Question
QUESTION: I live just outside Chicago, Ill.  We get pretty bad drought here.  Maybe, maybe not, but for some reason my entire lawn just died.  It started to get brown/tan.  In a lot of spots if you bent down and pulled you could just pull up the dead grass.  The entire back yard is like this.  Could be grubs or drought.  I got estimates later from some companies that came around to fix it.  I got some advice but it did not work.  I would still like to try and repair it myself but I am just not sure how to do this.  Can you tell me how to repair my lawn?  It use to look nice.  Freddie M.
ANSWER: First thing you want to do, Freddie, is to repair your soil.  You can't fix your grass unless you fix your soil.

Betcha never heard of that before!

But it's true.

And I applaud your determination to fix it yourself!  That's not an easy task, sir.

But when you're done, I promise you that lawn will look REALLY nice!

Step #1:  Order your lawngrass.  Something tells me you already have that picked out.  I can point you in the right direction if you haven't got that picked out.

Do not have anybody else "fix" your lawn.  Do not let them put anything else on the lawn unless you personally approve it.  That means NO CHEMICALS, Freddie.

Go out and fill your car up with bags of Compost and/or Humus.  You can get those at Lowe's, at Home Depot, any garden center.  Then find a place where they have horses -- you'll find Craigslist usually has horse farms and barnyards just dieing to find people who want fresh Compost.  You can bring over a few garbage pails and fill them up.  Spread them all over your dead grass.  They'll only destroy the weeds that germinate because they are fresh manure.  Spread with the Compost/Humus bags.

Let it rain.

All spring, your burnt lawn will be cooking, warming up the soil, preparing it for your lucky grass.

Meantime, go pick up lots of Pelletized Lime and apply.  It takes a lot of time for this to work into the soil.  You want to get that ball started rolling asap.  As a matter of fact, putting that down first would not be a bad idea.

Rototill -- not too much -- in late spring.  Do a soil test and see what turns up.  Let me know and we'll take it from there.

Thanks for writing, Freddie.  Let me know if you have any questions.  You may proceed.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for teh info. Actuallly I didnt pick out the grass what do you suggest?

Answer
My Grass of Choice is always Midnight Bluegrass at the Seedland.com website, but there are lots of varieties out there.  Most important thing is to make sure there are no weed seeds and the hybrid is true to type.  You cannot get great grass without great grass seed.

Thanks for writing.  Keep me posted.