If your lawn is beginning to get covered in patches of dead grass, it may be time for you to repair dead grass and restore your lawn. Your grass can die in many ways, whether it be harsh weather, drought, poor soil quality or even pets. While it may take time for your lawn to die completely, it’s pretty noticeable when a house has a lawn covered in dead grass. However, you don’t need to worry because there are many methods that you can use to revive your lawn.
In this article, we’ll be looking at several ways that you can revive your lawn and how to repair your grass once it’s dead. We’ll also look at several preventive measures that you can take to ensure that your lawn stays healthy and green for the years to come.
How to Revive your Dead Grass
Before you begin the process of repairing the dead grass on your lawn, you’ll need to make sure that your grass is actually dead. Sometimes your grass can turn brown because the grass is dormant or needs watering.
According to the experts at Green Blade Lawn Care, you’ll want to carefully inspect the grass before removing the grass.
“While your lawn may look like it’s dead, it can also be dormant. Before you remove the sod on your lawn and begin repairing your lawn, you’ll want to inspect the crowns of the grass plants to determine if the grass is dead.” ~Green Blade Lawn Care
If you want to determine if your lawn is actually dead or not, you’ll need to inspect the crown. The crown is at the base of the grass plants, and if the crown is green, then the grass is still alive. However, if the crown has turned a golden brown color, dried and shrivelled up, the grass has died, and it’s time for repair.
How to Revive Dormant Grass
If you’ve checked the crown of the grass plant and noticed that the grass is still green, your grass is still alive and won’t need repair. However, the golden color of the grass is a sign that your grass is slowly dying.
You can take steps to revive your grass before it’s dead, such as:
- Water your Lawn – Unless your area has restrictions on the amount of water you can use because of a drought, you’ll want to start watering your lawn. You can manually water your lawn, or you can purchase a garden hose and a sprinkler system to water your lawn while you’re busy.
- Aerate your Lawn – Every couple of months, you should be aerating your lawn so that the grass can breathe and continue to grow. While it may be expensive for you to hire someone to aerate your lawn, you can aerate your lawn by using aerating tools such as aerating shoes, handheld tools, or push aerators.
- Plant Grass Seed – If your lawn is thinning, you can also plant more grass seed to help thicken the grass. Always remember to water the grass seed and don’t mow the new grass seedlings until they’re 4-5 inches tall.
- Use Lawn Fertilizer – You can improve the condition of your lawn by using fertilizers to boost the health of your grass. However, we recommend that you go easy on the fertilizer because too much fertilizer can burn your grass and cause more damage to your lawn.
- Keep Pets Off the Lawn – While you may love your furry creatures, they can damage your lawn. If you’re trying to revive your lawn, you’ll want to ensure that you keep pets off your lawn. Instead of letting your pets play on the entire lawn, you may want to create a designated area where your pets can play without damaging your entire lawn.
These are just some of the techniques that you can use to boost the health of your lawn and ensure that your grass is revived and becomes healthy again.
How to Repair Dead Grass
While it would be best if your lawn were just dormant and not dead, sometimes your lawn will die, and you’ll need to repair the patches of dead grass. If you’ve inspected the crowns of your grass plants and they are a golden color, dried out, and flaky, then the grass is dead and needs to be replaced.
Unless your lawn has been destroyed, you should be able to repair and replace the grass in small areas where the grass is dead. Here are some of the ways that you can repair and replace the dead grass on your lawn.
- Clear the Dead Grass – To get started, you’ll want to clear the dead grass and debris from the ground so that the new sod or grass seed will have a chance to get established. If there’s too much debris or grass, it can decrease the amount of sunlight that the grass seed can receive and stunt the growth of your grass.
- Remove Weeds – You’ll also want to make sure that you remove any weeds from the area. After all, you don’t want the grass to compete with weeds for nutrients, resources and sunlight. We recommend spraying the area with a herbicide for weeds so that the grass will have time to get established without having to fight with weeds to grow.
- Till The Ground – To promote the growth of new grass, circulation of air and distribution of nutrients, you’ll want to till the ground where you’ll be planting grass seed or placing sod. We recommend tilling 4-6 inches down so that the ground is soft, making it easier for the grass seed to germinate and get established. The loose ground will also make it easier for fresh sod to take root.
- Reseed or Plant Sod – Now that the ground is prepared, you’re ready to plant grass seed or place sod on the freshly tilled ground. You’ll need to decide whether you want to spend some extra money for fresh sod or if you’re wanting to save some money by using grass seed. Once you’ve planted new grass, you’ll need to water the grass so that it has a chance to get established and thrive.
Once you’re finished planting the new grass, you’ll need to carefully water the new grass daily until it’s about 4-6 inches tall. If you’re using sod, you’ll want to water the sod three times a day for the first two weeks.
Tips for Preventing Dead Grass
If you’re wanting to avoid the hassle of repairing or replacing your lawn, we’ve got you covered. In this section, we’ll provide some lawn care tips that can help save your lawn and keep your grass healthy. While you can’t always protect your lawn from the elements, you can save your grass from many problems with a lawn care routine.
Here are some lawn care tips to keep your lawn healthy.
- Regularly Water your Lawn – If you want to keep your lawn alive, you’ll need to make sure that your grass is watered. While the rain will naturally water your lawn, you may need to use a sprinkler system during the hot summer months.
- Aerate your Lawn – You’ll also want to aerate your lawn once per year. The aeration process will perforate the soil with tiny holes, allowing water grass seed and nutrients to enter the soil and promote healthy, vigorous grass.
- Keep Pets Off The Grass – If you have dogs, you’ll want to keep them off your lawn. Many dogs will begin to dig, which can damage your lawn. The dog’s urine can also be the primary culprit for dead grass. If you have a dog, you may want to consider using grass seed for lawns with dogs.
- Mow the Grass – When you’re growing grass, you’ll want to add mowing to your lawn care routine. Mowing your lawn will help thicken the grass, and your yard will look amazing for the work you put into your lawn.
- Fertilize your Lawn – You can also use fertilizers to help promote your lawn’s growth. While it’s great to use fertilizers, you’ll want to use them carefully because too much fertilizer can burn your grass and cause bigger problems.
- Overseed your Lawn – At least once per year, you’ll want to overseed your lawn to ensure that you have new grass coming up. You may want to overseed in the spring to fight the effects of your lawn getting burnt in the cold winter months.
- Remove the Weeds – You can also promote a healthy lawn by removing the competition, such as weeds. By removing weeds, your grass will get more sunlight, water and nutrients. Your lawn will also look better when it’s weed-free.
These are some of the best lawn care techniques that you can use to ensure that your lawn is healthy and green. Of course, when you’re caring for your lawn, you’ll need to be aware of other factors such as the weather, climate zones and condition of your grass.
Summary
We hope this article has helped you learn how to revive dormant grass, repair dead grass and care for your lawn so that it’s always healthy. If you’re unsure about the condition of your grass, you may want to consider contacting a local lawn care business to help you care for your lawn.
