Anual lawn care; what do you do?

[NS Gearhead]

So, I've been in my new house for about 3.5 years now. The lawn I have is only the septic field (it's code they spread seed), and the rest of the yard kind of took to weeds/ grass waiting for me to topsoil and seed over whatever they used as fill. Not ideal.

Obviously I'd love to have a lanscaping company come in, lay 6" of top soil/ compost mix nice and level, and top with sod... and trow in underground sprinklers while they're at it... but that'll only happen once I win the lotto.

I have been picking away at filling in & seeding low and bare spots... and it's starting to look decent at least.

So here's the plan;

-Keep filling in low/ bare spots and seeding.
-plug aerate, overseed, and fertilize in the spring once grass starts to green
-pull dandilions & obvious broad leaf plants when they appear
-lime in the fall

What do you guys think? Some say to overseed in the fall... What do you do to keep your lawn looking good?

 

[HillStreet]

The weeds will die in the fall, so that is a good time to reseed. Use a quality seed for your area.

My lawn was pretty bad a few years ago. I Corrected it with some rock removal and light grading with a grading blade on the tractor. Then hand raking out the big stuff and seeding.

Normal maintenance now is fertilizer with crabgrass preventer in spring, weed and feed in mid summer, cheap winter fertilizer and lime in the fall.

Just patching/ filling small areas is tedious and results in bumps and dips. Think larger scale and just smooth out/ grade existing soil with a small blade on your tractor. Drag a bed spring or small section of chain link over the whole area to smooth it out, then hand rake the junk out of it. Seed and water.

When I was young and in my first house I was thinking it would need a lot of loam and work to put in my lawn. An old timer walked by, looked at my soil, and said "don't worry about it, this dirt will grow grass", and it did.

Good luck.

 

[Buppies]

The best time to overseed and aerate is in August. Buy a testing kit from a lawn and garden store to see what the soil needs. If you follow what the agricultural people say in your area the efforts will be very visible in a couple of years. Good luck

 

[Gary Fowler]

Do all of your grading and levelling prior to starting a turf. It is almost impossible to find and fill in all the holes and cut off the hills after seeding or putting down turf. If you plan to put in a sprinkler system eventually, find a way fund the cost so you can put it in prior to seeding, otherwise the trenches will be ongoing fight to level out as the dirt fill sinks in for a year or so.

Even without a soil test, almost all soils are too acidic and will benefit from lime application. Soil test will tell you how much to put to get the right pH but 200-300# per acre of pelletized lime is not going to hurt your soil. Acid rain, yearly fertilizing all add to the lawn to raise the pH so yearly lime application is a necessity if you want to get the most benefit from your fertilizer.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Neat story; when I was Chief Engineer at a local oil recycling/ hazmat facility we got in about 30 bags of scotts turf builder that had gotten damp. I grabbed it up & would put two or three bags at a time in a tray under the back of the boiler. I'd sift through with a kitty litter scoop once it was all dry and get the tinny clumps out. I think I ended up with 5 or 6 five gal. pails full. At that time we were in our starter home... I'd put two pails/ year on the small lawn.. that a pulling the weeds. I went from the worst lawn in the neighborhood to almost the best!

I think I've got a good game plan... it's just going to take a couple years to show... and a couple $100/ year.

 

[Ken45101]

I definitely would take care of it now, not wait until spring. Spring may be muddy and difficult to work with, dry ground is much easier.

If it is mostly weeds and rough, I would just go ahead and regrade it now. Do the entire yard if it is bad enough.

In the past, I've used a box blade with scarifier teeth to rip up an area and then drug a section of old chain link fence around (with a heavy log on it for weight) to break up the clumps and smooth it out. Then I seeded it and drug the chain link around again to mix the seed in with the dirt. That worked just as well as a landscape company did with their seeding and spreading hay.

Late summer/early fall is the best time for sowing grass. Spring is second best.

 

[jaotguy]

look around ... grass grows anywhere , even in gravel and cement cracks ...

just keep re seeding and leveling a bit at a time ....

soon , you'll be complaining you have to cut the dang stuff twice a week ...:laughing:

 

[Ken45101]

soon , you'll be complaining you have to cut the dang stuff twice a week ...:laughing:

I have often said that "Only in America do we spend money on water to make our grass grow, spend money on fertilizer to make our grass grow...all so that we can spend money to mow it down!"

 

[jaotguy]

have you ever noticed it still looks just as good trimmed at 2-3 inches as the neighbors at 1" ... and you don't have to water it as often .

 

[farmer2009]

I mow mine. That's it no fertilizer no seed no spray. If I do any digging then I put the sod back green side up. Mow every couple of weeks nothing fancy. I have noticed you can mow taller and it look just as good. The taller grass keeps the ground shaded which holds in moisture and hold down some weeds.