Question
My backyard lawn died recently and there is nothing but dry dirt and weeds.  I am trying to weigh my options, however I have little to zero money to spend on it.  I am contemplating two things:

1.- Adding a smaller lawn w/ sprinklers (no sprinklers currently exist) and gravel everywhere else.

2.- Putting gravel everywhere w/ no lawn.

If I wanted to add a lawn where the soil is hard and nothing but weeds exist, what do I need to do to grow a lawn from seeds?

If laying gravel, what steps do I need to take in order to prevent weeds from growing thru the gravel?

I know which would be easier to maintain, but which would be cheaper to implement?

*Also, how do I get rid of crabgrass, and what steps do I need to take in order to strengthen a lawn (I am used to just mowing a lawn, and other than watering I have NO experience when it comes to fertilizing/feeding a lawn)?

Please let me know at your earliest convenience.  I am in deep need of help and any advice you could give would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!!!

Michael

Answer
Hi Michael;
I am going to give you a really good program to get on. It is all organic, and you will build good, rich soil, and spend a lot less money, and labor, and get much  better results.
I slaved over my lkawn for over 40 years before I tried organics, and all I can say is I wish I had known back them what I know now.
For one thing, I could spend several in Burmuda or travel around the world, on what I spent on chemicals, and only had a mediocre lawn.
I thought it was good then, but my the standards the organics have given me, it was mediocre.
I have NO weeds, no harmful insects, and very little labor to maintain it.
First, forget the sprinkler system.
They cost a lot of money, and it is more a waste than a help.
The least expensive way is to buy soaker hoses, but there are drip irrigation systems, that cost less then the sprinkler systems, and water the ground from just under the soil.
 The advantages of organics:
Organics is more about what you DON'T do, rather than what you do.
Chemical fertilizers, weed killers, fungicides, and insecticides, kill all the beneficial microbes, nematodes and insects that feed off the harmful ones.
Beneficial microbes work round the clock, enriching your lawn. fertilizers kill them.
For every harmful insect that will invade your lawn, there are hundreds of beneficial ones that feed on them. ALL the chemicals you use kill them, and they are wiped out, but as soon as the poisons leach out of the ground, the harmful ones are back in droves, and you have to apply more chemicals. The beneficial ones never get a chance to make a comeback.
Fertilizers DON'T enrich the soil. They feed the vegetation growing there, including the weeds, and then they wear out, and you have to reapply them and start all over.
Clay soil will not let water soak into it to get to plant and grass roots, and will not let roots grow through it. Yopu need to llosen up that soil.
Organics, over time, will break up even the hardest clay, but there are faster ways of doing it, that don't break the bank.
Depending on your budget, you can rent a tiller and do the work yourself, or hire someone to do it.
If you have very hard clay, but it is only in some areas, you may have to only amend the soil in those areas. It is also possible that the soil itself is not hard, but no vegetation growing there and it being bare has caused it to pack down.
For soil that is so hard, it is difficult to even get a shovel into without a great deal of effort.
For soil that is not that hard, adjust the amounts of bark mulch you use.
   For rock hard soil:
Lay down about 3 inches of cedar bark mulch. Till this in to a depth of at least 6 inches. That will give you 6 inches of decent loose soil. Grass roots will grow through this soil.
The bark mulch composts over the next 2 years for cedar bark mulch, 1 year for hardwood bark mulch. DON'T even consider the pine bark mulch. I don't see whay they even sell that stuff.
The cedar bark taking 2 years to compost will keep the soil looser for an extra year, giving the organics more time to work on the soil. Once is all you should have to do this, if you follow a good maintenance program.
The beneficial microbes:
Fertilizers etc kills them. Putting sugar or dry molasses on the soil keeps them alive. They multiply and work on the soil consistently.
I prefer the sugar. Olain white sugar you use in cooking etc.
I use 4 pounds per 1000 sq,ft. Dry molasses, you have to use 10 to 15 poounds per 1000 sq.ft. Sugar costs less, works better, and you can pick it up when you shop for groceries.
I broadcast it by hand in the spring and fall.
You can actually do it any time you want. I just follow that schedule because that is the way I fed my yard for so long, so it is easier for me to remember to do it.
After you put it down, water it in thoroughly.
If that is all you put on your lawn, it will grow a good lawn, but if you want to speed up the results faster, and make it even better, at the end, I will list some things you can use any or all of, your choice.
Weeds like poor soil, and will not grow in rich soil, so when the soil is rich, weeds, even if they come up, will start to die out right away. You never have to put down weed killers again.
Each year, fewer weeds will come up, on an organic program, so that the third or fiourth year into it, you should not see any weeds at all. Sooner if you use some of the other soil amendments I will list.
When you don't use chemicals, you attract lizards, toads and grass snakes. they eat their weight or more in insects.
I used to have slugs, army worms, grubs, aphids, you name a bug pest, I had them.
My lawn critters take care of ALL of them .
I see the lizards running along the fence and up the trunks and branches of the roses and trees etc, but I never see the grass snakes, and seldom see one of the toads. Toads love slugs. That makes them best friends of mine.
Even cockroaches are beneficial, if they live in the soil, which is their natural habitat.
They tunnel through the soil, like earthworms do, leave droppings that enrich the soil, as do earthworms, and these tunnelers keep the soil aerated so you never have a thatch buildup, if you water deeply.
Thatch is when the roots come to the surface to get water and die, trapping grass clippings and other debris, forming a thick waterproof pad that will not allow water to seep through to get to the roots. Watering to a depth of at least 6 inches, encourages a deep root system, and this thatch just doesn't happen.
Leave the grass clippings from mowing, and let them sift into the grass blades and turn to compost that adds nutrients to the grass and soil.

