Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side of The Fence

In our case, yes!  We keep our yard green
and the grass growing, not brown during
the summer months.  This means watering
and mowing!!  As some of you know we
have been fighting a yellow green grass
that has taken over our yard, we first noted it
in the spring with three large spots in the front.
After spraying crab grass killer and it still remained
we used Roundup to kill the spots then reseeded
the area.  Last Fall we killed all the grass and reseeded
the lawn area.  Many visitors are afraid to walk on
the lawn and when they ask if it's okay and learn it's
just fine.  They are shocked at what they walk on.
I had one person ask how we do it?  We know
that for a good lawn one must have the grass seed
down by Sept. 1 and growing!!  So it's time to gather
all the items to do so.  Roundup is used to kill the lawn
and let me tell you it will take two spraying.  I will also
tell you that one should use this with great care, long pants and
sleeves and mask is wise.  Roundup according to my experts is a good top soil killer and it also
will kill the roots so be warned if you have other plants near by.  Also do not spray on a windy
day as the over spray will kill.  After the first spraying of Roundup, I recommend putting down a good basic fertilizer, Scotts basic anytime fertilizer/feeder is what we use.  Next is to gather enough seed to do the area you want grass to grow.  A good quality grass seed!!  We do perennial rye, try to find a product that is mainly rye seed and not full of junk grass.  Buy enough to put done now and keep a bag to do filler for in the spring.   What do we use??  JB grass seed and you can find it at Home Depo.  I put down  two large bags in the front alone and in the spring it was full.  I keep some on hand when I see a spot that needs it.  Yes, I know every blade of grass in the front yard, you will find I walk the yard looking for grass that doesn't look right.  I then pull.  After a week, then do the second spray of Roundup and wait at least 10 hours so it is totally dry before putting down the grass seed directly on top of the brown grass.  Easy right??    We have now done this 4 times to our yard  in the about 30 years we have lived here.

Here is the north side of the house after we found the same
kind of the grass growing there.  I have pulled by hand over
26 - 5 gallon buckets of this yellow grass.  I recommend watering
before pulling and you will find it pulls easily.  Then water like
crazy to get the grass to grow and you can reseed at this time also.
During the heat of the summer I don't recommend any fertilizer as it's
a waste of money.  We do recommend that one use Golf Course Lime as our soil is acidic and to sweeten up the soil will help the grass green and better for the environment!   We only recommend Scott's early spring weed and feed and in the fall their Scott fertilizer.  Yep just twice a year!!  To rid the yard of weeds in the spring and to make the roots healthier the fall.  For here we do the spring feeding in late March or before April 15 and for the fall  no later than Oct. 15th.  But for new grass do not do this allow the grass to grow one year before
using Scott's, do things naturally for the first 9 months.  That means weeding by hand and a general all watch the grass grow.  If one sees the grass yellowing then the lime is the route to go.  Feed stores are the best place to buy the lime.  Just tell them golf course lime, glandular  

not powder and use the #8 setting on a drop spreader.

I was also asked how I put out the grass seed, I do it by hand.  It might take folks a couple times in doing so that is why the extra seed.  Casting out in one direction and then going back and casting out the other direction is the best method.

You can see by this photo the yellowing grass that needs pulling.  It's grass right so why not leave it?  I have found that this yellow grass takes over the rye and it seeds like crazy.  So if removed you will find
the rye comes back stronger and with some TLC will fill in fast.  Or one can reseed.

I will also mention that cleaning of one mower is important as it spreads the grass seed.  It's like cleaning ones hand tool so you don't spread disease to plants, a lesson one needs to learn if one gardens.  I watch lawn services mow and just put their equipment in their trailers and just wonder what they are spreading to the next job??  

So if you want a perfect lawn, it might be a ton of work to keep what you grow looking good if your neighbors don't care about their yards.  I will tell you every 6 years we kill our yard and redo our lawns as we know it's impossible to keep our yard looking great when we have neighbors around us with brown, weedy lawns.   Lawn care is just as important as planting trees and flowers.  It's about keeping the birds and bees happy!!

For those of you that live in other zones, one needs to know the last date of frost and when your area is going to freeze.  Doing this helps you determine a month and a half prior to frost is when you do the process.  Remember spray the Roundup twice and then after it dries you can put the grass seed directly down on top of the dead grass.  Then water in so the grass seed drops to the soil.

If I don't pull the weeds I use Weed Be Gone in the flower beds if the weeds get out of hand.  Remember if you disturb the soil you will get more weeds to grow.  Knowledge about the products you use will save the environment.   Weeding is a part of gardening!