Is it possible to save my lawn?

Mightyquinn said:

It is showing you are from Sweden? Is this correct? If that is correct I will move this thread to the Cool Season forum as you will get more views over there as I am 99.9% sure you have or will use a Cool Season grass.

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fredriklarsson108 said:

What would the easiest and cheapest solution be? If it is to remove all of it, please let me know

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fredriklarsson108 said:

Hi there!

I do not have a lot of experience with lawns, so I am hoping someone on the forum will be able to share their expertise

My mother's lawn has more or less been taken over by everything but grass, and I am wondering if I somehow can save this lawn without removing all of it and planting new grass.
View attachment 15873 View attachment 15874

What would the easiest and cheapest solution be? If it is to remove all of it, please let me know

Thanks all!
Fredrik

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secured2k said:

If you have over 50% weeds, then start over.
There is a renovation guide here :Renovation guide (cool season)

It does not have instructions for tilling as won’t go that far and doing so might bring up new weed(unwanted) seeds and also affect some soil structure. This is a more involved process where you would want to check the soil health and adjust and likely add organic matter mixed into the soil, compact it down slightly before seeding.
Anyway, I would start with the renovation guide first and decide if you want to do more. Also check out the cool season lawn guide sticky post. It sounds like you are trying to do a tier 3 operation while stating you don’t have much experience (tier 1). There is nothing wrong with going all out for the best results but you should definitely take your time to prepare and evaluate the time and costs involved.

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MacLawn said:

First thing to ask yourself is how much time and money to maintain anything you do and who is going to do the work.
The “cheap” way out is a decent lawn mower and good blades.
Keep it at 3” or so , keep the edges clean and even weeds start to look ok.
You just have to mow more often to keep the faster stuff from growing.

what size lawn ?

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fredriklarsson108 said:

Thanks for your reply! 😀

The lawn is about 10,000 sq ft I think.

Kind regards,
Fred

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Cool Season Lawn Guide

Cool Season Guide We would like to welcome you to the forum. We are a group of lawn enthusiasts (aka. obsessed) that like to share our knowledge and experiences. This article is meant as the how-to guide to lawn care for cool season lawns. The intent is to provide a high level summary of the...

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fredriklarsson108 said:

Hi there!

I do not have a lot of experience with lawns, so I am hoping someone on the forum will be able to share their expertise

My mother's lawn has more or less been taken over by everything but grass, and I am wondering if I somehow can save this lawn without removing all of it and planting new grass.
View attachment 15873 View attachment 15874

What would the easiest and cheapest solution be? If it is to remove all of it, please let me know

Thanks all!
Fredrik

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bernstem said:

I would recommend killing the weeds and maintaining what you have for a while before embarking on a full kill and renovation unless you already have experience with lawn care. Working on the current lawn will allow you figure out proper mowing, watering, fertilizing, and weed control. Without the basics down, a renovation has a much higher chance of failure. I also think you will have a decent amount of grass left after controlling the weeds. Overseeding this fall will fill in any bare areas and give you some experience growing grass from seed. Much of the steps for overseeding are the same as for renovating without the stress of having a bare dirt lawn if it doesn't work well.

I would recommend not renovating until you have some experience managing the current lawn even more strongly on a large 10k sq ft lawn.

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Kenneth_R said:

Killing weeds is VERY easy and fast with the right products using a sprayer. I would avoid the big box store crap. Its way too diluted. I had a MESS of broadleaf weeds in my lawn when I first purchased the house. I could make a huge salad for days from all of it. lol. Got the right products and all were gone in a few weeks.

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secured2k said:

If the grass is healthy enough, weed killers are selective in that they usually do not harm the grass (or not enough to kill it) when used properly.


I don't know a guide here that includes using a tiller. Using a small amount of RoundUp (1-2%) usually has little to no effect on ground water due to the distance through the earth it has to go through to reach ground water and by that time, it has been decomposed by microbial activity. Run off to surface water is much more likely. I am not familiar with well water sources only a few meters deep; At that depth, this is probably a type of ground/surface water.

As for tilling - it is a lot of work. I do not recommend it in your case. It is generally bad for the soil structure and microbiology, but used in cases where the land is already bad, and you need to substantially start over.

The general steps are...

• Clean up (remove) as much debris that you can from the surface.
• Remove any rocks near the surface.
• Get a soil test done so you know what amendments to add later.
• Fill in any low spots or holes with dirt.
• Cut the existing vegetation as low as possible and then kill it...
  • with a non-selective herbicide: optionally lightly fertilize it, water it, and wait at least 2 days for things to start growing again. Then use the herbicide to kill off the vegetation.
  • with a cover of black plastic sheeting to block light or a clear thin plastic for if you have high heat (hot summer) and want to solarize the land to kill it off. This part may take many weeks to months.
• Rake out any remaining dead plants.
• Water the dirt so the top few inches are moist. Wait a day or two after for the water to seep into the soil.

Note: Some switch the order of the next two steps. Tilling first and then adding soil amendments on top. This is because tilling after putting amendments down puts the new organic matter and amendments deeper in the soil which is good for longer term growth for plants with deep roots. On the other hand, putting amendments on top of already tilled soil may be better for new surface planted seeds (grass) and the effect of the amendments will naturally incorporate into the tilled soil over time.

• Amend the soil - put compost/organic matter, humic acids, carbon sources, pH adjusters, other soil types (like loam or sand) etc. on the top of the soil. This layer should probably be about a couple inches thick - 1" or so for soils and 2" for compost along with whatever other amendments you are putting down. This should be spread evenly across the surface.
• Rototill down 4-8 inches in two different, non-opposing directions. 2 passes per direction, meaning back and forth for a total of 4 passes (East-West, W-E, North-South, S-N). Do NOT over-till where the soil becomes a fine powder. This is the part that breaks up and loosens the soil into crumbles and mixes in the amendments for soil health and new microbial life since tilling is likely to disrupt or destroy the existing carbon stores and microbial life.
• Use a rake to remove anything like rocks or debris that came up and to smooth over and level the soil. I recommend a deep watering and leaving the soil to rest for a week or two to see how some areas may settle and sink in. You will also likely see new weed seed growth in 2 weeks if temperatures support growth. Level/grade the soil again and apply an herbicide to kill the new weeds or cover/solarize the ground again.
• Continue following the steps for seeding found in the Renovation Guide. You probably do not need to cover the seed (with peat moss/compost) due to the tilling, but you do want to use a lawn roller to press the seeds into the tilled soil and to lightly compact/smooth the soil. This should be done with the ground is not wet.

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