All I have done for the last 8 or 9 years is, apply sugar in the spring and fall, mow, edge and water.
My grass is thick, darg green, and weedfree, and insect free.
I started with pretty loose soil that I had been working on for over 40 years. I tilled in tha cedar bark mulch, but I continued to use the chemicals, and I was working backward all the time, because I kept all the beneficial aids to my soil and lawn, killed off.
Chemical lawn products CAUSE problems, and all the help they ever are is like putting a bandaid on a gash that needs stitches.

If it is too late where you are to put in a lawn, I would cup all the grass and weeds, right off at the soil line. You can do this by setting your mower on the lowest setting, or with a weed trimmer.
Leave all the vegetation you cut down. May as well let them turn to compost to feed the new lawn.
Then lay in 3 or 4 inches of ceadar bark mulch. Water it, and it will anchor there, and keep something besides a mud puddle through the winter.
In the spring, when you are getting ready to put in the lawn, till all that in. Then put in your grass.

 If fungus is a problem in your area, you can, next spring, put Corn Gluten Meal down at the rate of 10 to 15 pounds per sq.ft.
You could put that down very early, a month before you will plant grass, even. Then when you till, it will be worked into the soil too.
Besides being a good fungicide, it add a lot of nutrients to the soil.
I would broadcast the sugar down now, to get those microbes working through the winter. Then do it again in the spring.

  Other beneficial soil emendments:
Lava sand;  This is full of nutrients. That is why Haiwaii has such gorgeous growth.  You just broadcast this lightly over the soil.    I but it at my nursery I use, and I also get it at Walmart. I bought two bags of it, ( it is heavy, so I don't know exactly how big that bag is), but it is the size tit comes in there. My lawn is about 65X40, in the front, and about 65X 50 in the back yard. I also added some of it to my potted plants.

 Alfalfa meal.  You will have to go to a feed store to get this, as it is also an animal feed additative.
I think the bag was 40 pounds.
I have used one bag, almost. I still have about a gallon of it left. I have broadcast it all over my yard, and in my house plants and made tea to water my houseplants with, a couple of times. I still have some left.
You can scatter it thinly over everything, like the lava sand.   You can make a tea to water plants with it, by adding 1 cup alfalfa meal per 5 gallons of water, letting it set overnight. Stir it up and water with it, or strain it, and put it in a gardfen sprayer to foliar feed.

You can put these down this down now, and let it be enriching the soil, then do it again in the spring.
You can also put down the corn gluten meal now, and it will retard the weeds;' ability to germinate.
I am not sure if this will also retard grass seed germinating or not. I always lay sod. Get tired of birds eating all my seed.
If you use the corn gluten meal now, you will also want to use it again in the spring, if fungus is a problem in your area.


Cedar bark mulch: This not only is good to till in to loosen up clay soil, cedar repels a ton of insects, including termites.
I have 4 dogs, and fleas are a big problem here in North Texas, so I put cedar bark mulch all over my lawn in the spring, again in the summer,,, about every 2 or 3 months, to keep the fleas and ticks out of my yard. In early spring, when it is time for termites to swarm, I put a trail of cedar bark mulch all around the foundation of our house and out buildings, about 3 or 4 inches wide, and an inch or two deep.
We have lived here for 42 years, and never had termites.
My neighbors that refuse to go organic have to call the exterminator every year.

This is really getting long, and about now, you are probably getting confused.LOl
Read it over, think what other questions you might havbe, or any of this that you need me to clarify, and write me back.
AFTER I have a back and knbees that don't work, FINALLY I learned that you can have a gorgeous lawn to enjoy, rather than one to work yourself to death with.
There are mush better things to spend money on that fertilizers and weed killers.
I have Asthma and allergies, and since I went on the organics program, My Asthma and allergies are 90% better.
Breathing all those fumes from that junk I put on my lawn, was doing my Asthma a lot of damage.
I no longer have to keep my children, grandchildren or pets off the lawn until a poison is at a safe level. They can vbe right out there with me when I put any of this stuff on my lawn, and no worries if they put a blade of grass in their mouths.
I also keep the inside of our home free of insects with the herbs I grow mostly for cooking.
If you would like any information on any of these these, I am more than happy to share.
Fresh herbs are great to cook with, as they ad a much better flavor to dishes than the dried herbs do, and they can be used for aroma therapy. By just sniffing certain herbs, I can get very relaxed or energized.
Don't need no pills to stay calm.
Just write me if I can help further.
Charlotte