> I had a small part of the lawn the seems to puddle water i.e., does not
> drain well. I tried to build up the area after doing my thing in the
> spring - moss kill, aerate and seeding I treated this area to more kindness
> that other area, and it is doing REALLY well. In fact, this part of the lawn
> grows faster than every other area by about 3X. My question is; what of the
> following things has made this part of the lawn do so well
>
> 1.) I put sand which is 25% compost down every couple of days
> 2.) also put down some garden mix soils
> 3.) Raked it in every night
> 4.) watered it more than I should have to get it to compact down and become
> part of the lawn
>
> I would like... no LOVE for the rest of the lawn to look like this, but
> don't know what part of this has made it grow so insane. Or is it the combo
> of all of it?
>
> bill
All of the above: You provided good drainage, good nutrients, and regular water. Of course, the grass is enthusiastic! The very best lawn I ever had was one that I installed in new construction. Because of drainage issues, the houses had been built on a 3' layer of rip-rap fill. Instead of letting the contractor bring in any old dirt he could find for topsoil, I laid down a double thickness of burlap, and covered it with a compacted foot of pure compost. After outlining the flower beds, I seeded the 12 x 20 remaining space with a good grass blend, and covered it with guaze for erosion control. Three weeks of daily hand-watering later, I had a lush, green carpet.
You can repeat the same effect on your entire lawn -- without the horrendous expense that this would be on a large scale [I can't imagine actually covering a large lawn with guaze]:
- Top the entire lawn with 4-6" of mixed compost and sand.
- In the spring, reseed the whole lawn.
- Water LIGHTLY daily until the new grass is established; make sure the lawn gets an inch of water a week thereafter. [Do let it go dormant in high summer.]
Chris Owens