Want to improve lawn quality..haven no idea where to start

I prefer to just run the ride-on over it every week and a half or so....

Some prefer to drive dirty cars, too. We've all got our "things".

My dirty-car lawn looks pretty good, actually - thanks.

Unless I miss a mowing or two - then it gets to looking a bit haggard.

I must confess a little bit however - I did buy a de-thatcher last year to drag around before things get too green in the Spring. I missed my window for it this year though.

Wow! Some folk are really serious about obtaining the "prefect" lawn...and that's fine... it's just not for me. Yep, my car is dirty most of the time(but I live on a gravel/dirt road so it's a lost cause).
We tend to keep the grass that's close to the house and decks in really good/fairly weed free condition but even the more weedier grass when kept mowed doesn't look all that bad from a distance(which is how it is viewed 99% of the time).

We must be doing something right as most people that visit usually comment on what a nice piece of heaven we have here.

muncybob said:

even the more weedier grass when kept mowed doesn't look all that bad from a distance(which is how it is viewed 99% of the time).

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Sounds like my corner yard ... it's green just don't look too close as you will see it has weeds and wild flowers thrown in It's taken years to get it that far... in-fill, level, black dirt, grass seed. No house there so we have a hard time keeping folks out of there. We've had fish houses, campers, Hydro One truck with pole trailer, and kids running around on 4 wheelers and snowmachines. Lost a blue spruce to kids on a snow machine.

Looked good last year ... held my son's wedding there!

muncybob said:

Wow! Some folk are really serious about obtaining the "prefect" lawn...and that's fine... it's just not for me. Yep, my car is dirty most of the time(but I live on a gravel/dirt road so it's a lost cause).
We tend to keep the grass that's close to the house and decks in really good/fairly weed free condition but even the more weedier grass when kept mowed doesn't look all that bad from a distance(which is how it is viewed 99% of the time).

We must be doing something right as most people that visit usually comment on what a nice piece of heaven we have here.

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Based on the apparent size of the dog in your Avatar you have some serious amounts of 'fertilizer' being applied though.

my front is finally starting to shape up... apparently there is something to this "watering" aspect.... we had dirt and crabgrass and clover, and then we put in sod a few years ago (free, so the price was right). we ended up having to cut up a few sections and replaced them, and I have been trying to fill in a few low spots and bald spots this year....

the front definitely looks better than the back and the side. I was a little jealous of the neighbors down the way with the "perfect" lawn, until they told me how much they water!

No way around it, the "perfect lawn" is gonna cost ya Either it's seed or fertilizer or water or the sweat off your brow to keep it trimmed....

I spend more gas money on my mower in summer, than in my car, and my car averages 12.4 MPG. Not sure which is more fun to drive.

Jags said:

I do nothing to encourage grass to grow. Mowing is lost time to me. Actually my favorite time of the year is when the grass turns a perfect shade of brown and gets crunchy.

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Lost but a necessary evil, I guess. I found last year that a radio headset/ear muff thing helps with that quite a bit, after getting one for Dads Day.

I don't really like what dry spells do to other things. The water level in our well, and fire hazard for a couple - but I would have to agree that I don't really mind what they do to our lawn.

begreen said:

+1 on the radio ear muffs. Years ago I had to make my own. So nice that now you can get a pre-made set. They work pretty well.

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Just bought a pair with bluetooth. I can listen to music from my phone while mowing and can take a phone call. It's actually fairly decent to talk on the phone with the mower deck engaged and at full throttle.

I like 'em.

I gave up about 15 years ago trying to have a nice lawn
would get it looking good and we would have a dry summer
and I refuse to try and water 2 1/2 acres . over seeded the
front 1 1/2 acre with white clover now stays green all
summer don't have to mow often wild flower abound
deer love it and have had some good comments on it
Perfect to me but then again I live in the boonies

Ended up doing a refurb on my lawn this year (1 acre). Weeds were starting get to be too much. Mostly clover, creeping Charlie and prostrate knotweed. Three weeks ago I hit it with Ortho liquid weed killer which did a fine job. Then I did a full depth plug aeration a couple weeks later.

This weekend I cut it short and bagged the clippings then over seeded and lightly aerated again to work the seed in. Lawn looks a little rough now.

I used tall fescue seed which is supposed to need less water and fertilizer. Only concern I have now is that I hope I got it down in time to germinate and grow enough to survive the winter.

Did the same here, two weeks ago, as I do every year. Unfortunately, I think it was wasted money for me this year, as we had a week of rain prior to seeding, but none since. Several nights in the 30's last week, but I'm hoping for warm and wet this week!

Tall fescue is a very good choice for your climate. I use the same, and it holds pretty good. Just watch for snow mold, and keep your pH and nutrients at recommended levels. A yearly soil test is key, since they'll tell you how to adjust your pH and fertilizing from one year to the next.

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Ashful said:

Did the same here, two weeks ago, as I do every year. Unfortunately, I think it was wasted money for me this year, as we had a week of rain prior to seeding, but none since. Several nights in the 30's last week, but I'm hoping for warm and wet this week!

