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Reclaim my lawn
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Posted by
kimbhoot Kansas City (
My Page) on
Sun, Aug 14, 11 at 15:34
| So we recently moved here. The lawn was not in it's greatest shape. Very light densed grass and I think it's some blend of bluegrass or something. Don't know much about the type of grasses. I seeded in May but probably didn't water enough, so I didn't see any outcome from my seeding. Recently we had the drought, most of my front lawn was dead but then this light green grass just started growing in this 3 digit temperature. Are these crabgrass? looks like I have few different type of grasses in my lawn. I would really like to get the lawn back in shape and willing to do what it takes. Please advise where do I start at this time of the year.
Any suggestions appreciated. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Reclaim my lawn
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| Yep, this year has been scorching hot. It's not normally like this, but then again last year was almost like this - just not as bad. Likely is crabgrass foxtail or some variation of either of them. It's really going gangbusters this time of year here. |
RE: Reclaim my lawn
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| The time to fix your lawn is approaching. You need to wait until the summer heat breaks and the evening temps cool down. Day temps should be low 80s or below to get going. If you want to pay to have it done, you could hire a landscaper to scrape off your weeds with a tractor and box blade. That process will take about half a morning and leave you with the perfect surface for seeding or sodding. It will also leave you with perfect drainage - that's what the tractor/box blade is for. Depending on the history of your lot, they might bring in more soil or haul some away. Let them decide. If you want to do it yourself, then you will need some RoundUp, a rented dethatcher (also comes as a verticutter, slicer, power rake, slit seeder). The idea is the chew up the grass and top 1/8 inch of soil. Blow or rake all that away and use that surface for the seed. Spring is a bad time of year to sow grass seed. That's why your results were bad. Even if your results were spectacular you had better than 80% chance of being exactly were you are today with the weeds. Spring is just that bad. Fall is the time. How much and how often are you willing to water after your lawn is in? Are you going to let it dry out and die again next year? If so then maybe you need to be looking at native grasses like blue grama or hybrid buffalo sod to have a sustainable lawn. |
RE: Reclaim my lawn
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| dchall_san_antonio, are you suggesting I need to completely redo my lawn? :( I was hoping I could use some sort of weed and crabgrass killer and re-seed this fall and from that point on, take proper care. |
RE: Reclaim my lawn
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| you said, "I would really like to get the lawn back in shape and willing to do what it takes." I took that to mean you wanted to renovate. No problem, though. It can be done the way you describe. Look at my 3rd paragraph in the post above. Pick and choose the places where you want to scalp the weeds away and do what you want. You can use the dethatcher or not. I think you'll get better results using the dethatcher but you can just mow it as low as you can get and seed into that. Kentucky bluegrass takes several weeks of 3x daily watering to germinate. |
RE: Reclaim my lawn
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| I can use a dethatcher. my front yard isn't big. So dethatch and seed when it cools off a little bit? It's been raining here and will be raining for this whole week. Temp is in upper 80's this week. Can I use any weed killer now. I guess what I'm looking for is a timing (time of the year) and steps that I should be performing to take care of this ugly yard. Your input much appreciated. |
RE: Reclaim my lawn
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| Weed killers and heat don't mix well either. About the only thing you can do in the heat of summer is to apply organic fertilizers or compost. My strong preference is for fertilizers as they cost about 1/10 what compost costs. |
RE: Reclaim my lawn
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| so is it time to seed yet? I haven't done anything on the lawn yet. should I apply some fertilizer? the grass is not thick at all? please advise. |
RE: Reclaim my lawn
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| Yes, it's time to seed. Fertilize with a starter fert when you seed. |
RE: Reclaim my lawn
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is it important to verticut or just plain seeding. someone from home depot told me I need to mix the seed with this scott turf builder!
so what's the process? see and then apply starter fertilizer? what do I do about the birds? there are too many in my area and I'm afraid they'll get to the seeds before they grow! |
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