virgin gardner needs suggestions for my grass-less dirt lawn. (Howe: rental, how much)

[katalina]

I live off of bluebonnet & S. Lamar and my front lawn is non-existent! 95% of it is dirt. No grass. It looks horrible and I want to fix it. I noticed that this is a common problem in my neighborhood. However, my neighbors across from me have a beautiful lawn so I know it’s possible.

I am renting the house so I don’t want to spend an insane amount of money. I don’t have any gardening experience at all. What can I do? I am looking for an easy and affordable option. I am also open to the idea of planting something else beside grass sods/seeds such as vines or groundcover. What could I plant instead of grass?

[aaauger]

First, you need to aerate and fertilize your lawn. You can do this affordably. You can get a manual aerator like Turf Hound. You can get horse manure free from many farms. Yes, a lot of people don't like it because it has sprouts in it. But it did wonders on our sorry lawn. Just don't distribute it anywhere that you mind seeing sprouts.

For ground cover, Asian Jasmine has gone crazy in our yard. You'll probably want to buy a lot of smaller plants and spread them around, especially if you can dig far into your lawn.

Oh yes, and you will have to water the lawn. But water deeply - infrequently.

[southdown]

I had exactly the same problem in January this year - the back yard of my rental home was totally bare dirt. It's now pretty lush green - all I did was RAKE RAKE RAKE to get all the stones off and break up the soil surface. I then used a 2-pronged hoe thing to break the surface some more, then raked it over again to make a fine-ish tilth.

Then got a load of dillo-dirt delivered, threw that around, then threw around a load of shade grass seed, then raked again. Finally, I scattered another load of seed for good measure - then raked gently. Did I mention you should rake?

Then watered religiously - a little every evening to keep it damp - but not too much or you make rivers that run the seed off.

Two weeks later - green! Two months later - thick lush grass! But the grass has died off a bit in the heat this summer - tho if you plant this fall it should last right thru the year.

Watering little and often is the key when the seed is germinating - 5 times a week at least. When it's grown you can water deeper and less often.

For other non-grass options, there is a thread somewhere on that...I'll look it up....

Who puts seed down in the fall?

Growing grass...

there's quite a few on the subject in the Garden forum

[katalina]

How much was the Dillo Dirt?

Thanks for the advice! I've been meaning to buy a rake. Now, I will have more motivation to buy one haha.

Originally Posted by southdown

I had exactly the same problem in January this year - the back yard of my rental home was totally bare dirt. It's now pretty lush green - all I did was RAKE RAKE RAKE to get all the stones off and break up the soil surface. I then used a 2-pronged hoe thing to break the surface some more, then raked it over again to make a fine-ish tilth.

Then got a load of dillo-dirt delivered, threw that around, then threw around a load of shade grass seed, then raked again. Finally, I scattered another load of seed for good measure - then raked gently. Did I mention you should rake?

Then watered religiously - a little every evening to keep it damp - but not too much or you make rivers that run the seed off.

Two weeks later - green! Two months later - thick lush grass! But the grass has died off a bit in the heat this summer - tho if you plant this fall it should last right thru the year.

Watering little and often is the key when the seed is germinating - 5 times a week at least. When it's grown you can water deeper and less often.

For other non-grass options, there is a thread somewhere on that...I'll look it up....

Who puts seed down in the fall?

Growing grass...

there's quite a few on the subject in the Garden forum

[southdown]

Originally Posted by katalina

How much was the Dillo Dirt?

Thanks for the advice! I've been meaning to buy a rake. Now, I will have more motivation to buy one haha.

Can't remember....there's a list of vendors here - it might depend on distance, if it's bagged or a tipped load etc...

https://www.ci.austin.tx.us/pims/ind...ReportDDVendor

And not a grass or leaf rake - a big strong soil rake!