Planting Grass

In my yard there is not good grass to begin with. And now that it is winter the grass looks even worse. Anyway, in our front yard there is a section that is really bad. It is mostly dirt, as you can see from the pictures. I would like to plant better grass there. What is the best way to do this, and what time in the spring should I do it? Should I just rake all of the grass out of there and then plant new grass seeds, or is there a better way?
:anyone:

lawn mower fanatic said:

In my yard there is not good grass to begin with. And now that it is winter the grass looks even worse. Anyway, in our front yard there is a section that is really bad. It is mostly dirt, as you can see from the pictures. I would like to plant better grass there. What is the best way to do this, and what time in the spring should I do it? Should I just rake all of the grass out of there and then plant new grass seeds, or is there a better way?
:anyone:
<img src="http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=12669"/> <img src="http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=12670"/>

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Some ketucky blue seed and kinda loosen the surface layer of dirt up and use since its spring high nitrogen fert non herbicidal it'll look great in about a monthish

exotion said:

Some ketucky blue seed and kinda loosen the surface layer of dirt up and use since its spring high nitrogen fert non herbicidal it'll look great in about a monthish

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Yep, and I prefer to overseed in the fall of the year to avoid the dry hot summer season killing the new grass unless you plan to water it alot.

Need to find out why it is so poor there in the first place. If it is shade then a shade tolerant grass will help some. If to dry in summer better watering. Is it insect damage? Varmits digging up insects in fall? Poor soil from an old digging and filling job to provide service or repairs to service? Salt from snow piles? What is going on there is the questions you need to find answers to. Planting new seed is easy. Getting the grass to fill in and survive is another. Some places here in town one just has to reseed a couple times a year. Some a person just has to be happy with half the season looking nice and the rest of the time working on it a bit to get it to look better.

possum said:

Need to find out why it is so poor there in the first place. If it is shade then a shade tolerant grass will help some. If to dry in summer better watering. Is it insect damage? Varmits digging up insects in fall? Poor soil from an old digging and filling job to provide service or repairs to service? Salt from snow piles? What is going on there is the questions you need to find answers to. Planting new seed is easy. Getting the grass to fill in and survive is another. Some places here in town one just has to reseed a couple times a year. Some a person just has to be happy with half the season looking nice and the rest of the time working on it a bit to get it to look better.

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• Shade: half shade
• Dry in summer: yes
• Insect damage: no
• Varmits digging up insects in fall: no
• Poor soil from an old digging and filling job: no
• Salt from snow piles: no

Looks like poor soil in the pictures. At a glance I would recommend going over it with a arriator a couple times then seed.

Usually your agriculture exstension office can do a soil test for you if you provide them with a sample from the yard where you are talking about. You might be able to find one of those soil testers you just stick in the ground at Lowes, etc I bought one, and it works good. It shows the ph level of the soil.

Looks like shade to me first glance and still does. Grass is starving to death from not enough good sunlight. Leave the good clumps of grass there to help hold the ground. Spray those weeds with a broadleaf herbicide on the first week that shows highs of 60F for a few days in a row. Thirty days later rake it out but leave the clumps and seed it to fine fescue. Water it up and baby it a bit until you get a decent stand. You can use some starter fertilizer if you want to. Plan on losing most of it this summer. When it begins to cool down in late summer spray it for broadleaf weeds and rake it out again. Seed it back in 30 days to a fine fescue bluegrass mix or a fine fescue TTTF mix. Do not use ryegrass if you can keep from it. You may have to seed it every year to keep it going. Depends on how much shade is there. Dont try to force it grow in shade and dont mow it to short if you can keep from it.