My lawn isn’t just your typical spring mess. Huge portions of it are dead or dying. Something nasty happened over the winter, and we have to figure out our next step. We are not yard-working people. We don’t do well standing in the hot sun with rakes and shovels. We are not skilled when it comes to landscaping. I fear that there is no hope that we can get something green happening out there. So when should we throw in the towel and just replace the lawn with something else? Cement or brick come to mind.
Post-vacation, it’s going to take us a few weeks to get back on even footing financially. I keep forgetting that I’m not going to get a paycheck Friday (because I didn’t work last week). I hate when that happens. So it’s not like I can just dial up a landscaper to do it all for us. But I think that’s what we’re going to have to do. My across the street neighbor’s nephew has done landscaping for her, so I’m going to ask her what he’ll do and maybe get a price. I don’t know…is there a landscaper out there who will do all the work and let us just pay a little up front at the rest when they’re done?
Astroturf.
And then we can play sports on it and get knee injuries!
Maybe we could do sand and play beach volleyball, or clay and play tennis. Problem is, the front yard slopes down to the road. Bocce is a real bitch.
Ooh, we’re having the same problem with our lawn. (I know I’m a grownup when I bitch about my lawn, but anyway.) Our house’s old owners used to get the Lawn Doctor, etc. Over the past few years of our tenure at the house, the front grass has gotten deader and deader. Hubby turned over the worst part and reseeded — so he’s singing hurray for the rain — but we may have to get some lawn intervention.
I feel your pain!
Oh, dear! Everybody knows the answer is to have some contractor dump a truckful of bright-orange mulch in a giant pile on your “lawn,” which you can then spend many hours happily raking over those bastard weeds and dirt (hey, works for a neighbor down the street, and no, not the one who keeps a sofa out on his front lawn!).
Me? I’m doing what I always do: Rip out the old lawn, then pile more topsoil on what’s left, fertilize it, plant grass seed and then spend the summer watching it die and turn brown …
But Adam, if you keep adding topsoil, at what point is your front lawn taller than your house?
You’re probably better off having a guy come out and give you an estimate. If you have a slope on your yard you don’t have to worry about topsoil because yours will all wash away before it gets as tall as your house. Good luck getting someone out there it’s prime landscaping time. Don’t call the Lawn Doctor people, it’s a waste of time.
BE CAREFUL.
The landscaper we hired essentially ruined our yard. Remember that often the only thing that distinguishes you from “the expert” is that he has his name printed on the side of his truck.
i did landscaping for some years for a ‘professional’ company – which is where i learned what not to do. your best bet (without picking up a shovel) is to rake off the dead grass, dump some soil/compost in there and plant seed. you’ll have grass by the time winter comes.
Kiddicus, so far, you are the closest I have to an expert. So what kind of grass would you recommend for an area that is full sun, medium traffic?
This year I had to go to grub killer to stop all the animals from digging the yard up. I also think they were eating all the roots and killing my lawn. I found best was when I mow it is to leave the clipping there (assuming now an inch thick), lots fertilizer (4x/yr) and lime (min 2x year).