How to Renovate Dead Spots in a Lawn

Go easy on yourself - every lawn gets a dead spot in it now and then. You can renovate small sick areas using matching sod, or use new starts from seed and your existing lawn for finer-looking grass in just weeks.

Things You'll Need

• Compost Makers
• Fertilizers
• Garden Hoses
• Garden Knives
• Garden Trowels
• Gardening Gloves
• Grass Seeds
• Hand Cultivators
• Hoes

Instructions

1. Dig out the area to be replaced and about 6 inches all around it. Throw away the pieces of grass, but keep the native soil for reuse.

2. Add organic matter and fertilizer plus a pinch of garden lime if your soil is naturally acid; aslo add some sharp sand if it's heavy clay. Mix them well with the native soil.

3. Fill in the spots you're going to fix with your custom blended soil, and cultivate the area well before planting. Water once, then plant the same grass you're already growing from seed, sprigs or sod.

4. Seed by hand so you can drop them about 1/4 inch apart all over the soil mix. Use the back of a hoe to gently press the seeds into the soil - be careful not to plant them too deep.

5. Cover the seeded spots with hay or a board to keep the seeds moist until they sprout. Check the spots every day, keep them watered and take off the "mulch" once they're up.

6. Use grass stolons - those runners you cut at the edge of the driveway - for immediate green cover on slopes where seed might wash away. Root them first in a flat filled with sand and dirt, then dig and transplant to your prepared spots.

7. Cut sod to renovate high-visibility or well-trafficked areas for a prettier, more practical solution to their challenges. Get down to ground level and work the new sod into the old along each side, knitting their mats and grassy tops together completely.

8. Keep newly renovated lawn spots well-watered, and fertilize the spots with a soluble formula one month after planting. Mow around the areas until they're taller than their peers, then raise your mower height one notch and cut the whole lawn once. After that, return to your regular mowing pattern.

Tips & Warnings

• Identify the problem so you don't repeat it. Aerate compacted soil, control insects or treat for fungal diseases before you replant.

• Be sure to knit the sod together - really mesh the old with the new. Holes and high spots you allow now will be with your lawn forever.