How to FIX an UGLY Lawn with RESULTS - Step by Step for Beginners EASY

In today's video, I'm going to show you how to transform your lawn into something like this that you can be proud of. Now my lawn's not perfect, but as you can see here, this was the same space just three years earlier. A total disaster. Dead grass, weeds, disease, all kinds of problems. And I really felt like I could never do anything to make an improvement. But I finally found a series of steps that could help me transform a lawn from garbage to gold. So in this video, I'm going to show you what I did, how I got there, and put it in a way that a beginner can follow so that you can get the same results in your own lawn. Now this video is going to take it from beginning to end. Now the end means a great lawn, but you do have to get there and there are going to be some steps. They're all easy. I don't tell you any science, there's nothing around math, and you don't need that stuff to have a great lawn. You just need to follow some practical advice. So this video is going to be geared for someone who's maybe a beginner or someone who's tried to renovate their lawn and it's just failed. The fall is the best time of year to do a lawn renovation because temperatures are cooler, you won't need as much water, and it's just an easier time to do it. Now you can do it in other times of the year, but I have found that doing it in the fall is going to give you the best results. Here in New England, I generally will start the first week of September. And you want to pick that kind of time of year where temps start to drop a little bit and summer is pretty much winding down. So where do you start? That's the biggest question I get asked because you're sitting back looking at your lawn or what should be a lawn and it just looks like a dump or maybe it's as bad as mine was in that first picture. But no matter what it looks like, my recommendation is that you want to renovate the lawn in place. So I'm telling you don't kill off what you've got. You just want to work in it in place. It's going to be cheaper, easier, and you'll be able to get a good result just like I did. But that brings us to the starting step and that is you've got to kill all the weeds in your lawn. And it's much easier to do than you might think if you use the right product. Now my recommendation for that is the weed control product called Tenacity. I've made many videos on that and I'm not going to take you through that now. In the upper right hand corner you'll see a link to a specific video that will show you how to use Tenacity in detail. There's other ways to do it and I've tried many products but I've always come back to Tenacity because it just works and it will kill the weeds but not the grass. So now once those weeds are gone you're ready for your next step. For most tired worn out lawns you're going to want to add some seed. So the first thing you need to do is think about how are you going to put the seed down. Now there are a lot of labor intensive things. I tried a lot of them. You can do things like dethatching, raking, but that's a lot of work. So what I found in the end was the simplest way was just to aerate my lawn. So that can be accomplished by renting a pretty inexpensive piece of equipment that you can use in your lawn that's essentially going to punch holes in it. And that does a couple of things. Those holes allow water and air to get down to the root system but additionally those small holes act like little perfect planters so that when you put down grass it'll go in the holes and it'll be pretty well spaced out. So the reason I like aerating is because it's easy to do compared to a lot of other very intensive things that can just take forever to get done. You can aerate your yard generally in a day and finish this step in its entirety. With your weeds under control and your aeration done you're all set to add some new seed to your lawn. Now the good news is when you're going to seed your area all you've got to do is put it in a broadcast spreader like this and you're just going to roll around your lawn and spread it out. The seed's going to go into those holes and some other areas. Now you're not going to get perfect germination and if you want to go out you can rake that whole area to get the seed in a little bit more. But I have done massive areas without any raking and most of the seed that hits those holes will germinate. And those holes act like little grass plugs and they will spread out and take over your lawn in a good way. So this is a very low labor way to get good germination for your seed. But the next question is what kind of seed to use. I get asked that all the time. Now my lawn is actually a collection of a whole bunch of different grasses because over the years people use different products. But going forward what I've stuck with is using a seed either from Lesco or from Jonathan Green. Now in an area of my lawn that's going to get either irrigation or that I plant a water I like to use Lesco's 50-50 mix which is half Kentucky Bluegrass and the other half is a variety of grasses that they put into the mix. But the latest seed that I've had much better results with that's available everywhere is made by a company called Jonathan Green and it's called Black Beauty Ultra. And as each year I over seed with it it's going to slowly take over and really give me a good overall solid result that I'm looking for. So you can do this different ways but my recommendation is to just pick one kind of seed and try to stay with it. The biggest mistake people make is that they buy one seed one year a different brand the next year and they keep switching and you end up getting like a patchwork quilt in your lawn and the whole lawn becomes a mess. So if you pick a seed get it from a big manufacturer and if you choose one of the ones I recommend I think you'll get good results. But just try to stick with it year after year so that you can grass can grow and thrive and have a similar look. Now as you put your seed down once that's finished you've got to go back over the area and you do want to apply a starter fertilizer. And up until now this is the first chemical that you're going to put in