We need a lawn doctor

We are having trouble with our backyard lawn. We got sod installed two years ago and by now I would describe the lawn as more than 50% dead. We are not sure if this is due to bad soil, too little/much sun, too much/too little water, bad sod and so on. Anybody out there in the lawn doctor business to come out to Park Slope, take look and give us some advice? There must be businesses out there for this.

nonsense

in Garden Design and Maintenance 12 years and 1 month ago

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NeoGrec | 12 years and 1 month ago

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After 8 years of re-seeding, fertilizing, and of course, watering I’m done with our lawn! The poor drainage and shade thrown by our house aren’t easy to change. Thinking of switching to artificial turf. I’ve heard there are some good products out there these days. MARIE-HELEN: Do you have thoughts on this or a recommendation for a brand? Our lawn area is tiny: maybe 8ft x 12ft.

BobMarvin | 12 years and 1 month ago

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It might also be impossible, or at least impracticable, to have a lawn, depending on light and how much traffic your grass gets. Brownstone backyards are tiny, so foot traffic is really concentrated. They are also heavily often heavily shaded. I tried to grow grass for about 35 years in my north-facing garden. For a number of years it was pretty good, but as the trees grew taller producing more and more shade my “lawn” got sparcer and sparcer, despite Spring and Fall seeding–by late Summer it would be mud, with a few blades of grass. I actually like the shade, produced by two self-seeded trees (an oak and an elm) that I allowed to grow because they sprouted in good locations, plus my neighbors’ over-hanging trees, but it made growing grass a loosing proposition. A few years ago I gave up, gave away my lawn mower, and spread cedar mulch over landscape cloth. IMO that looks much better than my pathetic “lawn” ever did. OTOH, if you have sufficent sun light it may be worth continuing to try grass.

marie-helene | 12 years and 1 month ago

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I can have a look.  Just click on my handle to fing my email address. Lawn is relatively inexpensive to install, and even cheaper to grow from seeds, but it requires an enormous amount of maintenance to look good: you have to feed, water, weed, mow regularly and still you have to re-seed twice a year.  So any intervention is not a quick fix, but rather a commitment.