Tips on Replacing Your Grass

We all want our lawn to look like a well-groomed golf course, but that’s tough to realize. Some lawns in our neighborhood look neglected, including ours. Dandelions and crabgrass spears choke out the healthy grass that once flourished. And what about those bare spots? Well, they make our lawns looking like they are dying. Some yards just cannot be saved. If your lawn’s appearance suggests it needs replacing, here are a few suggestions.

You have a couple of options for removing your lawn. Some common methods are Smothering, Solarization, using Herbicides, or just digging the grass out. Most methods seemed complicated, time-consuming, or unhealthy for the environment. However, experts say that by killing your grass first, it will be a lot easier to remove the sod.

Sod removal works best when the grass doesn’t have long roots. Perennial grasses have longer roots – up to several feet long, so it will be hard to simply cut away at the grass. You can rent a sod cutter that will cut your grass about one inch deep. Remember, you’ll already have killed your grass and weeds, so the one inch will be adequate.

Or you can get a backhoe and remove your grass and weeds; many go for this option. It may seem like overkill, but it takes a lot of time to suffocate or solarize our lawn; generally about 7 weeks. Using a backhoe allows you to go deep and get all those grass and weed roots. If you remove more than two inches of grass, you’ll need to replace some soil.

One of the major determinants of whether a lawn will be successful or not is the type of soil you have in your yard. An important basic in any successful yard or garden is the soil. So, you want to get soil that’s nutrient-dense. Some soil nutrients sources include the decaying plant material, soil organisms, and fertilizer. Primarily plants use 3 nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

Your next option is whether to use lawn seed or sod. Lawns started from seed are best planted in the early fall or in the spring after frost season. Sod comes in rolls and is best laid in either spring or early autumn when temperatures are moderate. Along with some rainfall and the sod quickly takes root. If you choose to get sod, remember to water it daily until it gets roots, usually 3 – 4 weeks.