Mary Beth wrote:
Hey all, I'm new to the group and hoping to figure out a way to save my
brand new lawn.
I had a pal roto-till the whole lawn area and even it out, before I spread
the lawn seed. Makes SUCH a difference!

I have a quarter of our back yard, (70' X 80'), fenced off for our dogs'
run, (run is 70' X 20'), all filled with sand. It's great because now we
have enough room to have a very very nice 'people yard'. And we have a
seperate stairway for the dogs, to get to their part. It works very well as
hubby is in a wheelchair and can let them out from back door.

Anyway, just after it's third mowing, to about 3 inches, (a shady/sun fescue
mix), we had the usual guy come to spread more sand in the dog run. He'd
always dumped it from the back, (which leads to an alley), and used a
smaller back hoe to spread the sand out, along with the guys with rakes. We
specifically put in a big double gate for easier access for the back hoe.
This time, however the newer guy thought it would be *easier*, (for him!),
to just pull the huge dump truck into the yard and then dump all of the sand
together, at the closest-to-house area, then go on to the smaller back hoe.
grrrrrrrwwwwllllll

Needless to say my lawn, which was coming up just beautifully, now has a LOT
of huge tire tracks in it, and the grass has been trampled to under the
dirt! Is there ANY way I can save this? Or do I just have to reseed the
'track marks'?


If by tire tracks you mean that the soft soil has sunk down 3 inchs
where it was run over, which is what probably happened, then the best
solution will be to fill it in with topsoil and reseed. If it's only
an inch deep depression, then I'd just wait and see what happens. The
new grass may survive. If it's been pushed into the ground, very
lightly raking with a lawn rake may help pull some of the grass out and
help it survive. Given that it's so l



I did put down a lot more seed than I usually do, and the lawn is so
luscious and full! Do I need to water more often, (as I was told by a
neighbor), if I've overseeded?

Yes, if anytime you seed you need to keep the surface constantly damp
for several weeks. As the grass starts to get established you can
graduallly reduce the watering. During hot weather this summer, you
will need to water it at least every several days, as the new grass
won't have deep roots this season and will die from lack of water,
while regular grass would survive. That;s one of the big advantages to
seeding in the Fall, instead of Spring. The new grass has more than
twice as long to get established before hot weather arrives.



My Dad has had his 'envious' eyes on my lawn, g, which literally had about
ONLY 20 or so weeds in it! This was *my* thinking on keeping the weeds out,
by over-seeding a bit. It's worked so far, and it only takes me about 5-10
minutes of weeding, to get it ALL out.

So I guess I have more than one question, eh?

Was I wrong to overseed, and do I need to make up for that with extra
waterings?


Now I'm confused. You said you roto tilled the lawn. That is not
overseeding. Overseeding is used when the grass that is already there
is desirable, but not dense enough. You typically overseed using a
slice seeder, which is most effective. Or you can also do it following
core aeration.

What you described is called establishing a new lawn. And typically
you would use Roundup to kill the grass that was already there prior to
tilling.

It's also not clear what the exiting problem was. Was the lawn thin
and not able to grow in via normal care, like good Fall fertilization?
It almost sounds like you did this because you had 20 weeds? If
that was the only problem, this was the wrong solution. Many lawns
have some weeds that are easily eliminated with spot application of
weed killer.



And more important, will I be able to save the lawn done in by the track
marks?

(I will notnotnot listen to my Dad as he is the world's worst lawm guy! G
(Great big 'Green Thumb' for everything else that grows, but never has any
luck with a lawn, even tho I tell him not to fertilize til Sept, maybe in
April, but not all the time during the summer.)
He always starts off with the most gorgeous lawn on his street, then he
thinks he has to *fertilize* it like crazy!
",,,,if some fertilizer is good, more will be better......"
I'm sure you know the type, er, um, maybe *that's* why I over seeded? LOL

Anyway, he insists on fertilizing his lawn many times during the summer, tho
by the second time he does so, his lawns *melt*, and he starts over, and
over, same damage, until he winds up buying sod, which he then over
fertilizes also!

Yep, more lawns have died from excess watering and fertilizer than lack
of it. I never apply fertilizer in summer, only once in Spring, twice
in Fall.


So, I will not ask him for help, and more to the point, I have told him if
he goes anywhere NEAR MY lawn with fertilizer, I'm siccing the dogs on
him!!! EG (Yeah, a golden retriever, 14, a female lab, 9, and a lab mix,
9,that love his treats daily! g
I had to physically restrain him the first year he moved out here near me!
Oh well....

I'm glad to have found this group and am looking forward for some advice,
for which I will say "Thanks!" in advance!

Gratefully yours,
MaryBeth andthe pups