How to Plant Grass in Bare Spots on My Lawn

While every homeowner works hard to maintain a green lawn that is pleasing to the eye, an occasional bare spot or two can create a bit of a panic. These bare spots must be tended to immediately to prevent them from growing bigger, causing erosion problems and then requiring the skill and expertise of professional lawn repair services. Bare or bald spots are usually caused by too much traffic on that particular area, incompatibility of the type of grass to the soil and climatic conditions, over watering and over fertilizing.

Things You'll Need

• Powdered chalk
• Lawn Mower
• Shovel
• Wheelbarrow
• Compost
• High phosphorous fertilizer
• Bucket
• Roller
• Grass seeds or sod
• Garden hose
• Peat moss or straw
• Stakes or poles
• Chicken wire

Instructions

1. Walk around the lawn and demarcate the bare spots with powdered chalk. Remove any rocks, stones, twigs or debris from the bare spots in your lawn.

2. Mow the lawn surrounding the bare spots to no more than 1 1/2 inches high to allow sufficient light to penetrate.

3. Dig the bare spot at least 4 inches deep to loosen the soil and aerate it. Break up large clods to small manageable pieces. Remove an inch of soil and collect in a wheelbarrow to dispose off later.

4. Mix equal amounts of compost and high phosphorous fertilizer in a bucket and apply a layer over the soil. Rake the area so it is evenly distributed and penetrates the soil. The fertilizer encourages a healthy and strong root system.

5. Rent a roller or tamp down the spots to firm the soil. The area will be an inch lower than the surrounding lawn surface.

6. If planting grass by sod, lay the strips of sod of the grass you are already growing over the spots and trim them to size, making sure they entwine with the surrounding grass. If planting by seeds, use a mixture of grasses such as fescues, annual ryegrass and perennial ryegrass.

7. Drop seeds by hand at least ¼-inch apart, and press them lightly into the soil to ensure good soil to seed contact. Do not plant them too deep in the soil because they will fail to germinate.

8. Water the area well with a garden hose, and continue watering twice a day for two weeks. If planting seeds, cover the area with peat moss or straw that will act as mulch and prevent the seeds from blowing away or birds from eating them while retaining moisture.

9. Install stakes with chicken wire around the spots to divert traffic from them to encourage the grass to grow there.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a slow release fertilizer at half the recommended strength a month after planting seeds or laying sod.

References

• Green Lawns

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish