grass repair!

after last years draught my lawn ended up mostly weeds--i killed the weeds, fertilized the grass and am now watering like crazy! right now my lawn is mostly brown (dead weeds) with patches of green bermuda grass--i am told bermuda spreads quickly and will overtake the dead grass as long as i keep watering--and also that i do not have to remove the dead weeds since they will just become part of the ground material as the new grass takes over--is there anything else i should be doing or know about? would it be a good idea to throw out some seed too? or would the recent fertilizer be too soon and strong for the new seed? if i do throw out some seed do i need to throw some top soil on it? we get a lot of sun and heat, a long growing season (texas #8) thank you in advance for any help---

are you trying to grow bermuda grass? where i am it is considered a weed and grows very quickly but some places do grow it as a lawn. bermuda does spread very quickly. i've tilled a few rows for roses and flowers and it spreads into my tilled areas in no time. usually seeding is done in the spring or fall, however, i think i would seed now if you keep watered.
you need something to crowd out the weeds. Fertilizer shouldn't hurt the seeds. if you seed and then water well, the water should bury your seeds or some people use a roll

yes burmuda as grass--i know that it is a weed but here we grow it as a grass--heat and draught tolerant--some people grow nice soft grass of other varieties but then their water bill must be sky high! most people use bermuda, st augustine---thanks for the advice and i will do as you said--it rained so hard yesterday that 4+inches came down in record time! i had already watered that morning and the days before--so i am hoping the fertilizer was already soaked in and not washed away by this downpour---if i throw the seed out should i clear out the dead weed areas or will that dead stuff maybe hold the seed down better? can too much water mean i have to fertilize again?

You're 100% right planolinda--we need bermuda grass down here where 90 to 100 degree days are the norm. Hubby and I planted Sahara bermuda because it was affordable and doesn't have to be mowed as often as some other varieties. We've been trying to establish it on 5 1/2 acres and have had to reseed certain areas a few times. We mowed all the weeds real close first and then spread the seed over everything and it all did great. As long as you're watering it should be fine. Also, your fertilizer should be good for a while and as long as it's already dissolved it won't hurt your newly sprouting grass. And if you keep bermuda fertilized (we try to do spring and fall), it will grow lush and beautiful and will keep all (or at least most) of those weeds choked out.

oh thank you nature lover1950---that is encouraging since right now it is a dead looking mess!!! dead because of all the weeds i killed (which was unfortunately the main part of the lawn)--i don't have 5+acres but i do have a big front and back yard--maybe half an acre ---i have one big area that is st augustine (came over from my neighbors yard) and that is spreading too--might end up being the battle between the two when they meet!!

Hi Planolinda, do remember whatever you use to kill your weeds on the grass, will also kill the grass unless you use a selective weedkiller for lawns, your doing the right thing by giving as much water as you can in your heat, come about September time, you might want to hire an machine that will aireate the lawn soil as this will allow water to get down into the roots and prevent it going brown so fast, by then, when it gets slightly cooler, you should see the lawn get a bit greener, THEN add some seed if you feel you need to, but in the heat, dont add any lawn feeds as this will just burn the grass even more, hope it all works out well for you after all your hard work, good luck, WeeNel.

thanks--it is still looking kind of sad but i will keep trying--

Hi Planolinda...

I can suggest a few suggestions for growing quality grass with less efforts..
Tough drought and water restrictions don't allow us to grow grass on our gardens.
You can have artificial grass with gardens that are drought tolerant. No need to water them but they look sos wonderful.
Designer lawns with synthetic and artificial grass looks pleasant and requires no maintenance.
They are the gardener's proud..

Can't understand the desire for artificial grass or plants outdoors myself, but each to their own I say, the trouble with artificial is, where does the water shed to that we are short of, what happens to all the worms and other benificial insects that visit/live in the gardens and in turn, these bring in birds, bees and other polinating insects, even in retricted water areas, it is easier, cheeper and far more benificial to the environment to go research what grass or plants grow in these kinds of arid areas, before the vast expence of laying artificial lawns or concreting over everything, think about maybe by doing that, we are passing water problems onto someone else as rain water has to go somewhere, it just dont evaporate because we have no soil to soak it up, but thats just my own personal view and I am sure in the right places, like indoors, it will be the best solution for the right purpose. good luck. Weenel.

The synthetic lawns (at least the sort we have over here) are set up to address at least the water part, water does drain through them very easily. Obviously a synthetic lawn won't attract the good insects, birds, etc but honestly with the amount of chemicals people use to keep their non-synthetic lawns alive and green, I don't think they're a big draw for those things either!

Out here, the synthetic lawns can be a good alternative--we get no summer rain at all, so having a real lawn is actually pretty wasteful of water, and since we don't get that much rain to begin with even during the wet season, it's much more environmentally conscious to not have a lawn at all. But there are a lot of people here who've moved from other places in the country where it is practical to have a lawn, and they like that look, so the synthetic lawn is a way to have the look of a lawn but keep water use down. Personally I don't care about having grass, so I have garden beds and then a "lawn" made of crushed rocks, but a lot of people want that look of grass. The problem for Linda is going to be the cost--for our tiny California lots (a lot of people have less than a tenth of an acre) the cost can be somewhat reasonable (although probably still more than a lot of people would want to spend), but to do a half acre lot it would probably end up costing almost as much as the house!

oh my!! can't afford that!!!! but i do understand it being a good choice in the right places--my latest idea came from a book about lasagna layering in the yard--the author said it is a good way to grow grass too! lay out newspapers (wet) cover with compost -, peat etc and put on seed--put a little straw on top and keep damp--don't cut lawn till 8 inches high (that part is a little strange to think of!) since the grass isn't in the ground but growing on the paper--the one thing i don't understand is how it gets rooted in the dirt if it is on the paper--i know paper disintigrates but not that fast--maybe it gets strong enough to be mowed on top of the grass? it is of course in several layers of compost like materials

Planolinda, the guy said put the paper down first and wet it, so the grass will grow into the compost/peat etc that is layed on top of the paper, I asume this layer of compost needs to be over 2 inch thick, the paper I asume is to help keep the soil from drying out so fast, as the paper decomposes, it will help to retain some moisture but hey, where do you get enough paper to cover a garden lawn area, by the time you got one bit soaked, the rest would be dry again, it seems a lot of work to me, but hey, if it worked for him, who should knock it eh. Hope your hard work is paying off, it really aint the right time to plant a lawn, I just wish some lawn companies would be honest enough to tell folks that and take an order for the work about September time when the weather has cooled some and watering would help the lawn to get hold befor winter sets in, Good luck anyway. WeeNel.

well i am not putting down a lawn--i am filling in a lawn--last year we had a terrible draught and because it is important to keep the foundations of houses here in texas watered and because of water restrictions---well a lot of my grass died--so i am filling in those areas--as luck would have it we are having the wettest season ever so watering is not a problem so far--i decided against the newspaper in the lawn but did do the lasagna layering in another area--as for the lawn--it seems to be coming around a little after fertilizing, throwing out a little seed and lots of rain