I'm in Western NY. Most folks here bag the leaves for the trash guys. My Dad
used to mow the leaves with the side discharge mower, and let them rot. Mom
would friek about what the neighbors would think. Dad's lawn hasn't ever
been fertilized.

Mine hasn't either, I just mow the leaves and let them rot. Bagging leaves
and raking out the thatch starves the lawn of the nutrients that went into
the grasss. Maybe why you have to fertilize twice a year. All the minerals
are coming up out of the soil, none are rotting and returning.

--

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
www.mormons.com


"Joe" wrote in message
...
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