Part of my back lawn, in full sun, dormant now due to lack of water and high heat.

The soil is dry and hard 30x20 foot area. What is my best course of action. I was thinking of having it double aerated (plug type), and brushing some better soil/comopost into the holes along with seed; rather than roto tilling. I have a dog and do not want too much bare ground that will make muddy paws. There is some grass in this area, just doesn't grow well.

11 Comments

KMS Woodworks Nederland, CO

Is this space irrigated? Any course you chose should take the upkeep in mind. As it would not make much sense to install $$$ patches of sod and have it all dry up and die in a few weeks.

on Jul 20, 2011 · Like 1
Woodbridge Environmental ... Colonia, NJ

You should use a tiller and turn the soil over and add good quality compost to the mixture to help soften the soil. This assumes you have more of a clay based topsoil already.
But regardless of the type if you have had no rain and we have been dry as well in the NJ area or have not been watering the soil, then it will be hard and crack a lot.
The difficult part is that once the soil gets that hard, it takes a lot of moisture for ...»
several days to soak back in and soften the ground.
Sod can help, but you still need to till the ground so the roots of the sod will be accepted into the ground and continue to grow. And even if you have grass and it turns green that does not mean you have applied enough water to prevent it from dying out and going brown the next day.
Try watering the soil every day for several hours. Quantity of water is critical but no so much that it runs off of the yard taking what top soil that is loose away with it.
You may find watering several times per day rather then only once for a longer period of time will increase the soils ability to soak up what you apply rather then for it to simply wash away while little of it really soaks into the hard packed ground.

on Jul 20, 2011 · Like 1
Joe Washington Marietta, GA

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'll assume you now have a cool weather grass. In the short term I would consider mulching the area with a hardwood mulch. It's tough to give up on grass but it looks like you'll be fighting a losing battle this time of year and it will keep the mud down once it rains. If grass is not growing well in that area anyway you might want to start over in the spring with an irrigation system, topsoil and sodding with a warm weather grass, perhaps bermuda or zoyzia.

on Jul 20, 2011 · Like 1
Douglas Hunt New Smyrna Beach, FL

Joe makes a good point about grass type. Sounds like you could have tall fescue, which is popular in coastal Virginia. If so, this is definitely not the time to plant, and unless you have irrigation you are always going to have a problem with it going dormant in the heat of summer. It is what tall fescue naturally does in response to the stress.

on Jul 21, 2011 · Like 1
Clay B Chesapeake, VA

I would like the grass to stay green in winter. I do not mind it going dormant in summer heat, as it will green up again. I'm just having trouble getting it to grow thick and full, lots grass plants, but dirt spces in between. I'll probably end up doing the roto tilling, and mixing in compost.

on Jul 22, 2011 · Like 0
Peter's Natural Gardening Alpharetta, GA

The soil really holds the key. When it is good, the roots will grow deeply and you will see little of this type of problem. To quickly improve the soil you need microbes to build humus. To do this, find a nursery close to you that sells organic worm castings, which are rich in microbial activity. A couple of bags should suffice. Next get some sand and make a 50/50 mixture of sand with the worm castings. Now put in 10-15 lbs of 4-2-2 chicken manure, or an equal organic manure. ...»
We use bat guano, but this is difficult to obtain. Put a sprinker on the lawn early morning for an hour, then for an hour later in the day. Early the next morning aerate it well with a motorized or barrel type aerator. Take the mixture and apply as evenly as possible over the area. Now, get some molasses and put one or two tablespoons per gallon of water and apply a few gallons over the entire area with a sprayer. Then use the sprinkler once again for 30 minutes or longer. Water 30 minutes for several days. Now you have done a great job of rejuvenating your soil that will in turn, maximize root development. In the fall, re aerate and apply seed. An alternate method would be to till up the entire area and start from scratch.

on Jul 22, 2011 · Like 1
Travis P Atlanta, GA

You are correct in calling your grass "dormant". Fescue will go dormant in summer to survive the heat just as Bermuda grass goes dormant in Winter. As long as this period isn't too long, the grass will green up as the weather moderates.
Aeration will allow water, air and compost to penetrate into the soil. Aeration is the best way to gain benefit from what little water is available. Tilling the soil will expose new weed seeds ...»
to the surface creating a new weed problem.
Adding compost after aeration will build enzymes and add nutrients to the soil for improved grass health for years to come. Raking or "brushing " it in will minimize erosion.

on Jul 22, 2011 · Like 1
Clay B Chesapeake, VA

Peter's Natural Gardening, thank you, but I've got to ask, what does the Molasses do?

on Jul 22, 2011 · Like 0
Peter's Natural Gardening Alpharetta, GA

Molasses is the most simple sugar. Because of this it is easily digested and eaten by the beneficial microbes to aid as a food source for energy and to increase reproduction. When synthetics are used they cause a rapid breakdown of soil structure, loss of carbon, and therefore a lack of necessary carbohydrates needed for healthy, humus rich soil. Humus is the organic form of carbon. Carbon is the basis for all life as we know it. If you look at the Peter's Natural Gardening website ...»
in the Links section, the thesis on Soil, Carbon and Climate is an excellent science based essay. Molasses also is a good source of Potassium. It is an extremely valuable all natural soil amendment.

on Jul 23, 2011 · Like 1
Clay B Chesapeake, VA

Update: Aerating is the best thing I've ever done for my lawn. The hard to grow areas are doing much better, grass is thicker. Plus I don't have to water as much. I pay a lawn service to do the aerating in the fall. Not much more than renting. This last fall, I did aerating and seeding. It's going to look so much better this year, I can tell all ready. Some of the area's were very packed/dry soil from vehicles driven on it, swing-set etc., now soooo much better. Aerating is the way to go!

on Jan 29, 2013 · Like 1
Douglas Hunt New Smyrna Beach, FL

Good news.

on Jan 30, 2013 · Like 1

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Part of my back lawn, in full sun, dormant now due to lack of water and high heat.

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