newhomeowner

I am a new member to the forum and aslo a new/first time homeowner. My wife and I have been working really hard on the inside of the home (paint, carpet, flooring, etc). We are trying to make the home our own. I now want to concentrate on the yard. The grass is mostly dead. I have patches of green grass, and patches of dirt. The previous owners did not take care of the lawn, and it shows. I have talked to many people about getting the lawn back to "life." Will fertilizer do? or do I need to completley re seed? I am new to this gardening thing, so give me a break. What do I need to do to the soil to get it to grow grass? Can I just lay seed? Do I need to turn the soil "over" and then lay seed? Thanks in advance for the help.

chestercheeto48

I am not an expert by any means but when I have had large areas that are in need of being re seeded I simply rake the area with a garden rake to losen the soil then put down seed with a spreader. I then try to cover the area with straw if it isn't to big of a hassel. Water it every night for the first couple of weeks and try to avoid cutting it until the lawn is well established.

briansol

Welcome to the site

Planting grass is a pain. The problem with just planting seed in the dead spots is that instead of dirt patches, you'll have different colored grass patches. In time, it will blend in, but it will look pretty ugly for a while.

But yes, like chester metions, simply raking it up to get to the soil, and laying seed down (don't over do it.... a little seed goes a long way) an watering it daily is all you really need to do.

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1997 2050sqft Split Level

chestercheeto48

To avoid the greener spots it helps to put down the same species of grass seed. I also put down some fertilzer on the rest of the yard to help green it up as well. Typically after a couple of mowings it starts to even out in color.