My front lawn grass is all dead. What are the steps to rebuilding the lawn with new grass?

Question

I was thinking that I'd have to

1. Clear out all the dead grass and take it down to just dirt. Obviously.

2. Lay down a layer of soil

3. Spray grass seeds (Thinking of Ryegrass)

4. Spread a layer of Pennmulch to keep the moisture in the ground.

Am I missing anything? Is there an easier, more cost-effective way? I am on a budget.

Answer 1

I dont know the quality of your topsoil and you said youre laying down new top soil anyways.  I once did this as a job for a large franchise. We would simply Aerate the ground and then spray the grass seed.  A month later spray the correct kind on fertilizer, careful not to burn the new grass up. Depending on some factors aerating your lawn could be an alternative to laying new top soil, more cost effective and less labor. From my experiences...

1.Aerate

2. Spread seed

3.water accordingly

3. fertilizer once grass is ready

4.kill weeds when grass is mature b/c new grass seed always grow weeds too.

Good luck!

Answer 2

The ideal thing to do would be to first spray every thing with round up to be sure everything including the weeds is dead and then clear the dead stuff out.  Then get some topsoil and compost and till it right into the soil to improve the quality.  Then you sow your seed.  I wouldn't use Ryegrass though because it is a bunchgrass.  Which means it won't spread to fill in bare spots.  Kentucky Bluegrass spreads by underground rhizomes so small bare spots will fill in over time.  The seed mixture that you want is one that contains both ryegrass and blue grass.  The germination time for ryegrass is only a few days while bluegrass is a month so you will have grass while you're waiting for the bluegrass to germinate which will eventually take over the lawn.