by Dave Donovan
Spring is in the air and now that you’ve begun leaving the house more often, you notice that your yard is looking a little spotty. While it’s not uncommon for the yard to look disheveled after thawing out from the winter cold, there could be some underlying reasons why the grass looks so bad.
For starters, if you notice that you have a mole problem every year; it could be because you also have a grub problem. Grubs love to eat the roots of your grass, thus causing dead patches of grass throughout your yard. An easy way to check for grubs is to pick a piece of yard and skim back the grass, roots and all. You may notice fat white worms squirming around. These are grubs. They make for some good fishing, by the way. Moles love to eat grubs, so one attracts the other and before you know it, you have three separate problems—dead grass, grubs and moles.
To get rid of the grubs, use a commercial insecticide aimed directly at killing grubs. With the grubs gone, the moles will look elsewhere for dinner. Now you can concentrate on repairing the lawn.
If you have large areas with dead grass, the best move is to remove the entire patch. Once the patch is removed, fill the area with a good grade of topsoil. It also helps to mix some natural fertilizer into the dirt for a good measure of nutrients.
With the soil prepared, sprinkle the grass seed over the exposed area. Be careful to spread it thoroughly, but don’t over spread. If you plant too many seeds, it can be difficult for the seeds to germinate. Lightly rake the area so that only about 5 to 10% of the seeds are visible. Apply a light layer of straw or compost over the area to keep the soil damp and help keep pesky birds away.
Water the seeds every day, but don’t make them too soggy or they will die before they have a chance to sprout. It’s a good practice to set your lawn mower’s blades to the lowest setting while you’re waiting for the grass to grow. The shorter the surrounding grass is, the easier it is for the sun to hit the new seeds.
If you’re a person who doesn’t want to spend a lot of time fixing up the lawn, there are some great products on the market that incorporate seeds and covering in one easy application. These products work very well because the shredded paper and pulp that is mixed with the seeds is very effective at keeping the ground moist and the birds at bay. The filling is usually colored blue or green so you can easily see if you have the entire area covered.
Here’s a helpful Tip that is friendly to both your wallet and the environment: When you are raking the leaves in the fall, don’t stuff them in a garbage bag and leave them for the trash man to take. Pick up a blower/mulcher at your local hardware store. With the leaves in a pile, suck up the leaves with the mulcher and it will shred the leaves into tiny pieces. Empty the collection bag into an extra garbage bin or find an area of the yard to dump the leaves. When you need to repair a patch of grass, remove the dead patch and then apply a layer of the shredded leaves. Top the leaves with loose soil and plant your seeds. This is a very effective way to fertilize your seeds from the bottom up. Believe me, it works great.
If you like to re-seed your entire yard every spring, then the earlier you can do it the better. Rake your yard thoroughly to remove all the debris that accumulated over the winter. Rake it so that about ¼” of the top layer of dirt is loose. This helps to aerate the lawn and allow for proper drainage. Spread the seeds, approximately 1 to 2 pounds of seed per 1000 square feet in areas where there is already some grass. Vigilantly water the lawn until you see the new growth begin to sprout. Again, keep the mower blades low for the first 3 to 4 weeks after planting.
For a full and healthy looking lawn, seed in the spring and then seed again in the fall. In many areas, fall seeding can actually be more effective because of climate reasons, as well as the fact that the grass doesn’t have to compete with weeds as much.
If you don’t want to wait for the grass to grow in the affected area, re-sodding the area is always an option. Hardware superstores sell sod by the piece and it’s pretty inexpensive. All of the prior preparations should be done here, except that instead of seeding, simply cut the sod to fit the exposed area. You may need to grade some of the dirt down so the sod lays even with the rest of the surrounding grass.
Whichever way you choose to repair your bare section of yard, you will no doubt be pleased with the result. It can be very rewarding to sit on your deck or patio this summer with a nice cold glass of lemonade and look out at your yard full of healthy green grass and know that it looks that way because of your hard work.
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