Lettuce talk about grass

[frapjap]

Your yard, not the plant that is rapidly being legalized. 

Snows gone, and my yard looks like s***. 

 

(not my yard, but similar terrain).

Its got dirt,

some patches of good stuff



a lot of crab grass



 a collection of normal and greater plantain



 and creeping buttercup.

I used to only have to keep the grass cut and edges trimmed while drinking beer, but this new endeavor of home ownership and lawn maintenance has been bestowed upon me. 

Its probably too late to do much for this season, but if y'all take pride in your lawn or have some foolproof methods that can help me and others would greatly appreciate the tips!

Desert dwellers input is welcomed, too. It wasn't always a moonscape where you lived!

[Bubba1]

one word: astroturf.

[Rogue One]

one word: astroturf.

Or cement. Pave the whole thing over. Never need to mow again.

[Desert Rat]

My yard is gravel with a lot of plants. I just pull a lot of damned weeds this time of year.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

How's your drainage and general erosion protection? Could round-up the whole damn thing. I've found good grass tends to thrive after a good cleansing.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Any broadleaf + crabgrass killer will take care of most of that. As far as the bare dirt where the grass had died back, just keep a close eye on it with the broadleaf control and the grass will fill back in.

I use a two step approach: pump spray bottle with WeedBGone + crabgrass for targeted application on big weeds, and broadcast spreader with Weed n Feed + crabgrass granules. Be careful with the broadcast spreader; get one with an adjustable coverage guard so you don't kill your trees/garden.

Anywhere there are weeds standing alone (not in grass) just use Roundup.

The trick to getting grass back is to just make sure nothing else fills in those spots. The crappy part is stuff like field grass can establish itself much quicker than your lawn so keep an eye on that.
Keep the dirt well-watered to encourage the lawn to fill in quickly.

The sellers let my front lawn die before I took possession of my house and it's going to be a HUGE job to resod to get rid of all the field grass that too over the dead spots.

[Dattebayo]

Bare spots could mean you need to dig that part up and replace the soil... I know someone who bought a place that had lots of dogs living there and they loved to piss in a particular spot of the yard. No manner of treatment could solve the issue save for digging it up and putting in clean soil. Another guy I know just had the soil too well packed in and it had to be dug up and loosened a bit for the grass roots to get in there easily.

[Jesda]

The one thing I really like about Arizona is the lack of grass.

I pay a lady to mow my lawn and clean the dog turds. It adds up to about $160 a month. This stuff grows in Michigan like Cargill grows soy.

[audtatious]

I had a great yard back in '02 that went downhill when the wife wanted to focus on other things and stopped paying a lawn company to spray every few months. Started getting weeds and those damn African Violets. In 2016 we had our first run in with moles who destroyed the back yard and brought in more weeds with them. Last spring the moles were back with a vengeance, but, we had had enough and decided to focus on the yard again. First off we used mole bait to kill all the bastards and had a company come in and aerate/seed the yard. I then picked up a small tiller and hit 2-3 horribly dead/weedy areas that the moles had destroyed and re-seeded. The wife spent an ungodly amount of time tending to the yard to the point she had a Parmesan Cheese shaker with grass seed in it and would go hit small areas throughout last year. By the end of '17 it was looking pretty good. This year it's filling in and looks great. Here's a pic showing one of the areas we tilled and reseeded



Everything is filled in and really plush. 95% of all weeds are gone and the ones left are getting removed as I run across them. I hate to know the amount of money we spent to get it this way.

[armybrat]

I had a great yard back in '02 that went downhill when the wife wanted to focus on other things and stopped paying a lawn company to spray every few months. Started getting weeds and those damn African Violets. In 2016 we had our first run in with moles who destroyed the back yard and brought in more weeds with them. Last spring the moles were back with a vengeance, but, we had had enough and decided to focus on the yard again. First off we used mole bait to kill all the bastards and had a company come in and aerate/seed the yard. I then picked up a small tiller and hit 2-3 horribly dead/weedy areas that the moles had destroyed and re-seeded. The wife spent an ungodly amount of time tending to the yard to the point she had a Parmesan Cheese shaker with grass seed in it and would go hit small areas throughout last year. By the end of '17 it was looking pretty good. This year it's filling in and looks great. Here's a pic showing one of the areas we tilled and reseeded



Everything is filled in and really plush. 95% of all weeds are gone and the ones left are getting removed as I run across them. I hate to know the amount of money we spent to get it this way.

Looks great! Yes it takes a lot of work to maintain a yard. When we moved into our new home in 2005, the builder did a crappy job landscaping. My back yard sloped towards the back of the house, and there was no retaining wall so every time it rained I had a lake in my back yard. It cost me $20k to hire someone to totally redo the whole yard. Fescue sod, Versa Block retaining wall across the back, sprinkler system, French drains, had a nice block patio put in from the retaining wall to the back deck. I use Trugreen for the chemicals but I do all of the cutting and aerate (in the fall). I have a small 120' x 80' yard in a HOA (a little less than 1/4 acre). It's pretty much flat except for the slope in back. I'm trying to get it landscaped to be mostly maintenance free. It's been 12 years in the making but it has come a long way.