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How To Repair Holes In Lawn

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Lawn Repair: Patching With Seed

Fixing Holes Lawn – Bare Spots in Lawn

In spring, mow the existing grass as closely as possible be careful not to scrape the crowns of the plants . Remove the clippings in the area to be repaired so the seed will have direct contact with the soil. Remove any dead grass or weeds within the area.

Use a garden rake to rough up the soil between the grass plants. This, and the stubble of the freshly mown grass, will make a good seedbed for the new seed you’re adding to the lawn repair area. Rake the soil smooth and level.

Sprinkle seed thickly in the lawn repair area. Use a variety that corresponds to the surrounding grass if possible. Otherwise, use a mixture of grasses appropriate for your region. Cover seeds with a light sprinkling of topsoil or a thin layer of compost. Then, lightly water the area to help the seeds germinate. You can also use a lawn repair mix that includes grass seed and mulch or soil, and just sprinkle that on top of the bare patch. Mow the new grass when it reaches about 3 inches tall.

Plant At The Right Time Of Year

The goal is to get the roots established before environmental conditions become too harsh for the baby grass to survive. The best time to repair bare patches is when the grass is actively growing, says Waltz. That depends on where you live. Warm season grasses grow during the warm times of year, which is about May to mid-September. Cool season grasses grow during the cooler times of year until the soil freezes, which is roughly December to February. If youre not sure what you have, talk to your local university coop extension service. Both seed and sod are good options for patching.

Patching Grass: 7 Simple Steps To Repair Your Lawn

When small areas of your lawn die, you can repair these bald spots by preparing the soil and planting new grass.

This process of patching grass is fairly simple with the landscape maintenance project outlined below taking only 15 minutes. If dealing with a larger area in your lawn, its safe to assume that additional time will be needed.

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Quick Guide To Lawn Repair

1. Patch your lawn. Repair thin or bare spots with Scotts® EZ Seed® Patch & Repair. There is one exception: If you have a St. Augustine lawn, its best to pull up dead turf or edge out bare spots. Apply Scotts® EZ Patch Lawn Repair for St. Augustine Lawns then place new sod or plugs.

2. Water well. New seed and sod require more frequent watering. Keep your soil moist, but dont drown it.

3. Feed your lawn. After 6 to 8 weeks, give your new grass the nutrients it needs to grow lush and strong. Feed your entire lawn with Scotts® Turf Builder® Lawn Food.

4. Kill weeds and pests. Bugs and weeds will try to creep into your lawn while it grows. Before you apply any weed or bug control product, check the product label to see when it can be applied to new grass.

5. Mow later. Be sure to wait until your lawn is at mowing height before you mow.

Extended Thinning And Lawn Damage

Filling Yard Holes Dug by Pets

For larger lawn areas with thinning or heavier damage or to keep your lawn from growing thin do what the pros do and overseed. When you overseed with premium Pennington Smart Seed grasses and products such as Pennington Lawn Booster, you’re on your way to a thicker lawn with improved drought tolerance, improved disease resistance and significantly lower water needs compared to ordinary grass seed.

Purebred Pennington Smart Seed grasses are drought-resistant, water-conserving, environmentally friendly seed varieties that offer outstanding lawn performance and enhance the sustainability of your lawn. You can choose Smart Seed mixes and blends suited to your region and your lawn’s unique conditions, including mixed sun and shade.

Developed through industry-leading research and breeding programs, Smart Seed grasses require up to 30% less water year after year than ordinary grass seed, and stay green up to three weeks without water.

Read Also: How To Install New Sod Lawn

How Holes In The Lawn Form

Well, when you start a new lawn, each seed has a chance to grow no more than one tuft of grass. If you have sown the right amount of seeds evenly and most of them have sprouted, youll get a compact, dense turf. Tufts of grass may get larger over time, but their number will not increase by itself.

Unfortunately, over time, due to various unfavorable factors, some grass tufts turn yellow, dry up, and finally die completely. These are where holes are formed in the turf, and the entire lawn gets thinner over time.

Then there is no other way than to sow new grass seeds in the place of the resulting losses. New grass will grow in these areas, but this will not stop it from recurring in the same or different parts of the lawn. So you have to fertilize over and over again, and the lawn still does not look perfect.

Holes In Yard: Causes And How To Repair Your Lawn

It can be quite frustrating to have your well-dressed lawn disturbed by unsightly holes. Some of these holes appear overnight as if by magic, while others appear at certain times of the year. What causes these holes in your lawn or yard, and what is the best method to repair your lawn?

Holes in your lawn can be the activity of burrowing animals, insects, pets, or children. It could also be from activity on your lawn or subsiding ground. Treatment for holes in the lawn should start with a diagnosis of the cause and prevention methods. Fill the holes with a 1:1 potting mix and sand.

If you notice holes beginning to appear in your lawn, you need to put on your detective hat and start an investigation before taking steps to close the holes. Some holes may indicate an underlying problem that should be addressed before further damage to the lawn occurs. We will also show you the right way to repair the holes in your lawn.