your lawn. You're just going to follow the directions on the starter fertilizer put it in spread it out and this will help those seeds begin germination. And remember starter fertilizers are specifically designed for new lawns. If you use a regular fertilizer you run the risk that you'll burn out the seed and you really just don't want to do that. Now let's move on to watering those new seedlings. Now the big most important thing you need to think about is that new seed needs to stay as wet as possible. Now the experts are going to tell you that your seed can never dry out and in my experience that's just not true because no one can keep their seed wet all day long. So for people that are working or just have some busy lives and want to renovate your lawn my recommendation is water your seed in the morning before you go to work and then water when you get home. If you have somebody at home that can water in the middle ones too that's great but a lot of us just don't. And your seed's not generally going to die and you might luck out and have a couple of rainy days in the middle. So try your best to water the seed to keep it as wet as you can not sopping wet but you just want to keep it damp. So those two waterings a day are usually going to be enough and that's what I have done to get very good results. The worst thing you could do is forget to water for multiple days and if you do that you are going to have some issues. So watering is a very important topic and again in the fall your watering is going to be a little bit easier on you so that's why you want to time it then. So now you're going to keep watering the lawn and taking care of it because the biggest thing you want to do is stay off the new lawn. If you've got kids, pets, vehicles, anything rolling around and it's going to cause some damage. I also recommend that you don't mow the lawn for the first four weeks. It might look like it needs it but you want to leave it alone. Now when the four weeks has passed or those grass seedlings hit about three and a half inches and up now you're safe to do your first mow and this is where all your hard work is going to pay off because when you cut those grass seedlings you're really going to see how good it starts to look and it really gives you a lot of encouragement. But you want to do that first mowing carefully because the ground still may be soft the seedlings aren't real strong and you just want to do the mowing and don't spend too much time on the grass. And I also highly recommend that you bag the clippings for the first month or so of mowing. The reason you do that is that those holes are still there from the aeration and you don't really want to clog everything up with the grass clippings. Once your lawn is established if you choose to mulch that's just fine but at the beginning you're better off trying to bag. And on the subject of mowing when you go into this renovation you really want to be set for success and all I mean by that is if you've got a lousy mower and you're going to do a renovation it might be a good time to consider a new one. But you don't have to buy a new mower just make sure that the one you have is in good shape and I really recommend getting a brand new blade. It just makes it a lot easier and you're going to be sure that those seedlings get cut with a super sharp blade that's going to do the job. And once your lawn starts to hit about eight weeks it's really going to be a fully established lawn and that's when you want to start regular mowing good practices. And that just means mow at least once a week. Twice a week is really best but once a week is still going to give good results. Don't mow when it starts to hit 10 days 14 days. That's just too long for most lawns. So the regular mowing makes a big difference in how your lawn looks and the overall health. And the second thing you want to consider is the height. Now different lawns can be cut at different heights and in the United States and Canada most people are going to cut their lawn somewhere between two and four inches and I like to recommend about two and a half to three and a half inches for the best overall look and resiliency. Because if you've got kids and pets or anything else on the lawn if you cut it too long the grass folds over too easily and it just gets that really flattened look. Now that your lawn's growing and you're mowing it you need to think about the next step and that's where we get into fertilization. So with the lawn you're going to want to fertilize it about every six weeks during the growing season. So that just means you want to use a good high quality fertilizer. Personally I use the Anderson's products. I've always had good luck with them but you can use any kind of standard lawn fertilizer. But the key is do it about every six to eight weeks for best results. And you may have noticed that there was one thing missing from this video and that was the use of any of those new kinds of lawn care supplements, vitamins, any type of boosters. Because in my experience when you're doing your basic lawn renovation you just don't need them. Now those products have their place but in my experience they're going to do the most good when your lawn's fully established and that's going to typically be your second season. So when you're starting your renovation save your money and put it into these basic principles that are going to get your lawn established and growing well. So this is the story of how I went from this garbage lawn to a really great place that I enjoy spending time with and I just like looking at it. And you can get the same results. Now there's lots of ways to do anything in life but what I've shown you is the real way that I transform my own lawn and I've used these exact same principles on others lawns as well with the same good results. So there's plenty of videos online that talk about what people should do or want to do but what this video is is what actually happened and what I did. So I hope you enjoyed this maybe it gave you some inspiration to renovate your own lawn and if it did I'd appreciate it if you give me a thumbs up subscribe to my channel if you're not already and stay tuned for more videos coming soon.