There’s nothing like looking outside the window to see your beautiful, lush lawn. The thick, brilliant, vibrant grass accents your house, helps it stand out from the rest of your neighbors, and it’s also soft to the touch. But maybe your lawn isn’t a brilliant green. Perhaps the grass is brown, burned out, and dead. Is all hope lost? Not at all. It doesn’t matter if you purchased the house with a dead lawn or, for one reason or another, it’s completely died out on you, you can reseed a dead lawn, and it isn’t all that complicated to do. Here’s what you need to know about reseeding your dead lawn and breathing new life into your landscaping.
Kill Any Current Weeds
Do you have any weeds growing through the dead lawn? If so you need to take care of the weeds. Because the weeds will thrive on the nutrients and water you’ll be giving the new lawn. So, walk through your lawn and make sure you not only remove what you find, but kill everything off. A broadleaf herbicide is good for this. This herbicide will also kill off any remaining grass, but as you’re going to be starting from scratch that’s not an issue.
Perform A Soil Test
Next it’s a good idea to perform a soil test. With this test you’ll find out what kind of nutrients your soil might be lacking. You can pick up a soil test from a local nursery or your favorite home and garden shop. After performing the soil test you can then purchase the missing nutrients and apply it to the soil.
Prepping Your Lawn/Soil
You may have nothing but soil. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, in many ways this will help ensure the new seed comes in contact with your now nutrient rich soil. But if you still have the dead lawn that’s okay. Just make sure to mow the lawn down. Use the shortest setting on your lawn mower.
With this set you’ll want to water your lawn heavily for two days in a row. Water your lawn either early in the morning or late at night. If you water the lawn/soil during the day it will dry out before the soil has time to fully absorb it.
Lastly, if you have a thick, compacted soil, you’ll want to aerate it. This will help break it up and allows improved air flow. To do this rent an aerifier from your home and garden store. These are inexpensive to rent and easy to use.
Seeding
If you have anything more than a few square feet you’ll want to use a seed spreader. This helps you sow the grass seeds evenly and quickly. After sowing the seed you’ll want to use a rake and work lightly over the seeds. The goal is for the seeds to be buried to a depth of about 1/8th inches.
Mowing
Once the grass begins to grow you will want to mow it regularly. It is good to let it grow out to about 5 inches before your first mowing. This encourages the roots to grow deeper which is important to a healthy and resilient lawn.
You Can Do It
Don’t let a dead lawn get you down. Sure, it’s not beautiful to look at now, but by following these instructions, you’ll soon have new grass growing, and in no time you’ll be the envy of the neighborhood. And you’ll be able to take great satisfaction out of knowing your brilliant new lawn is all your doing and hard work. So, what are you waiting for? That new lawn isn’t going to grow itself. The sooner you start reseeding your dead lawn, the sooner you’ll have a beautiful lawn.
