Wednesday, May 19, 2010

How to Get a Lush Lawn

Experiencing a bit of Lush Lawn Envy? Yeah, we were, too.

We wanted to give you an update on our lawn, and how we rescued it from splotchy-and-barely-surviving and took it to thriving.

Previously, all we did to the lawn was water it and mow it every now and then. We figured we had enough on our hands fixing up the inside of the house to bother with the outside, and merely just limited our time spent on the exterior stuff to strictly upkeep.

We had inherited a yard that needed a bit of work: the front yard had alot of weeds in several spots, the grass was very thin and sparse, and there were several dead areas of grass - thanks to Barley. I tell ya, it's a good thing he's cute.


Anyways, we did a little reading on lawncare (because yes, we are amateurs when it comes to yards and plants, too!), and came to the conclusion that the yard needed a Spring Sprucing-Up. So we grabbed our rakes and raked the entire thing, to get stuff called "thrush" out of it, which is basically a bunch of dead stuff under the green grass - dead leaves, dead grass, perhaps even some old doggie "presents". We managed to fill a whole trash can full of thrush.



Then, we proceeded to break up the hard areas of dirt in the yard by using some sort of crazy ninja-star tool, that's supposed to weed/break up dirt/mix all at the same time. It's way cool, and totally worth the 25$. Plus, we feel super awesome when we wield this baby out there in the yard.


After that was done, we went around to all the bare spots of clumpy dirt and added some topsoil. Then we topped it off with our Patch Master Grass Kit stuff - which really just looks like lime green/aqua blue insulation with little grass seeds in it. We spread it on the spots. It made our yard look "special".




Our neighbors came over asking why we put insulation (or dryer lint) on our lawn.


Then we watered it twice a day for 7-14 days, although the little seedlings took a bit longer than that to start really springing up. About a month later, and here's what our front lawn looks like:



Big difference, no? Apparently our neighbors were pretty impressed, too - they've already come over asking what exactly we used on the grass (our special looking "insulation", or lint) to get it looking so nice. And compliments galore. Or, they're probably just glad that we're not burying a patio or parking our cars on the grass, like the previous owners/tenants. Just sayin'.

So - let's talk lawns. Do you have any seasonal secrets stored in your lawncare arsenal that you bring out every year? Do you let your lawn "live and let live"? Do you mow your grass super high? Any tips for getting out weeds and the like for us? (we definitely need some tips there!) We'd love to know how you keep your lawn looking lush!

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10 comments:

  1. Do you guys ever sleep? Seriously,you put me to shame. The lawn looks amazing and lush! Ours is still a work in progress. Hubby put something on it but it wasn't blue/green. Oh well..we'll see what happens. Great job and lucky Barley!!

    -heather

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  3. You saw my lawn. Thank GOD you posted this!

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  4. Hi, since you're a blog I never miss, I wanted to stop by and tell you that I have a surprise for you tomorrow morning on my blog, so please do pop by!

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  5. You did a fabulous job on the lawn, it looks great! I don't do any lawn work, since I just bought my first home, I'm not sure where to begin or what to do. I did hire a lawn boy to mow it every week ;)
    My back yard is mostly clover, lawn boy said he would plant me some grass out back in the fall. I have no idea why he wants to wait that long, but he explained it and it made sense at the time. Maybe I should check into that stuff you bought, too.

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  6. Thanks for the comments, guys!

    Heather - Despite what it seems like, yes, we do sleep! Haha. :) Most of what we post about we do on the weekends, since I work full time and Tom has medical school. I'm sure you're lawn will look lush soon, too!

    Sunny - You are TOO funny! :)

    Jolie - He's right about the Fall thing - the time to do it (overseed) is early Spring and/or Fall. Our backyard has tons of clover as well (the bunnies love it!), so maybe we will do what your lawn boy plans to do and throw some seed on it in the fall, too. :)

    Thanks everyone for stopping by!

    ~Chelsea

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  7. I'm so impressed- your lawn looks fabulous! I might try that for our backyard, although I don't know if it will work on a huge area. We've been waiting for the grass to come up, but so far the blades are pretty few and far between. Yours is so green and beautiful! Thanks for the tips!

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  8. Nice lawn! Ours was in bad shape when we bought the house, so we've paid $120 a year for a lawn service to spray it for weeds. It is absolutely worth it. We also cut the lawn at the highest setting to make sure the grass roots stay moist and avoid burning. For bare spots, we use the Scott's EZ Seed, it is amazing and stays moist way longer than regular seed. The Patch Master is good, but when that 'insulation' gets dry on hot days, it can sometimes blow away. I'm considering renting a core aerator to use this fall, cheaper than hiring someone to do it but easier than using a hand tool. BTW - I think I must have that ninja tool of yours!

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  9. What kind og grass do you guys have? I have bermuda and find it super hard to take care of. I'm wondering if this would help with my lawn.

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  10. Thanks, guys!

    @Sara - Yes, the ninja tool is totally awesome! And we might have to look into some serious de-weeding stuff... we've got a bad case of those everywhere!

    @Sarah - We're not entirely sure, but after a little research I think we might have Buffalograss, or something similar. Try googling your grass type and see what you find to help you out - we bet that this type of patchmaster stuff would help any bare spots you're suffering from, as well.

    Hope it helps, and thanks for dropping by!
    ~Chelsea

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