23 replies to this topic

[kolak]

Well if its good soil, and youre giving it the right ammount of nutrients and still having that problem, you need to aerate. Rent a power aerator at your local equipment rentals outfit and go over your whole lawn a bunch of times. It punchs zillions of tiny holes in the soil and loosens it up so that roots can penetrate and get oxygen.

Are these bare patches hard? I bet they are...

Come to think of it, the soil is pretty hard (even water doesn't sink in quickly). Thanks for the advice  

[dre]

Come to think of it, the soil is pretty hard (even water doesn't sink in quickly). Thanks for the advice

Home Depot rents them. Theres a picture of the tool there so that you know what it looks like.

http://homedepotrents.com/toolschool/aerate_your_lawn.asp


Go over it a whole bunch of times... it will make your lawn look rough for a week or so, but its the best thing anyone can do for their lawn.

After the soil is all loosened up feed&seed the bare patches again.

[American Woman]

Come to think of it, the soil is pretty hard (even water doesn't sink in quickly). Thanks for the advice

It's odd that the grass around the small holes grows with a vigor if the problem is simply need of aerating, but that couldn't hurt - unless you have an automatic sprinkler system, and there are better times of the year to do it; and some equipment is more effective than others.

[guyser]

Come to think of it, the soil is pretty hard (even water doesn't sink in quickly). Thanks for the advice

Dont discount the grub problem, it is very bad in the city since the ban is now almost 8 yrs along.Idiot politicians.

But then again....super hard? Maybe you have too much clay?

[Manny]

It's odd that the grass around the small holes grows with a vigor if the problem is simply need of aerating, but that couldn't hurt - unless you have an automatic sprinkler system, and there are better times of the year to do it; and some equipment is more effective than others.

Sounds like dog/ animal feces or something like that. If they poop on your lawn, it can kill the grass on that spot but the area around it gets a dose of fertilizer.

[American Woman]

Sounds like dog/ animal feces or something like that. If they poop on your lawn, it can kill the grass on that spot but the area around it gets a dose of fertilizer.

Animal pee can kill the lawn, too - but it's the reference to "holes" that has me confused; sounds like animals digging for something (bugs/whatever). I know skunks dug holes in my lawn when I had grubs, but that wasn't until the fall - but I did have patches that didn't grow well during the summer, no matter what I did - and that's where the grubs were. Once I did have a problem with squirrels digging for acorns that had become embedded in the ground, too....

[MiddleClassCentrist]

I seeded my lawn with clover this year for something different. Read up online about it. Since my grass was brown but the clover was more drought resistant, maintaining it's green colour.

The sun beats down on my front lawn all day and I don't feel good about draining aquifers just to keep it green because that's just retarded.


That and I don't really care for the "Final Solution" lawn of nothing but grass.



Backyard is fine because a swale runs though it and it is more shaded keeping it greener longer.



My favourite lawn that I've seen was just a bunch of low growth evergreens taking up the entire front yard. It actually looked nice, wilderness like but not overgrown. If It wasn't for my kids needing room to run around I'd probably do something different like a xeriscape.

[Peeves]

I spread Ammonium nitrate on the last snow of the season, (or as close as possible) It's high nitrogen and cheap, and as the snow melts it leaches in.It's too strong to put directly on the grass.

Edited by Peeves, 14 June 2012 - 07:59 AM.

[betsy]

any tips to kill chinch bugs?