Any ideas on the fastest way to repair a bad patch on my lawn?
There is one spot (maybe the size of two basketballs) where the grass turned brown and died. I need to reseed this, and I'd like to do it as fast as possible. Is plain seed from the hardware store adequate? Some of the home improvement places I've been to sell this bright green powder mix that they claim is even better for fixing patches like this.
I'd welcome any ideas since I'd like to repair this area as soon as I can. Thanks.
all very vague, hard to say exactly. what kind of lawn is it? highly formal, pristine, started from sod and adequately maintained? or just your every day yard that is mixed with weeds and the grasses could be quite anything and you really don't care what as long as it is green?
do you know why it was killed in those spots?
was something dumped on it to kill it off?
you might need to replace the soil there before doing anything else.
the quickest means if you don't care about matching the existing grass mix is to get some sod and put it down. slightly spade the soil and make the edge of the spaces straight up and down so that when you cut the pieces to fit they fit snugly. tamp it down a little bit and keep it watered if there is a dry spell.
if you want an exact match that would take a lot more effort, because you would either have to know the exact mix you started with or have someone who knows grass look at it and figure it out. i.e. not likely to be worth the trouble.
easier to just take some plugs from along the edge of the sidewalk (where it usually is overgrowing anyways) and move them into the spaces. keep it weeded and watered and it will eventually fill in. you can seed it in the bare spots to fill it in faster, but that would be risking introducing a different species.
hard to be more precise without more details from you. :)
songbird
WTF is wrong with your word-wrap?
nothing, i write short lines.
for other's text that i quote i have it set at 72.
songbird
Agree with almost all of songbird's advice. The big missing factor here is geography and type of grass. If it's cool season grass and somewhere where it's summer now, the sod suggestion is probably the best. You can buy it in small pieces at HomeDepot. The downside is that if it's a uniform lawn with a different type of grass, it may not match and be noticeable.
The product in the store that is a blue patching mix contains not only seed, but also starter fertilizer and hydraulic mulch. For seeding, it is highly effective for patching because the mulch retains water, so it's easier to keep it moist. Still, in the heat of summer, this is a constant battle and even with the mulch, you would need to water it at a min at least once a day, probably more like 3 times a day for weeks until it's established. Sod gives instant results and while it needs to be watered daily, once a day will do and the chance of success is much higher.
The only advice I partially disagree with is the suggestion to take plugs from elsewhere in the lawn. That will work if it's a grass that will spread via rhizomes, eg bluegrass. But if it's a clump type grass, like tall fescue, it will not. A given clump can get larger and partially fill it in, but it won;t spread and establish new plants.
snipped-for-privacy@optonline.net wrote: ...
*nods* yeah, plugs of that would have to be spaced much more closely, but without more detail from the OP it's hard to be precise.songbird
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