How to Grow Lawn Grass

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By amazedanew
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Beautiful lawn grass

Growing lawn grass is fairly simple and inexpensive, but it does require some work. It's a labor of love, though, because if you've been careful from the old sod removal through the leveling, seed planting, watering and fertilizing, the beautiful grass lawn at the end is well worth the work. If you seriously wish to put in a smooth beautiful weed-free and level lawn, then you want to remove the grass and weeds currently covering your lawn.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Spade
Flat blade shovel
Tiller
Rake
Wheelbarrow
Grass seed
Spreader
Hose
Lawn Roller
Top Soil
Peet Moss

Step 1

Using your spade, cut five foot long and foot-wide strips into your existing grass. Then take your flat bladed shovel and insert it at one foot-wide end, work it under the roots of the grass and start pulling the whole strip away from the dirt. You want to knock off the extra hanging dirt clumps back onto the ground--you're just stripping the old grass off of the yard. Once you have enough edge lifted to grasp with your hands, pull the grass up and away from the ground and start rolling it off the yard. In effect this is the opposite to laying sod, except for the pulling involved. How long you make your strips depends in part on how strong you are, as you have to lift and remove all those rolls.
Step 2

Once your ground is bare, add 2-8 inches of topsoil, then use a tiller to break up the ground and mix the old soil with the topsoil. Different people have varying ideas about this. I do this to aerate the old soil, and to get a good mix to my new soil. Some people just lay down the new topsoil and don't worry about tilling the old. You can add fertilizer at this point, as well, if you feel your soil is really bad. Be sure to remove any rocks or dead roots that you run into.
Step 3

Rake the dirt smooth and level it as much as you can, breaking up all clumps that you find.
Step 4

Then take your roller and walk it back and forth across the yard, tamping and smoothing the dirt as you go. A water roller is nice because you can fill it to the weight you want and it gives you a consistent compaction to your yard.
Step 5

A nifty trick to leveling your yard and finding any holes to fill is to use a long hose. One person just holds an end of the hose firmly against the ground while the other person drags the length over the tamped dirt. The hose will drag dirt from high spots to low spots and leave holes looking obvious. Take your time and fill all holes and tamp again. You want your lawn level and beautiful.
Step 6

When you're satisfied with the surface of the ground, you will now take your rake and lightly scratch the top surface of your new packed dirt.
Step 7

Now spread the grass seed onto the prepared yard with a spreader. You can always seed a lawn by hand, but the nice thing about a spreader is that you'll have consistent coverage. You just set it to release the amount of grass seed you want and then walk back and forth across the yard until the whole thing is planted. I start from the farthest distance and work my way to the front.
Step 8

Cover the grass seed with about an inch of peet moss. This is an optional step. Not all people use peet moss and some people put the peet moss down before the seed, it's up to you. The peet moss helps hold the water needed by the grass seed to germinate. I just happen to come from country where birds will swoop in and eat all my grass seed unless I hide it with the peet moss. The peet moss on top does not slow down the grass germination at all.
Step 9

Run your roller across the seeded lawn again, but this time without water in it. This lightly tamps down the raked dirt and grass seed and also helps keep the seed in one place when you water.
Step 10

Set up your lawn sprinklers and water thoroughly but not where you make lakes on your yard. Anywhere water pools instead of sinking in will make your grass seed move and pool too. This then causes bare spots and thick spots of lawn grass.
Step 11

Depending upon where you live, you want to water your grass seed in the mornings very thoroughly, and off and on during the day to keep the ground wet. In the Great Plains region, the only consideration is to not water during the hot parts of the day, so you don't sunburn your lawn grass. In the Pacific Northwest, you don't want to water at night, because the fungus moves in and takes over your yard.
Step 12

Your grass seed will germinate quickly. You can back off how much you water once your lawn is covered in tiny grass seedlings. You want to keep the yard moist until you have good growth, but you don't want to water-log your new grass either.
Step 13

Don't fertilize your lawn again until the end of its first season, just before winter. Otherwise, you'll burn the roots.