A guide to renovating your lawn after a long, hot summer

Aug 23, 2024, 6:00 AM | Updated: 3:22 pm

Before you decide whether your lawn needs renovating, figure out why it is damaged. (Canva)

(Canva)

Producer

SALT LAKE CITY — This summer was so hot that it did quite a bit of damage to most people’s lawns. Some lawns suffered from heat stress; others were taken over by pests. Now it’s time to start thinking about renovating your lawn to transform it back to lush green.

Before you decide whether your lawn needs renovating, figure out why it is damaged.

“If it’s just drought stress, it’ll come back. Water normally and cover. But if you have grubs in there or a disease, then you need to make some decisions from there on how to renovate,” said KSL Greenhouse Host Taun Beddes.

There are two options you can choose from: seed and sod. Although they are two different methods, the preparation is the exact same.

If your lawn needs renovating…

First, rake off all the dead and damaged grass and get down to the soil level. If it’s completely dead, use a rototiller to stir the soil up, get rid of all the thatch, and then get down to bare soil so that you can put the seed or sod down.

If the lawn is dead due to lawn grubs or necrotic ring spots, consider using a bluegrass fescue mix or straight fescue because it will blend with your lawn eventually. Fescue grass is also resistant to necrotic ring spots and less appealing to grubs.

“If the grass isn’t completely dead, then you can probably heavily aerate the area, rake out some of the extra thatch if you have it, and then just reseed that area at a rate of 2 or 3 pounds of grass seed per thousand square feet,” Taun said. “And just water that area a little more often and let it germinate so that you can have it ready to go for next spring.”

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