Background: My home is in PA, which is a transition zone. The soil is lousy; poor shallow topsoil with a shale base. My grass variety is 'turf type tall fescue'. Last year, a heat wave and constant winds killed much of my grass on my south side. Stupid me: I thought the grass had gone dormant only to learn that persistent heat absent water will kill even grasses designed for drought. I've since learned the lesson that you need to water under persistent dry conditions.
Last fall, I reseeded to replace the dead grass. Today, my southern exposure lawn is a mix of 'turf type tall fescue', annual grass and weeds.
Any suggestion for:
1. Improving my soil.
2.Killing intermixed weeds.
3. Reseeding for next year.
Thanks for any suggestion(s).
Any suggestion for:
1. Improving my soil. You can top dress with bagged compost if you don’t mind how it will look for a while. It’s really hard to improve the soil below the grass, but if you have a bare area now anyway, I’d do that.
2. Killing intermixed weeds. Use a granular Weed & Feed in the Spring, and again in the Fall following instructions on the package. It’s not cheap, but some brands of fertilizer/weed control have a three-four step process throughout the year. Depends upon how perfect you want the lawn to look.
3. Reseeding for next year. Early Spring or late fall (while you still have some time for growing before it freezes) are your best time for seeding, and water, water, water while it’s getting established. A light layer of straw or hay* on top really makes a difference, or purchase those seeding mats that are already seeded, but the mat dissolves as the grass grows up.
*Hay generally has some annual Timothy Grass seed in it, but that will die off; it won’t overtake your new lawn or anything.
Pro Tip: Find the OLDEST guy or gal at your local hardware store or garden center; they love nothing more than to tell you all about lawn care! :)
I also live in PA.
Consider removing as much dead grass as possible (a dethatching machine will do wonders and will save you back breaking work with a rake). Do the entire lawn but concentrate on the dead areas. Run your lawn mower and bag up the dead stuff as much as possible. It will be dusty work.
Spread a light to medium coat of sand over the lawn and then aerate your lawn. This is very good for poor soil that has a high clay content.
You can either rent an aerator & dethatcher or hire someone to do it.
After aerating generously fertilize your lawn with a good soil treatment that won’t burn, such as Milorganite. Top seed the entire lawn, especially dead areas.
Spread peat moss over the top, as much as you can manage/afford. Water well. Peat moss will work like hay to help your seeds grow but will also help your soil down the road. It will look worse until it looks better.
Don’t worry about weeds. Anything green is OK at this point. Once the grass is well established (a couple of months or so) use weed & feed. Spot seed where needed.
By fall you’ll be glad you did. By Spring you’ll be very happy.
I’ve watched videos where people placed cardboard down, covered with wood chips, compost, and whatever else soil like substance they can find...this should kill all the weeds beneath and actually start to make soil worth planting in...but it may take a season...the cardboard will eventually decompose...