On Fri, 12 May 2006 00:05:36 -0500, sherwindu wrote:
This is zone 5, just NW of Chicago.

The lawn is a front yard about 40 feet by 25 feet. My neighbor has neglected it
for
several years, which includes not watering it last year. It's amazing that he
even has
any grass left, at all. His biggest problem are dandelions (also my problem, as they

Don't worry about the dandelion seeds blowing your way... you've already
got a 75 year supply or so in your soil, waiting to germinate. Keep your
lawn in good condition (mow properly, overseed, fertilize and lime as
needed), and you don't have to worry. The big secret to weed prevention
is canopy closure. You could spread 5 lbs of weed seeds on an established,
well-taken-care-of lawn with good, dense sod and really not have to worry.

As for your neighbor, I would wait till fall to fix the lawn. You're really
out of the good seed/sod establishment times; late August to late September
is a much better bet. If he should till and try to sod this summer, he
should figure out how he's going to keep it watered all summer, because he'll
be doing it again if he doesn't water (an inch of water a week, 800 sq ft,
let's say for 15 weeks (assuming you don't have a drought this summer)
is 1000 cu ft or roughly 7500 gallons of water). Seed would also need to be
watered this summer, but your soil temps are probably getting high
enough that Ky bluegrass is out of optimum germ temperature by now (Iowa
girl, now out in PNW).

What I'd do now with a lawn in this shape is to get a soil sample sent
off for analysis, and consider how much to spend on it. Cheapest total
overhaul is to till, lime and fertilize and reseed with a well-adapted
type* this fall water as needed, and overseed more next spring if needed.
Next cheapest is to till now, solarize this summer, seed, lime, fertilize
and water next fall (if he's paranoid about the weed seeds in his soil).
More expensive options are to sod with either of these scenarios.

What I'd probably do, though, were this mine, would be to renovate
unless it was *so* bumpy I really felt I had to till and rake areas.
That involves soil test now, proper yard care this summer with some hand
weeding or spot spraying of perennial weeds only, and starting to fill
in the low spots with a mixture of sand and compost or sand, compost and
topsoil, 1/4" at a time, over the next few years. If there's a major
low spot, I'd till that only and spot seed that this fall, along with
overseeding the entire lawn this fall.

*well-adapted grasses. If this is a sunny lawn and you don't want to
mow often or water, I'd consider buffalo grass, Buchloe dactyloides,
for this lawn. Once established, it'll get along just fine, but it is
a warm season grass, green in the summer, dormant in cool seasons (opposite
the more commonly used Kentucky bluegrass or fescues.) If this route
is unappealing, I'd talk to extension, local parks, and local botanical
gardens for their recommendations for cultivars of low maintenance cool
season grasses. I'd also consider "high endophyte" fescues, because they
are naturally disease resistant.


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