Lawn issues

turbomangt

I Live in Chicago, one section of our lawn all year has looked brown, bare in spots. I have a compay that furtilizes it, we had aration done as well. what should I do? and when? it also should be leveled out, high and low spots

jamiedolan

Bring is some top soil in early spring, till up all the bad grass, and level it all out with the new top soil. Plant new grass, around mid to late may. Top dress with a generous amount of Peat moss to keep the grass seed wet during germination. It is helpful to till peat moss into the soil as well.

Jamie

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Jamie Dolan - Neenah, WI

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turbomangt

THANKS jAMIE!!!!!!!! SO I GUESS SOD IS NOT THE BEST OPTION? i GUESS IT WOULD BE EXPENSIVE AS WELL. i'LL TRY WHAT YOU SUGGESTED, TO BAD YOU ARE NOT NEAR ME, i'D HIRE YOU.

jamiedolan

HI;

You can do the same thing for the prep and lay down sod. As you said, sod gets expensive. I've found planting new grass with some peat and keeping it moist (not flooded) and the new grass will start to come in about 10 days later (if your doing this in the spring / early summer). It looks like a yard again in 3 to 4 weeks, depending on the weather. Sod is faster (i.e. instant lawn), but still needs to be watered a lot until it really has it's roots take hold. So the only big advantage I see to sod is you get a green lawn a few weeks sooner.

If it is an area that you absolutely can't keep foot traffic off of for a few weeks, then sod is going to do better. But it is far better to rope it off either way until the grass is well established.

Jamie

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Jamie Dolan - Neenah, WI

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turbomangt

JAMIE should that area be omitted for fertilizer as well, till the grass comes in?

jamiedolan

Yes, you don't want the regular type of lawn fertilizer / weed control granules / spray on that area. Once it is fully developed and looks like the rest of the yard, it should be fine to give a light fertilizing to. So if you do a mid summer fertilizing, that might happen 6-8 weeks after you plant the grass seed, that should be fine.

You can use a "starter" fertilizer that is low in nitrogen that is made for starting grass seed, but it normally is expensive and unnecessary.

Jamie

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Jamie Dolan - Neenah, WI

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turbomangt

Last question, any type of grass seed you like over others?

jamiedolan

How much shade does this area get, if any?

Jamie

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Jamie Dolan - Neenah, WI

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turbomangt

Not that much, mostly sunny partial shade

jamiedolan

Then you should be able to grow Kentucky Blue Grass. It is one of the nicest looking and more tolerant grasses that grow in the midwest. It does not like much shade.

You could also just pick up a grass blend for sunny locations (most will have a reasonable amount of Kentucky Blue Grass in them), it won't look quite as pretty as straight blue grass does, but it will have some other grasses in it that are more tolerant of adverse conditions such as drought.

Jamie

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Jamie Dolan - Neenah, WI

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