Joe wrote:
I had a very nice lawn up until this year when I got lazy in the fall
and instead of raking up all the leaves I did a combination of raking
and running them over with a mulching mower.

Major mistake, as now I have half dead grass, lots of bald spots and
thatch.

I have aggressively raked up all the thatch and things are looking
better, but I see signs of ant hills, moss, weeds and bare patches.
The grass looks off color green instead of bright green

So how do I repair this situation?
I am located on Eastern Long Island NY so the soil is sandy and like I
said I had a pretty decent looking lawn up until this point.
BTW this is a fairly decent sized property so installing a new lawn
is not the option I want to take.

Up until this point I was using Lebanon 5 step process every year (the
lawn is only 5 years old, new construction house) but I was never
really happy with it and was thinking of going to Scotts this year. I
did use it in October though, step 5 I think.

I appreciate any and all advice on how to make things better!

Joe

It sounds like you are doing it the hard and expensive way.

I live in Ohio, not that much different and I always mulch the leaves, I
fertilize only twice a year and seldom need any other chemical help. I have
de-thatched twice in 12 years. I have a great lawn.

The trick is to make the grass happy and weeds unhappy. It is not
making the chemical companies happy. :-)

Check with your local county extension office. Ask them about soil test
to determine where you want to go. Ask them about lawn mowing and
especially how long is should be cut.

Follow their advice and I predict that you will have a better lawn next
year than you have ever had, less work and less money.

Good Luck

--
Joseph Meehan

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