My lawn needs a reboot. Any experts?

[bennybmn]

Of course I know there's experts here! Hoping to find some folks with experience in a situation like mine.

Short story is this: Got the house two years ago from the original 1975 owner. The grass was ok, lots of different types of grass, nothing special. Add a couple months of summer heat and dog pee, and it was getting spotty.  I raked up a bunch of dead stuff, dug up a few crab grass patches and seeded in the fall, that helped. After a hard winter, I realized the part between the deck and driveway (my main path to my shop and taking out the garbage) was rock hard, likely from years of taking out the garbage etc. I took decent care of it, and it was looking OK, then my son's birthday party and July hit, and it took a beating... Didn't really recover.  This spring we had a guy (neighbor who's a landscaper) de-thatch it and over-seed, which again helped, and gave us grass in some shady spots where we had very little, then again July and a birthday party... 

Moral of the story, I think that one section is packed beyond a simple aeration, and very crab grassy.  By the time I dig out the crab, I'll need a truck load of dirt.  Oh and it's south shore Long Island, so it's VERY sandy... (ants love it) My landscaper guy said soil around here drains too fast for the once a week style of watering, so you end up watering more often, which leads to other problems, it's a no-win thing... 

My thoughts, and this is where I'm open to suggestions, till it up, mix in a bunch of top soil to hopefully facilitate deeper roots, seed it.  There are some high and low spots, so tilling would facilitate evening it out too. 

I would also love to find a good guide to fertilizing and treating the lawn, like a calendar. Anyone know a good website? 

Am I getting in over my head? Am I over thinking? Anyone else done something like this? My main concerns are soil compaction, sand content, and care/feeding. 

Thank you!!

[crokett™]

If its a section that you walk on more than once a day I'd hardscape it and not try to grow grass. IME you won't be successful with anything other than crabgrass.

[daddo]

I have a couple of walkways from the house to shop, to office, to storage shed.....

Same thing- no grass, hard pan ground. I bordered it as I could then filled it with 4" of crushed granite and tiny crushed rock. Makes a clean walkway.

[atgcpaul]

If you're a YouTube watcher, there's a channel on there called The Lawn Care Nut (https://www.youtube.com/user/LawnCareMidwest) .  He lives in Florida now so his recent videos aren't all applicable to us up here, but he still does try to address issues with northern lawns.  His videos when he lived in Indiana are excellent.

Not sure how much rain you got all summer in Long Island but in the DC metro area, we didn't get much.  I don't irrigate the lawn and let it go dormant this summer.  I'm going to fight with it again when we get more rain in late September/October.  I'm going to overseed again this fall and irrigate.  One of his video series is a year long program.  I think he actually has 2.  One he starts in the fall and one he starts in the spring.

Sounds like you have some interesting soil composition so maybe find a soil testing lab and start there before you really start to amend your lawn.

You shouldn't bother with the crab grass/weeds this year.  Just let them die out in the winter and be sure to time your preermegent application right in the spring so the seeds don't sprout.  Some weed killers will affect grass seed germination so seed in the fall and kill weeds in the spring with preermegent or in late spring/early summer with a post-emergent after your grass seed has sprouted.

[bennybmn]

Thanks for the replies so far guys.

To address a couple questions;

I have in-ground sprinklers. I'd love to keep the grass good all year, because it seems like the July trampling makes it tough to come back from summer dormant... Also I have a toddler. He's only going to get bigger... I want a place for him to play.

I will definitely check out that youtube channel! I'll spend a couple lunch hours on it for sure. 

I'm planning on connecting my patio to my driveway with some more brick from a walkway nobody ever uses (don't even know why it's there). This will give us a hard path to shovel in the winter, and a place to walk while grass is growing etc. For perspective, this is actually the back of the house. The driveway comes around the side, thru a gate, and to the detached garage. Side note, I really like having a place for bikes and trikes and basketballs behind a gate! No rolling into the road. 

[joe1086]

Your window of opportunity is not too long. In the Mid Atlantic, now is the best time to reseed...depending on type of grass it could take 2-3 weeks for germination to start and a couple months of growing season for the roots to develop enough for winter survival. You are in a cooler environment than we are, so don't wait too long.

We've started several lawns from seed...for lawns that have a mixed bag of different grasses or weeds we would use glycosphate/Roundup to kill everything and start from scratch. But that adds time to the process (at least a week or two).

[bennybmn]

I was wondering about killing off everything first before tilling it into the soil... Thanks for mentioning that.  I know my window is closing. Theoretically we're in a cooler climate, but that pesky jet stream keeps things pretty moderate here on the island. It at least keeps overnight temps 10-20 deg warmer than say northern NJ on the same latitude. That helps prolong the growing season.

[Jack in omaha]

I have had good luck with sod. I would try a small area first to see how it takes at the same time try a similar  size patch of Zoysia  grass plugs it holds up to wear better, requires less watering. How these test patches fare should answer your question.

[stilinsm]

aerate, aerate, and then aerate.  Top dress with a compost appropriately screened for lawns.  Over seed with a mixed variety of tall fescue raked into the compost.  Keep it watered.
Top dressing annually with the compost is one of the best things you can do for your lawn.

[Admiral]

aerate, aerate, and then aerate.  Top dress with a compost appropriately screened for lawns.  Over seed with a mixed variety of tall fescue raked into the compost.  Keep it watered.
Top dressing annually with the compost is one of the best things you can do for your lawn.

Ben:  this ^^^^^^^^

It's kinda late in the season for a tear up and regrade if you are doing it yourself, sort of like a 3 weekend job, maybe more with killing the grass, etc.  I've had much success with plug aerating and this is what I have done on two lawns now.  Don't know how large your lawn is, but rent one of those self propelled core aerators, and plug the living chit out of the lawn, go over it 3 or 4 times in criscross patterns, you'll have all the plugs laying there like dog poop, leave them, they will dissolve with rain and improve the soil.  Then top dress really bare areas with well-screened topsoil or compost, fertilize and overseed with a quality seed, then water for a bit every day until you get growth, then two or three times a week thereafter until mid fall, as you want to get it going well before winter.  In areas that are really bare, mulch with straw to help keep the moisture and improve germination. This should be a one weekend job, and the seed will germinate and set in for the winter. Then see what happens in the spring, and put down your pre-emergent to stop the crab grass and spring fertilizer, definitely aerate heavily again in the fall and repeat fertilizer and overseed; hard to say not being there to see how hard the ground is compacted.

I aerate every fall without fail and as my lot is 1.75 acres I rent a commercial pull behind model.  Takes two or three seasons to get things right, then its just maintenance.