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Revive That Lousy Lawn
Breathe new life into your yard in few easy steps

If your lawn looks pitiful after the tough winter months, you have two choices: Either play dirt doctor and fix it up, or be an undertaker and put it to rest.

Early intensive care during spring may save a worn-out lawn. On the other hand, if it is past its recovery point, giving your lawn a decent burial and establishing a new lawn may be a better idea. After all, the more you've let your lawn go downhill, the less you will have to salvage. But if there's still hope for your yard, here are some easy techniques to bring out the green in your grass.

Dethatch
If the lawn is compacted with more than a half-inch of thatch (dead grass and leaves pressed down among the roots), remove it by using a dethatching rake or a power-dethatching machine. Regular dethatching forces buds to grow near the base of the grass stems, and frees new grass shoots to grow in thick and lush.

 Aerate
To aerate, use a coring device to cut 3- or 4-inch-deep holes in the soil, and leave the cores on the lawn to decompose naturally. The holes created by the aerator will provide a path for fertilizer, water and oxygen to get to the roots where they will do the most good.

Overseed
First, get rid of weeds either by digging them out with a pronged tool, or by spot spraying them with a broadleaf herbicide. Drag a rake over the bare spots to prepare a loose seed bed. Then follow these next steps.

• Choose a seed variety that matches the turf grass you already have. If you have blue grass, for instance, overseeding with any kind of blue grass will do the job.

• Sow the seed at twice the rate recommended for a new lawn, and broadcast the seed over the bare areas by hand. Broadcast a very thin layer of light organic top dressing (no more than one-fourth inch) on top of the seed so it won't dry out or blow away.

• Finally, use a spreader to distribute slow-release granule lawn fertilizer over the entire lawn in the quantity recommended for a new lawn. Keep the area damp by sprinkling until the seed germinates. Once the seeds begin to grow, cut way back on watering.

Last Bit of Advice
Depending on the condition of your lawn, you may be able to revive it by simply dethatching, aerating and overseeding. However, if the lawn is completely overrun with weeds and patchy brown spots, or worse, it's just a solid mass of straw, the most economical thing is to till it under and completely start from scratch