Tall fescue is a very good choice for your climate. I use the same, and it holds pretty good. Just watch for snow mold, and keep your pH and nutrients at recommended levels. A yearly soil test is key, since they'll tell you how to adjust your pH and fertilizing from one year to the next.

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With the colder temps and lack or rain you may get mostly spring germination. I know some people seed late trying to do exactly that. You've probably heard of this but the idea is the seed lies dormant and gets pressed down over the winter by snow and leaves leading to high rate of germination in spring.

If I didn't have bare spots I would have waited until later myself. I need to fertilize as evidenced by the clover and a soil test is a good idea. I should grab a few plugs off the lawn.

As far as seeding this late, luckily I have a sprinkler system and have been watering lightly 2X a day. Long Island, being surrounded by water moderates our temps in the early fall relative to being inland quite a bit so I'm hoping for success. If the seed takes and survives the winter I can treat for weeds and crabgrass right off the bat next spring.

As far as fescue its a first for me. I over seeded with rye a few years ago albeit with less prep and watering. Results were OK but the rye is not supposed to be quite as drought/heat tolerant and not as good for a range of sun and shade.

How high are you cutting the fescue? I try to keep what I have on the longer side but it tends to lay down and shows wheel marks from the ride on mower where the grass gets pressed down by the tires, then doesn't get lifted for the cut.

My mow height varies as weather dictates. I mow longer during summer heat and drought (4.25" to 4.50"), but always end the year mowing short (3.5"). It's tough going short without scalping, given my larger mower decks (60" and 72") and hilly terrain. The shortest mowing (3" or less) is immediately before annual reseeding at end of September.

Rye germinates faster and more reliably than fescue, but won't survive our summers as well, here. Watering a lawn the size of mine would take over 80,000 gallons per week, way beyond the capacity of my well. So, we have to live with drought-tolerant grasses, and yearly over-seeding.


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I don't do the 1" water per week thing. I try to be more careful with water use as do as I think its needed. Still I'm sure I use a goodly amount. But water is cheap around here.

In ground irrigation sure is handy for times like this.

sportbikerider78 said:

I have no desire to have a perfect lawn. I live in the country and really don't care. What I want is a lawn that does not consist of 50% dandelions and other weeds that all grow at totally different rates. Two days after I mow it looks like I never mowed because there is all kinds of stuff growing out there...I call it my field...not a lawn.

How do I start killing the weeds and planting seed? I have moist soil and we get plenty of rain, but short growing season.

Thanks!

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This is very old thread but here's my 2 cents.

Before moving to the Arctic, I had one of the nicest lawns in my town. Everyone would comment about it. Considering I had started it from scratch (topsoil and hand seeded), I was happy to hear the compliments.

I applied $150 of fertilizer per year (spring, summer, fall). Prior to that I had it treated to kill all the weeds. I added a bag of seed every year for 4 years after the initial seeding. Essentially the key is simple: if you have a thick, healthy grass weeds won't be able to infiltrate very easily. However, due to the fertilizer I would have to mow every 3 days. Hence why I bought a nice ride on lawn mower.

For me it was simple: I knew I would need to sell my house sooner than later and a yard/lawn is a first impression. So what's $500 invested when you get to sell your house?

Andrew

Ditto, although with my larger yard, you can 6x that yearly investment. Also, the contrast between my very nice yard and the neighbors' poorer lawns (posh neighborhood) guilted most of the neighbors to start spending more on their lawn care, so it has really made the whole neighborhood look much nicer. With most of them much closer to selling than me (I'm 20 years younger than the rest of the neighborhood), they will all benefit.

Earlier this season I bought a new lawnmower that had a mulching option. What a difference it makes. No grass box to empty, no grass cuttings to dispose of. No starting and stopping the engine when the grass box is full. And most of all the lawn is much better. I do need to cut the grass a little more frequently (it grows quicker with the mulch acting as fertilizer) but overall I am sure it still saves time. See article below:

http://www.mulching.co.uk/

Jags said:

That will work for the 24D part. It is not farmer grade (if you can buy it without a license - it ain't farmer grade), but it will still work. The Banvel part is still missing. Banvel will go after stuff that the 24D doesn't. Depending on the time of year, the 24D won't do much against creeping charlie (as one example). Banvel will. I don't know if there is a consumer grade equivalent to Banvel. It may be worth a minute on google to find the active ingredient to see if there is a cross reference to the stuff in the stores.
And YES - you can mix them in the same sprayer so that it is a one application and done.

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the only thing that makes something farmer grade is that it's still under a patent and can't be sold in stores. It's got nothing to do with strength or quality. Roundup was the same way before their patent expired. At most farm stores you can get just as good of stuff as a farmer can get, but the quantity obviously is not the same. The reason you need a license for herbicides and farm chemicals is for application, not for purchase reasons. Again, you can get the same stuff at the farm stores.