  • Traffic on your lawn and soil subsidence

Establishing which problem is the cause of the holes in your lawn will put you on the right track to solve the issue and prevent it from damaging your lawn further.

Some of the causes for holes in lawns are beneficial to the grass. In these situations, you would not want to eliminate the cause but rather only fill in the holes to prevent them from getting larger or being used by other critters.

Read Also: Will Scotts Green Max Burn My Lawn

To Successfully Repair Your Lawn Using Seed Follow Lawntechs Step

Step 1: Prepare

Identify if there are any weeds or weed grasses in the area which needs repair, and if so dig them out or spray off with a weed killer such as round-up at least two weeks in advance.

Step 2: Cut

Cut around the perimeter edge of the patch with a spade or half-moon edging tool to create a defined edge to work to.

Step 3: Dig

Lightly dig through the soil to create a workable tilth. Remember it is essential that grass seed has full soil contact to germinate successfully. If ground is compacted make lots of deep holes with a fork.

Step 4: Rake

Rake the soil down to create a fine, smooth, even seedbed tilth. If the soil quality is poor you can add an extra fine layer of soil or sand and loam top-dressing.

Step 5: Fertilise

Apply low nitrogen pre-seed/turf fertiliser such as Lawnstore autumn hi k fertiliser @35 grass per square meter.

Step 6: Sow

Sprinkle on lawn seed @ 35 grams per square meter, such as Lawnstore Turfline multi-purpose lawn seed. Lightly rake in the seed and firm with the back of the rake.

Step 7: Water

The most important part is to keep the area damp for at least the next 3 weeks. Do not let it become dry even for a short period of time. Sometimes this means lightly watering 2 or 3 times per day. When seeding some people like to cover the area lightly with hessian to assist early germination or some wire netting to prevent birds from feeding on the seed.

Step 8: Mow

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How to Repair a Hole in the Lawn

Do you have a bunch of screw holes in your drywall that you need to fix before you can repaint? Maybe youre moving and want to take your old drywall with you. No matter the reason, these 5 easy ways to repair screw holes in drywall will help get the job done quickly and easily!

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    How To Patch Bare Patches With Sod

    A quicker method than seeding is to fill the bare spot with a patch cut from a roll of grass sod. This is a good method if you have several bare patches to treat. A roll of sod is usually less than $10, and you can cut many patches from a single roll. Within a couple of weeks, you’ll have an acceptable patch that has blended in with the surrounding grass.

    Keep Soil Moist Until Seeds Sprout

    Grass seeds that dry out will die. Once this occurs no matter how much you water the seeds you will have to replant them.

    Depending on your soil conditions and the weather, you should water the area with seeds several times a day. Recognizing that this is not always possible, strive for a minimum of twice per day.

    The goal is to keep the soil moist, but not so wet that it is soggy or has water collected on its surface. This will kill your seeds.

    You can expect to see seedlings within four to seven days depending on the water conditions and the seed type. Your grass should be ready to be mowed once the seedlings have reached around four inches in height

    Green Impressions has years of experience helping Northeast Ohio homeowners keep their lawn healthy and beautiful. Save time and hassle in your lawn care efforts with our services.

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    How To Repair A Lawn With Seed

  • Using a sharp spade or shovel, cut the area around the dead turf.
  • Use the flat part of the spade to lift off the dead turf.
  • Because you are removing at least a couple of inches of thatch and grass, fill in the area with some clean topsoil to keep it level with the rest of the yard.
  • Rake out the area until it is smooth and there are no big clumps in the soil.
  • Cast a thin layer of seeds on the area, and then gently rake the seeds into the topsoil.
  • Cover it with straw to hold in moisture and protect the seeds from birds.
  • If your lawn seems thin all over, try overseeding it. The basics are the same as patching.

    Spread The Grass Seed

    Lawn Care: How To Repair Ruts and Holes

    If you are patching grass with grass seed, make sure you spread it at the rate described on the seeds packaging. In this example, the spot is seeded by hand as the area is quite small. For a larger area, you will want to use either a small hand spreader or a wheeled fertilizer spreader and then rake a thin layer of soil over the grass seeds.

    Applying a fertilizer can assist with jumpstarting the seeds growth and establishing strong roots.

    In terms of the type of grass seed you select, youll want to pick one that matches both the type of grass currently growing in your lawn and the requirements of the area where it will grow. As a general rule of thumb, cool-season grasses that can thrive both in full sunlight and the shade are most suitable for Ohio lawns.

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    What Causes Small Holes In Lawn Overnight

    Waking up to a lawn full of small holes is a sign that something has been busy in your yard throughout the night. These small overnight holes are created by creatures that are nocturnal in other words, animals that sleep during the day before coming out at night to search for food or shelter.

    Some of the creatures that specifically create small holes in your lawn overnight include:

    • Raccoons and skunks

    How To Fill In Bare Or Patchy Spots

    Patching your lawn may seem like a big undertaking, especially if you remember what it was like setting up your lawn in the first place. But you can get it done in a few simple steps. First, choose whether you want to use seed or sod.

