ago, pisses me off to no end. Like you couldn't spend $160 and 1 hour per year fertilizing and now I have to look at this shit every day


mine got super far gone last year because i was rehab'ing my house and it rained fucking 4 inches every 3 goddamn days. i was fucked. getting my master bathrrom & bedroom done so i could fully live in my house again took precedent.

i barely got to even mow, and when i did get to mow, i couldn't mow parts of my yard because they were new-wetland areas on my half acre of freedom.
 
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Kensington

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im over my paygrade i dont know grass species

i just know my buddy had his entire yard near his pool sodd'd'd'd and it was fucking awesome.

Neighbor just sodded his backyard, and it looks fucking amazing...for the last 3 years I've been fertilizing, putting down weed control, aerating/dethatching, overseeding, mulching, and working my ass off...I would honestly just trade all that work in, start fresh with sod, make sure to water the shit out of it, and be done with it...
 
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