Grass is always greener... but not in my YARD!

July 5, 2005 7:53 AM

My backyard needs help! We tilled / seeded / hayed it in mid-April but grass has only sprouted across 50% of the area. I'm big into organic lawncare, I follow most of the basic rules, but I just can't get my grass to grow. What should I do?

Here's a few pictures to illustrate the problem:

• This is what roughly half of our backyard looks like - pic 1, pic 2

• And this is what the other half looks like - pic 1, pic 2

• Our soil (a.k.a. dusty dirt) isn't the greatest either - pic 1, pic 2 - it's been tilled and de-rocked several times, but rain and sprinkling has teased the rocks back to the surface.

We don't have the money to haul in a new layer of topsoil, reseed, and start over from scratch, but we do have patience. Should I retill the barren areas and reseed them? What kind of grass seed should we use? Our yard will be forever grateful for your advice.

posted by bjork24 to science & nature (9 comments total)

Retilling won't do much good unless you're adding organic material and nutrients. Can you afford to buy a dozen large bags of composted manure? Spreading a thin layer of compost over the entire lawn will go a long way toward turning your dirt into soil. It will help encourage growth, attract worms (which will aerate the soil), and hold moisture.

I really don't think tilling will help, especially if it's been done several times already. Instead, use a dirt rake to roughly scratch the manure into the top layer, then reseed. Good luck!
posted by letitrain at 9:22 AM on July 5, 2005

How deep is the soil, down to sand and rocks? It sounds quite shallow from your description. As your first link stated, anything less than four inches just won't work and the more the better. You might find topsoil cheaper than you think if you just get a load dumped on the driveway and you spread it yourself, preferably get soil with peat moss or compost mixed in. Straight compost is fine (and has more organics) but can be harder to work with. You can start with the trouble areas, then every Spring and Fall get another load and spread it thinly over the yard until you have added enough to comfortably give at least four inches everywhere. This process can take years, hence the attraction of doing it one time and reseeding. Use a lot of natural fertilizer, like Ringer's Lawn Restore. It is all pretty good stuff and unlike chemicals won't promote growth spurts or rinse away with the rains. Fall is the time for the big application. Your soil also looks very dry, but that could just be the pictures. Keep it watered until the new grass is well established. As for areas that didn't sprout, it is likely poor soil, but sometimes the sprouting is not uniform. For a few small spots just attend to them in the Fall.
posted by caddis at 10:14 AM on July 5, 2005

When she moved into her new house my mom spent a full year of tilling, seeding, fertilizing, watering, laying down compost, and pulling up weeds and ground ivy and the lawn still looked a lot like yours. But this summer (the second one) it's come in green, thick, and beautiful.

So it may just take a year of hard work before you'll see the results. If you have something growing don't retill (unless you're scraping up the dirt and mixing it with fertilizer/compost in the bald spots). Definitely lay down compost or topsoil if you can, fertilize, and keep the ground nice and watered. Reseed and fertilize the bald spots in the fall. Hopefully it'll come in nicely come spring.
posted by schroedinger at 10:27 AM on July 5, 2005

Er, what caddis said.
posted by schroedinger at 10:27 AM on July 5, 2005

From your second picture it looks like your yard is shaded, specifically tree-shaded. Grass needs a solid half day of full sunshine to grow well. And where there's tree shade there are tree roots sucking moisture and nutrients from the soil. Very shalllow-rooted trees are especially bad because their roots are in direct competition with turf grass roots; it's impossible to grow a lawn under maples, for example. Many other trees (xenopaths) exacerbate matters things by releasing substances from their roots that inhibit the growth of other plants, grass included; black walnuts, hickories, beeches are particularly bad offenders. Others
(oaks, e.g.) create an acidic environment that turfgrasses can't tolerate.

My suggestion: give up. Grass is only worth the trouble and expense if it's lush. Patchy grass, which is the best you can hope for in shade (even if trees aren't a factor), can't hold up under foot traffic, so what's the point? There are other groundcovers that do fine in shade and under trees (vinca and pachysandra are the usual suspects but there are hundreds of others) and are a lot easier to maintain. No, you can't play bocce on them but your conditions are not going to permit you to have a lawn that you can play bocce on either so quit while you're ahead.
posted by TimeFactor at 11:06 AM on July 5, 2005

It looks like you may have dogs, no? Dog pee/poo is very acidic.

Regardless of the dog situation, I'd suggest you water more often. Its obviously too dry when you see cracks like you've got. Something organic that will help hold moisture in is peat moss. When you seed, scratch up the top layer, mix with peat, a little fertilizer and then the seed. Gently rake it again, then water (gently). I would suggest lime in almost any soil, notice that the farmers do around you (I saw you're in MO). Certain types of seed are better for shade and sun, seed appropriately, though I know that won't have the even consistency that everyone desires.

Last, if you live in what was the plains and you are so concerned with organics would you do something so unnatural as grow a lawn full of Eastern Hemisphere grasses? Why not go native, stop mowing and let it go back to prairie? It won't look green, but you'll be doing us all a favor!
posted by Pollomacho at 12:54 PM on July 5, 2005

I'm wondering if this is a clayey soil that is low on organic material? I have done well rehabbing some ghastly glacial till by starting out with improving the soil, then coming around and planting later.

I have done well with doing sheet composting (AKA lasagna beds). I simply haul in piles of any organic matter I can get free, compost it where I'm going to plant, then till it in and plant it after it's broken down some. If you have dogs, dog manure can just be tucked right into the compost, the lawn won't mind.
posted by Ken McE at 4:38 PM on July 5, 2005

I just revived my lawn as well. My soil looks like yours too, lots of rocks and clay. Go with the previous advice about amending the soil and watering more. Spreading stuff on the top will work. That's what I did, but instead of actually tilling I just had it aerated. After two weeks of ten minute soaking daily it was lush enough to dive into. And your yard looks better than mine did. I think you will fair well with this!
posted by snsranch at 6:17 PM on July 5, 2005

If you're planting cool season grass, like fescue, then you need to plant it in the cool season. More specifically, do all the work in the September to November timeframe -- the rest of the year is just maintenance (and more to the point, seeding in the spring is a waste of time). Timing is everything in lawn care.

If it's warm season grass, like bermuda, then nevermind.

I did precisely the same as you, and pretty much do exactly what that linked page says (heck, I could have written that), and it all works out in the end. The key that I didn't see in the linked page (I skimmed, may have missed it) was that when tilling (~9 inches deep), I tilled in a massive amount of manure and gypsum. That totally loosened up and rejuvenated the soil, which looked about the same as yours. That gave the grass a chance to develop a deep root system, and THAT is what promotes a healthy lawn.

I just plan on spending a large chunk of weekends in the fall on the lawn, but then that's it.

Also, I cut my grass using a push reel mower, but I'm hardcore. It's better for the grass (scissor cutting), and you (exercise), and your neighbors (noise).

Finally, again back to the cool season concept ... it's summer. The cool season grasses just go dormant. Give them a good working over in the fall: thatch -> lime -> organic fertilizer -> overseed. Repeat every fall. Works great.
posted by intermod at 6:21 PM on July 5, 2005