I live on Long Island and every house has a lawn. All the surrounding houses have lawns. WHen I
bought my house a couple of years ago, I had a lawn but it was spotty. Upon closer inspection, I
noticed a lot of areas where there wasnt grass, but kind of more mulched up leaves sticking to the
ground. When I scraped them away with a hard rake, and loosened the soil, I put down Scotts Starter
fertilizer last year. I watered it daily. As the year went by...nothing.

This year, I removed 600 sq/ft of rocks that were in the yard where there was a play area (swings,
slide, etc). After the rocks were gone, I loosened the soil up and this time. I mixed Scotts starter
fertilizer with a bag of Peat Moss and spread it around. I watered it daily. This was in April.
Still, not a single blade of grass.

I talked to a friend of mine who seemed to have a similar problem until he started from scratch,
spread the seeds, threw Miracle Grow potting soil over the seeds, and then as the kicker, bought
Miracle Grow plant food and sprayed it from the hose through the Miracle Grow dispenser. After a
week, he has tons of mini blades of grass growing all over his yard. I did the same thing 2 weeks
ago, not a single blade even beginning to grow. And it poured rain for a full week after I did it.

What am I doing wrong? Is there nuclear wastes in my soil??


Tony

Tony wrote:
When I scraped them away with a hard rake, and loosened the soil, I put down Scotts Starter
fertilizer last year. I watered it daily. As the year went by...nothing.

Did you expect the grass to magically grow from the bare dirt? You
need to put down some grass seed.

On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:08:04 -0400, someone wrote:

.....I mixed Scotts starter
fertilizer with a bag of Peat Moss and spread it around. I watered it daily.....

Did you put any grass seed, or did you just water peat moss and
fertilizer? (All that would give you is wet peat moss and
fertilizer.)



Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.

Tony wrote:
I live on Long Island and every house has a lawn. All the surrounding houses have lawns. WHen I
bought my house a couple of years ago, I had a lawn but it was spotty. Upon closer inspection, I
noticed a lot of areas where there wasnt grass, but kind of more mulched up leaves sticking to the
ground. When I scraped them away with a hard rake, and loosened the soil, I put down Scotts Starter
fertilizer last year. I watered it daily. As the year went by...nothing.


Not an expert, but I would inspect for grubs. The fact the lawn was
spotty to begin with seems to indicate there may be a grub problem.
Don't ask me how you inspect for grubs or what you do to fix it though.
I just know this is a big issue around here - lots of spotty lawns and
dying grass due to grubs.

jen