Trashy Looking Lawn

[Mod10]

For the past couple of years, the lawn around my house has gotten some bald spots and quite a few depressions. It's gotten to the point it feels like I'm riding a roller coaster with the lawnmower. Now that the grass is growing, the bald spots are really noticeable.

Is there such a thing as a renovation on a lawn; Do I need to just dig up the whole yard and start over?

Thanks for any help.

 

[JcMack]

Unless the neighbors surround your house with scythes, rakes, and torches, screaming "death to the anti lawnist" I'd say screw it. Lawns are the second greatest PIA in the world. Like the first greatest PIA, the more you do for a lawn the less it appreciates it.

 

[ladder13]

For the past couple of years, the lawn around my house has gotten some bald spots and quite a few depressions. It's gotten to the point it feels like I'm riding a roller coaster with the lawnmower. Now that the grass is growing, the bald spots are really noticeable.

Is there such a thing as a renovation on a lawn; Do I need to just dig up the whole yard and start over?

Thanks for any help.

It's possible the depressions are caused by groundhogs burrowing under your lawn.

 

[rondo]

I used to have the nicest lawn on the block. It looked like a fairway but was a royal PITA. Last summer it was infected with sod worm and within three days it was dead and stinky. My wife wanted a cottage garden instead of grass, so I said "go for it". This was one of the few smart decisions I've made in my lifetime. She is happy and I never have to mow again. Now I hate lawns. What was I thinking? I would rather paint dirt green than fuss over a lawn.

I have to admit the garden looks much nicer than grass.

 

[Iggy]

Can you say Astroturf??

 

[scoutsdad]

I used to have the nicest lawn on the block. It looked like a fairway but was a royal PITA. Last summer it was infected with sod worm and within three days it was dead and stinky. My wife wanted a cottage garden instead of grass, so I said "go for it". This was one of the few smart decisions I've made in my lifetime. She is happy and I never have to mow again. Now I hate lawns. What was I thinking? I would rather paint dirt green than fuss over a lawn.

I have to admit the garden looks much nicer than grass.


Useless without pictures

 

[rondo]

Useless without pictures

Agreed.

We've had a very strange spring this year, lots of frost and even some snow. Some plants did not make it, including the tree on the left (still hoping it snaps out of it). This will look much better in a few weeks as the plants wake up.

 

[Grog]

I told my bride-to-be that we should have the front yard paved. Less work and more parking for the in-laws

 

[BarbC]

Sounds like moles or voles. They are looking for grubs and tunnelling through the yard. Put down a grub control and the moles will stop coming into your yard. We've tried mole traps and they never worked. Poison might work, though, if you drop the pellets down the holes. But I never found that the animals came back through the same tunnel.

 

[scoutsdad]

Agreed.

We've had a very strange spring this year, lots of frost and even some snow. Some plants did not make it, including the tree on the left (still hoping it snaps out of it). This will look much better in a few weeks as the plants wake up.

I like it, I don't have a lawn just a big Palo Verde and some sages, and penstemons.

 

[JcMack]

My ex decided one time that the back yard needed to churned up and grass replanted. I rented a roto tiller and did the job. I believe slaves building the pyramids had an easier time than using a tiller. I instantly became the most hated man in the neighborhood. All the wives wanted their husbands to roto till. The first guy to borrow the tiller from me was 41. He had a heart attack and died the same night after using it. (I kid you not) My ex heard about the sad happenstance and asked me could I the till front lawn as well, before I brought the rental back.

 

[Farmer17]

I used to have dirt delivered and I would wheel barrow it and fill in the low spots, and that was an incredible amount of back breaking work. Then I figured out I could take my pickup truck to the local concrete plant and they would put a half ton of sand in the bed with a front end loader for $15. Then I would drive around my acreage and rake it off the tail gate and it was pretty easy, and the sand was much easier to rake and level than top soil or silty loam.

 

[afriqueart]

Put an old pickup on cinder blocks. Set an old washer and dryer out on the lawn. Folks won't care about your grass or lack of it, then!

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

For the past couple of years, the lawn around my house has gotten some bald spots and quite a few depressions. It's gotten to the point it feels like I'm riding a roller coaster with the lawnmower. Now that the grass is growing, the bald spots are really noticeable.

Is there such a thing as a renovation on a lawn; Do I need to just dig up the whole yard and start over?

Thanks for any help.

Without seeing pics..... my guess it that the mower "roller coaster" is simply due to the height difference of grass/no grass and maybe a little dirt washed away in the bald spots... bounce & bump. How to fix depends on what type grass you have. In VA... I'm guessing you have a Fescue type grass. If so, you can't do much until fall. If there hasn't been much dirt lost, scratch the bare areas with a rake and put down some of the bagged 'patch' stuff you can find at Lowe's or HD. If the bare areas are pretty large then seed and straw is more practical. If it is a Bermuda type grass, toss some sand in the bare spots then fertilize the entire yard big time. Bermuda spreads quick during the summer months and this is the perfect time.

Pay no attention to the Anti-Lawn Lawnists. My deer are very particular about the lawns they visit..... and Pugsters loves her lawn for play. Me.... I like morning coffee on the back deck... and a cold adult beverage or two while watching the sprinklers run after mowing the yard on a warm summer afternoon. Much satisfaction.

 

[scorvers]

Fire. If your neighbors don't mind, burn it. Till it and replant.

 

[venomballistics]

tilling through sod is not on my list of things to do. Its the wrong tool for the job.
a tractor drawn plow is the order of the day. Once your have it "field grade" its a simple matter of dragging it with a weighted bed spring behind a riding lawn mower prior to seeding.
It'll take a year or two for the lawn to settle in.
Dont waste money on a new mower till it behaves itself. Sacrifice some old well used pieces of crap till at least the next year. A first year lawn is murder on a mower

 

[H Richard]

I have a beautiful yard. The condo assoc. yard man cuts the grass on Wed. My wife still has a flower garden to play in but I sold my mower 5 years ago when we built here. Love it.

 

[truckemup97]

My ex decided one time that the back yard needed to churned up and grass replanted.

When we bought our house, there was not a single blade of grass in the back yard. The previous residents had three kids and two dogs. Add seven large trees, with leaves that were not raked for the last three or four years, and I had no choice but to till it up and start over. I tilled it, cutting two cable lines in the process, then re-seeded (is it really re-seeding if there was no grass in the first place?!?) with a fescue mix. I've re-seeded again a couple of times, and it still looks pretty good.

 

[Wayne02]

I believe having a lawn is overrated, but my wife does not, so we have a front and back lawn.

About the only 'lawn' I'm interested in is one that is cut using the tractor and the brush hog.

So the front and back lawn are off limits for me, but everywhere else is open game to killing the blasted green stuff that will not stop growing. For this task I use the atv with front mounted sprayer, except where the atv will not fit because of width.

For those areas, I built Death Sprayer 2010, and now I can spray the evil round-up with reckless abandoned anywhere on our place.

 

[kraigwy]

I never was much for lawns, why plant something that will cause you more work.

I had a neighbor in Anchorage that I would drive nuts with my lack of lawn work. He use to offer me the use of his lawn mower, I told him not to worry, come winter, it would look just like his.

In the winter, He'd offer his snow blower to clean off my drive way, I'd tell him, no problem, come spring, it will look just like his.

Now I'm retired living in Wyoming. When the grass gets too high, I turn the horses loose on it.

Life is too short to plant something you'll just have to mow every now and then.

Forget the lawn, you cant see it if you're off fishing some trout stream.