hello fellows,

i'm tring to fix my parents lawn. it's awful. green in the center spots but dead and dry at all around the edges.

i've read up and bought the right seeds n turf-buider, borrowed a seed spreader and bought something with gypsom that the guy at HD would help with the very hard soil on the edges.

i've raked it as best i can (thick layer of clippings on top of bare dirt) and mowed it lower and lower. but i'm having a rough time aerating the lawn by that i mean breaking up the hard clay on the edges and getting through the crabgrass in the greener sections.

i've used very large nails hammered through the bottoms of old running shoes with a board in between. worked a little untill on of the nails came up and made a divot on my heel...lol. went out and bought a hevyduty garden weasel thing but it's still very tough.

i don't want to spend more money on a gas powered cultivater .

any help would be much appreciated by me and my infected heel lol,
letsdickcheney

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As a landscaper, I would recommend using a rock pick to bust up the clay. After you have it all loosened up, spread a bit of top soil (or if you want to spend a little more money on it get Sandy Loam, which is a sand/dirt mix) and then cover it with grass seed. Water every day in the early morning and you should have grass growin pretty quick.

thanks for the reply by the way 1969. after a little research i think i need to dethatch then cultivate etc.

man i really didn't want to go this far but i've got 4 weekends to get it done. the grass is so thick and hard to get through ....where there is grass that is, crabgrass i think , looks like spagheti .

so i'm going to buy a dethatching blade for my push mower (2hp). go over it with the mower. slow and alittle at a time. rake and pull as i go. then use a cultivator for the hard clay then add soil,seed,etc.

how bout the cultivators or aerateor rentals at HD ?

thanks everyone

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wow....i have never worked so hard and been so tired in my life. breakin' sod is hard work. mind you i've worked hard in my life. i have no problem with it...in fact i think it's great for the body and the soul. breakin' sod with a pick-axe is very tough though. 1/2 an hour at a time is the best i could do LOL(what a wus)!!! 4/5 hours max and dead at the end!!! i can feel the muscles in my palm and forearm swelling LOL...."it's betta thA-n CoMM-Ing"...right arnold...LOL.

i got a few bags of 'garden ammender' from HD to work into the hard patches after i dig it up....anyone know anything about this stuff???

i should have started a grow journal for my 'GRASS" LOL LOL.

gnight RIU,
letsdickcheney

it feels sooo good to shower and smoke a bowl in the cool summer twilight after a hard days work.

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