Old lawn revitalization??

[badkitty]

I wanted to know the BEST way to get my lawn to grow normal grass. What i mean by normal is not having the really THICK grass that grows in patches and grows really tall. About 1/3 of my lawn is this stuff and the rest dpesnt grow much.

I have sprinklers, i've even added a few to get more coverage, and i've tried over seeding , but nothing grows but that thick grass.

I was about to rototill the whole yard today, approx 900sq ft , and reseed. Before i do that i wanted to know what i should do.

I was also intending on adding a small pond and brick/rock border around the perimeter of my yard. I've also taken out a bunch of stepping stones that were in the lawn, another reason i wanted to till it was to even the ground out.

[Bill Schwab]

Up in Sacramento, with the description you provided, I'm betting at one point your lawn had Tiff Green (Bermuda grass) and the patches are seeds and rhizomes of Dwarf Fescue that found there way into your yard from the birds or wind.

If you are tilling your lawn and going to start over, no matter what, you still need to water it alot to get seed to germinate. If you want to save money, I would hang on a few more months and do your renovation in the rainy season, or just ahead of the rainy season. I have gotten Bermuda to extablish from seed, but all the after care to get a finely established lawn is almost more work that it is worth.

With Bermuda, your grade must be perfect, and you need a reel type lawn mower to care for it properly. You can get cheap versions of a reel mower in the low $2000 range.

I would much rather see anyone wanting to keep a nice Bermuda lawn in a residential application use Bermuda Sod, you will pay about .40 a square foot, and it is 1/4 the work as trying to establish seed. After you install the sod use a light walk behind roller to smooth it out, wait 2 weeks before the first cutting.

It will require 1/2 the water as fescue once you get it rooted in, but your chances are much better to do this into the winter months. It gets pretty hot up there from what I'm told.

[badkitty]

i was going to edit my post originally and post these pcitures but i didnt think of it before i left the house
this is my lawn http://tinypic.com/95pf1s.jpg

and a close up of the only thing that grows
http://tinypic.com/95pft5.jpg

is there an somewhat simple way to kill this stuff and get my lawn to grow normal. I've come to the conclusion that tilling it may be more trouble than i want. Im renting anyway. Dont mind the holes where stepping stones were...im going to fix them

[Stonehenge]

Moved to homeowner forum

[badkitty]

i thought i was in the homeowner forum ? where was it moved