Ian wrote:

Does this sound good? I've already spent what I feel to be a fortune
$200 on grass seed $50 on fertilizer - not to mention the cost of the
aerator and a truck load of mushroom soil from a local farm. I've
tried to do my homework. I want to keep it chemical free (amazing how
the arrival of a baby can change you)and am not looking for the
perfect golf course look.


Well, first of all, the life cycle of a lawn more appropriately starts
in fall, not spring. When you start a lawn in spring it doesn't have
enough of a chance to build a healthy root system before the heat of
summer. Much of what you do this spring will not matter by the time fall
comes.

I don't know how much you want to spend for what will basically be
single-season cosmetic work. Looks for this summer aside, the best thing
to do now would be to work on the soil.

If it was used as a parking lot, the soil is probably extremely
compacted. Aerating and putting a top dressing of new soil as you've
already done would probably be good enough for someplace that used to be
untouched, and only was subjected to heavy traffic during construction
of a building, but this soil has probably been compacted so tightly that
you'll need to do more.

You may need to till-up the soil, being careful when you get near the
root zones of the trees. Clean-up the non-organic litter first, as well
as thick branches, but leave the leaves. After you break through the
hardpan surface, top dress with a lot of organic material. Horse or
steer manure will probably be cheaper than any "soil", and will do a lot
of good.

Now at this point you might want to put out some grass seed. You didn't
mention what part of the country you're in, but an annual ryegrass might
be a choice here. Don't bother fertilizing this spring. And during the
summer, limit the traffic, including foot traffic, on the area. Don't
mow too often, either. Let what does come up reach 2-4 inches.

Pull as many weeds as you can. Don't let them go to seed heads. Mowing
them down first is better than nothing. Pulling them is best. Careful
application of herbicide on the individual weeds may be okay, but this
should be avoided to the extent that you can.

After the heat of summer has pasted, when night time starts to be cool,
and the weekly rainfall approaches an inch a week, check the soil again.
Aerating would be a good idea again. After aerating, put down a good mix
of grass seed. Check with your county extension office to see what the
best blend for your area is. Don't just buy the cheapest bags on the
shelf at Home Depot. Also put down a "winterizer"-type fertilizer. Be
sure you don't over apply the fertilizer. Under applying (down to half
the package recommendation) is going to be better than over applying.

Then *next* spring, you may want to overseed again. Spring fertilizer
might be a good idea for the first year or two (again, don't over
apply), but eventually, except for mowing and edging (and removing weeds
before they go to seed), most of your lawn work will be in the fall. In
fall, aerating, overseeding and fertilizing will be the basic routine.
Spend springtime in your garden, not your lawn.

A word about mowing: Mulch. Don't bag. Mulch. Mulch the leaves that
fall, too. The organic material finely mulched is what's going to save
you a lot of money. You'll have a healthy lawn that (for the most part)
controls weeds by choking most of them out, and you won't have a need to
spend a lot of money on fertilizers and other chemicals.

One last word: Watering. You should water deep. An inch a week all
applied at once is best. However, since your soil has been compacted so
badly, even after you till-up the top few inches, there's going to be a
hard crust under that for many, many years until the worms can work the
organic material in deeper. If you start to get run-off before you reach
an inch of water, stop. Wait 20-60 minutes, and restart. Don't ever be
tempted to do a light watering every day or two. That encourages shallow
roots, and you'll never have an established lawn. Lawn care services do
it that way so they can convince home owners that they need to pay big
bucks to have a crew of people come out to constantly care for the lawn.

To sum it all up, a good lawn starts in fall. Until fall comes, you want
to work on fixing the soil. When fall comes, aerate, seed and fertilize.
Then next spring, enjoy your new lawn.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.