Question
Dear Charlotte,
My dog recently had surgery. I was informed by the doctor that i should really limit her movement. Now I live in a town home with a small fenced in front yard. This was perfect her her to do her business and limit her movement. Well 2 months later she is fine but my front yard is not. All of the grass is dead except for clumps of what look like weeds. Most of my front yard is dirt now. The area is small. Only about 12'x15'. My question to you is what is the best way to bring my front yard back to life. I am looking for what i need to prep the lawn, supplies, and execution to get lawn back. I am not looking for a movie type lawn, just something green and full. I look forward to hearing from you. Greg

Answer
Hi Greg;
I suspect you did not water enough to wash the urine through the soil.
Because of the surgery, and meds she had to take, it is possible her urine was more acid, and that can certainly play heck with grass.
You don't say what area you live in, but I, would imagine it is a little too late in the season to plant grass to have it grow this year, or to put in sod.
If you live in a very mild climate, you might be ablw to put in some sod, and get a root system established before it goes dormant.
Water it thoroughly,to a depth of at least 6 inches, and do it again when the top 2 inches are pretty dry.To wash out the urine.
The best watering program is, water to 6 inches, then re-water when the top 2 inches are dry, but you are wanting to wash the access acid through the soil.
Do not add peat moss or anything that will add acid.
I am not familiar with the numbers on fertilizer bags.They just confused me. LOL I had better things to remember than what those numbers meant.
when I used chemicals, I used Fertilome Lawn Food with Iron, for both the spring and fall feedings. It worked for me.
You might want to get your soil tested to see what the acid content is. If it has too much acid, call your County Agricultural Extension Agent for information about adding more alkaly. Call them about the testing too.
Other than that, I would ask around at nurseries and see what they recommend for putting in grass. Maybe some Annual rye grass. It is a cool season grass, and should come up fast, and cover the dirt at least. Annual rye will die out, and shouldn't come up again. It is a pain in the neck, I think.Perinial rye will just keep coming up. I think it is a very ugly grass. The me, it is a weed.
For the spring, seed or sod in some Burmuda or another grass that grows well in your area, that spreads by runners. Those grasses will quickly fill in bare spots, where grasses that grow on individual stems,like fescue, bluegrass, etc, hve to be seeded thick enough to cover right away.
If you need a good all-around fertilizer, I recemmend the Fertilome Lawn Food with Iron. I like the Fertilome family of products much better than Scott. The worst looking lawn I ever had was when I was on a Scotts program.
I wouldn't try to kill the weeds now, because they may be all that is betwen you and mud. Plenty of time to kill them in the spring.
Don't use a pre-emergent, or any grass you seed will not come up.
I use sugar for weed control. Sugar or dry molasses (that was recommended ) does not kill grass. Fertilizers kill beneficial microbes that enrich the soil. Dry molsses or sugar, will keep them alive. If you use fertilizer, put it down, put down some sugar, and water them in together. That will feed the grass, and keep the microbes alive.
Then, next fall, just treat with sugar ( I like sugar better than dry molasses ). As your soil gets richer, the weeds will stop thriving. In a couple of years, they won't even come up.
Weed killers can be fatal to your little dog.
In the spring, for the first couple of years, new weeds will come up, but they will die out by the 3rd or 4th mowing. About 3 years after I started using the sugar, the weeds stopped even coming up in the spring. I haven't pulled a weed in about 6 to 8 years.
Another altrnative, you could cover your yard with cedar bark mulch. Put down about 3 inches of it. That will stop the muddy condition, and next spring, just till it in. It will just help loosen the soil, and in a couple of years wil compost and make food. Cedar bark mulch also repels ticks, fleas, termites and a bunch of other insects. I sprinkle a thin application of cedar bark mulch all over my yard about twice a year, in the spring, and then mid- summer. You want it down before the termites swarm, to protect your home, and before the fleas and ticks come out and mid-summer to treat for ticks and fleas again.
I use 1 pound of sugar per 250 to 300 sq. ft. of lawn and garden.
So if your yard is about 12X15, you need about 1 pound of sugar.
Write any time you feel I can help.
Charlotte