    In either case, make sure to select a grass type that will thrive in your region and the specific conditions of your yard. If you have large trees that cast a lot of shade, you want to purchase a shade-resistant grass that doesnt need too much sunlight.

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    Fixing Deep Indentations In Lawns

    Deeper depressions in the lawns surface will require a different method of levelling. This is because if a large amount of soil was placed on top of a lawn it may create further problems for the turf, both immediate and long term.

    Putting large amounts of soil on top of grass may kill the lawn in the area treated. Or, if it does repair, a layering effect may occur which can create a layer of new lawn and thatch on top of a soil filling which then sits on top of the dead layer of lawn and thatch. This often creates either a water repellent effect under the lawn, of a water trap. Either way it leaves your lawn subject to poor health and potential problems in the future.

    The lift and fill method of repairing uneven lawns is for repairing deep depressions. The lawn in the affected area is cut into a strip shape using a spade. The spade is then used to dig underneath and lift out the affected area to a depth of around 4 5 cm in the soil.

    Clean fill or sand is then added to the soil and the lawn is replaced on top increasing its height and bringing the lawn close to a level surface again. Frequent watering should be kept up to the repaired area for the first few weeks until the roots are re-established. Any slight unevenness remaining can be fixed with some light top dressing.

    How To Patch A Hole In Your Lawn The Right Way

    How to Fix Yard Potholes

    Lawns are common and essential features of public landscapes, private gardens, and parks. They offer aesthetic pleasure and are ideal for sports and other outdoor recreational use. Furthermore, a healthy lawn has numerous environmental benefits, such as preventing wind and water erosion, improving flood control, and providing a cooling effect, especially during summer.

    But sometimes, holes and patches are inevitable, even in a well-maintained yard. Uneven lawns often stem from heavy foot traffic, wet soil, and kids & pet activities, among other factors. This creates a safety hazard for walking, mowing and playing.

    Fortunately, there are various ways to fix holes in your lawn. Heres a complete guide to patching a hole in your yard the right way.

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    Top Recommended Lawn Care Provider

    Lawn care provider TruGreen offers five different annual plans and a variety of a la carte services so homeowners can customize their care for their lawns unique needs. Highly trained lawn care specialists can amend your soil, fertilize, aerate, and more to ensure that your lawn grows healthy, thick, and green.

    What Will I Gain By Sowing Self

  • Lawn self-compaction through rhizomes
  • Self-compacting grass forms a dense, natural network of rhizomes that grow to the sides, from which new clumps of grass grow. In this way, the self-compaction process takes place, and the grass quickly covers free areas and voids.

  • High resistance and self regeneration of the lawn
  • You can forget about the numerous treatments aimed at regenerating the lawn, because the self-compacting grass shows a high resistance of the lawn to intense trampling and use. Moreover, any damage to the turf stimulates the grass to branch out and regenerate itself.

  • The effect of a beautiful lawn for many years
  • The rapid and intensive growth of self-compacting grass causes the lawn to constantly rejuvenate, making it look fresh for years. The damaged fragments of turf quickly grow back.

  • No more weed control and herbicide spraying
  • Thanks to its rapid growth and the self-compaction process by the rhizomes, the self-compacting grass does not allow for the growth of weeds. This reduces the need for herbicides and other herbicidal treatments.

    Compared to most grasses available on the market, self-compacting grass germinates at temperatures 2-4 ° C lower than ordinary grasses and sprouts much faster after just 7 days . Sowing can therefore be done earlier and in less favorable weather conditions. This allows us to enjoy a beautiful lawn from early spring. The effect is always very fast after sowing a new lawn or fertilizing an existing one.

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    How To Fix Holes In Lawns

    Posted on December 30, 2015 by MelissaLawn Care Support Blogs

    Lawns with holes are not only unpleasant to look at, but they are also a safety hazard for mowing, walking and playing.

    Many situations cause lawns to become uneven some are preventable but others are not. The good news is that you can easily fix these problem areas in lawns.

    Learn common causes of holes in lawns and how to fix them.

    Common causes of holes in lawns:

    Mowing: If you follow the same pattern every time you mow you will eventually compact the soil beneath the mower wheels, creating ruts or holes.

    Wet soil: When soil is wet and mushy and you add a heavy or rolling object such as children on bikes, a wheelbarrow or a lawnmower and you get ruts and holes. This is one reason its vital to avoid mowing when soil is wet.

    Heavy equipment: Maybe you had trees lopped or pruned or mulch or soil delivered. The wheels alone wreak havoc with a lawn, forming ruts and holes. If the equipment had hydraulic platforms extended for stability, youll also wind up with compacted soil that forms low spots.

    Pets and kids: When holes appear in a lawn and theres loose soil scattered around the hole, the culprit could be the family dog or children.

    Tree stumps: Having a tree stump removed creates a low spot in the lawn. Any remaining underground wood eventually rots. At that point, the ground can suddenly collapse, creating a sinkhole-like depression.

    Tips for fixing lawn holes:

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