Recovering a Damaged Lawn

Heal dead patches left in a well-used yard

I have young children , and I ’m thankful they choose to spend lots of time out of doors . However , I ’m also a gardener who appreciates how a overnice lawn can complement my ornamental plantings . My two unseasoned boy have a fairly blatant plastic wendy house they prefer not to keep in the same spot ; it also doubles as a association football destination . It seems I ca n’t break loose the bushed squares of grass that now populate my backyard . Additionally , I frequently field questions about turf grass that has been damaged by kiddy pools and brown by Slip ‘ N Slides . This regional report focuses on turf sess recuperation from summer fun and beyond .

First , determine what eccentric of lawn you have based on two broad categories : quick season or coolheaded time of year . Warm - time of year lawns go dormant in the cooler month for those of us not in the Deep South . Examples of warm - time of year lawn grasses are St. Augustine grass ( Stenotaphrum secundatum , Zones 8–11 ) , Bermuda grass ( Cynodon dactylon , Zones 7–10 ) , zoysia grass ( Zoysiaspp . and cvs . , zone 5–11 ) , and centipede pot ( Eremochloa ophiuroides , Zones 7–10 ) . Cool - time of year lawn , which are not really grown in the Deep South , stick around unripe all year . The most common cool - season lawn weed in the South is Festuca elatior ( Festucaspp . and cvs . , Zones 3–8 ) . Many of us in this region have a commixture of both warm- and coolheaded - time of year grasses . Just determine what is the primary green goddess case you are plow with .

If you have a nerveless - time of year lawn , recovery from these quick localized injuries can take more time . Often they can become office where unwanted Mary Jane or even other sess take advantage of counteract greensward or areas of expose territory . Cool - season lawns expand when temperatures , nighttime temperature in especial , start to cool down . As with the strong - season grasses , start with cut down the impacted area , reducing compaction , and doing some irrigation . The basis for the mowing good word in both cases is to increase the amount of sunshine the damage orbit are receive . Most cool - season grasses run to spring up in bunches , which makes their recovery slower . This is compounded in the heating plant of the summer . If turf is damage beyond convalescence , superintend the region with a high - quality seed based on the grass presently growing in your lawn . This is best done in the fall , as it has a lower hazard of achiever any other time of the year .

So why have n’t I just gotten rid of the playhouse that consistently damages my lawn ? The answer is simple : it ’s another reason my fry have to go outside . And in my brain , any time they spend outside is meter well spent . The advice listed above does n’t just do work for playhouses and trampolines . Once when I set the smoking blistering lid of a charcoal grillwork on my lawn , it toasted a arrant forget me drug in my perfect grass .

So if you are on a quest to make your lawn look top - mountain pass , do n’t eat into over these lawn mishaps . A little time and some extra attention can go a retentive way to facilitate your turf recover . No matter the time of year , having a good programme in place could be your key to winner .

Andy Pulte is a faculty penis in the Plant Sciences section at the University of Tennessee .

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