How do I grow grass?

Question

Hi everyone. I had a question. I recently moved into this house and basically there is no landscaping. Therefore, I called out landscaping service and they basically want $2000 to put in grass. So I wanted to see if I could do it myself. Can anyone give me some advice? Basically right now, there is some soft dirt around the yard. Someone at work told me to spread some fertilizer first, rake it around, then put some sod over it, and then water like crazy. Does this sound right? I would appreciate info. Thanks!!!

Answer 1

Richard,

Sounds like a winning plan... Remember that the sod needs to be watered A LOT once laid out...! A lot of the Home Depot sod bundles actually have watering instructions on them... If you can haul enough sod by all means... GO FOR IT...!

Last bit of advice, stagger your sod bundles... Don't make a checkerboard pattern but a stacked brick look... Hope this helps and good luck...!

1EM

Answer 2

You don't need to put down fertilizer until the grass roots have established themselves. Check with your local grass or sod company...they deliver....and you don't have to cover th whole yard at one time if you want to save some money. Make sure the yard or dirt area is raked flat for best results. Once you get sod...lay it down next to each other...pattern doesn't matter. After you get it down water it good that day and the next couple of days to help the roots start. You can cut back after that and only water when the ground is dry. After the yard is established or next spring...put out some fertilizer. It's always best to start out front and work your way to the back. You can actually have a company blow a seed mulch spray in the back yard at a fraction of the cost of sod.

Good Luck

Answer 3

If your soil contains too much or too little of certain chemical compounds, it is very harmful to your grass. The result? Your beautiful grass becomes riddled with lawn problems, including large patches of brown and dying grass, sparce growth, patches of dirt, overly dry grass, slow growth, or your lawn becomes overgrown with weeds that cannot be stopped.

In scientific terms (feel free to skip this paragraph if you dislike chemistry) the following organic compounds are the cause of many lawn problems: hydrocarbons, fatty acids, nitrogenous acids, alcohols, esters, fats, waxes, resins, carbohydrates, nitrogenous bases, and sulphur compounds (whew! what a list!). Amont these are dihydroxystearic acid and picoline carboxylic acid, which have both been found in unproductive lawn soils and both are harmful to plants.

So what does all this mean to you, the homeowner?

Basically, if the soil around your house contains too much of the above substances, your lawn will suffer, causing many lawn problems.

If the soil around your house is missing key nutrients, your lawn will suffer as well!

Sometimes the imbalance in your soil could be caused by an old buried sidewalk under your lawn which infuses the lawn with chemicals used in concrete. Sometimes it could be that before you moved into your home, your lawn had a huge pine tree in the middle of it that permeated the soil with pine needles (which contain chemicals harmful for grass) for 10 years before it was removed. It could also be the result of that beautiful maple tree which is distributing a harmful fungus to your entire lawn without you knowing it. It could be any number of other issues as well.

There are two possible solutions:

1) Hire a lawn care expert to come out and test your soil, evaluate the nearby trees, and make recommendations. A lawn care expert like this can be worth his fee many times over, because he will be able to pinpoint your problem quickly, saving you many trips to the lawn and garden store. He will also save you money that you would have wasted in various treatments, fertilizers, sprinklers, etc...

2. The other solution is to test the soil yourself. You can obtain soil testing kits on the Internet easily, then do the appropriate research on the particular type of grass you have in your lawn. Make sure the chemical makeup of your soil matches the requirements of your type of grass, and you will have a healthy lawn in no time.

Answer 4

just spread grass seed all over it, cover it with straw, water once a wk,