Being a first time home owner means that I have a yard to take care of for the first time in my life. I used to mow grass a lot when I was younger but otherwise I have no idea how to take care of a lawn properly. It hasn't rained in about a month and the grass is mostly brown. Luckily a fair percentage of my neighbors grass looks the same.
The yard I inherited when we bought our house was in pretty decent shape. The biggest complaint is that there are patches here and there missing grass. I attempted to place seed in these places but didn't have much luck. Also, since it hasn't rained here in about a month the grass isn't growing much and thus it doesn't need to be cut. The weeds still grow, however, and it turns out my yard has more weeds than I thought.
I am not going to lie. I am a little obsessive with what the neighbors are doing with their lawns. Mostly the couple of neighbors right across the street as I can easily see them out of my windows. I don't want my lawn to get too out of control in comparison to theirs...
I haven't done much of anything to the lawn since moving in other than mow it. I've decided not to fiddle with it much right after moving in. However, everything that I've been told and have read says that fall is a good time to re-seed the lawn in preparation of getting a great lawn for the following spring and summer. So probably sometime in late September or early October I am planning on re-seeding the lawn, whatever that means. I might ask my dad to show me how. I think I will feel more comfortable doing it once I know what I'm doing. Otherwise I get concerned that the neighbors will be judging me...
Did you rake the area before you put the seed down? Raking in a little top soil helps too. It's really important to keep the seed moist every day until and even after, it germinates. Deep watering a couple of times a week will help the roots grow deeper instead of quick watering with a hose every day. Deeper roots help the lawn survive the dry times and crowd out weeds. Did Sarah ever tell you that I "like playing in the dirt?" ;-) Good Luck! auntie 502
ReplyDeleteI did rake the areas. I softened the ground with a hard metal rake before putting down the seed. I think my biggest mistake was not watering it enough. I watered it daily for like 3-4 days, then it dropped off to every other day for a few days, then it dropped off completely. It got rain every 3rd day or so but it didn't take off. Also, there are a bunch of patches on my side lawn that are close to each other and was requiring me to mow around. After a few mowing rounds I just started mowing over the areas where I had recently placed seed. I don't know if that had anything to do with them failing or not. The guy at Lowes said they could grow grass on concrete with this seed. I couldn't get it to work in my yard. Lol. Like I said though, I think the failure was from lack of water.
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