by Mike Morris
If dead areas and bare spots have turned your field of dreams into a nightmare on Elm Street, you'll rest easy knowing there are three easy ways to patch a lawn. With proper soil preparation and plenty of water, you can turn the barest of lawns into a lush sea of green.
For widespread bare patches, it's best to overseed your whole lawn. For just a few annoying bare spots, these methods work best.
Prepare the Area to Patch
Cut around the area to be patched with a spade, 2 inches deep and 1 inch outside the perimeter of the bare spot. Remove any dead grass and roots and loosen the soil with a garden fork 4-6 inches deep.
Fill the hole with topsoil until it's level with the surrounding turf, mix in a little fertilizer and rake it smooth. If you're using sod, adjust the depth so the sod lays even with the rest of your lawn.
Option 1: Lay Sod
Sod is the quickest way to eliminate unsightly bare spots in a lawn. You can buy rolls of sod at most garden centers and many home improvement stores.
Cut the sod with a sod cutter or similar tool to fit the hole. Water the prepared soil lightly, lay the sod patch in place and roll or tamp the patch so it makes good contact with the topsoil. Fill any small gaps between the patch edges and the surrounding grass with topsoil.
Water the patch several times a day, making sure the patch stays wet for one to two weeks. Stay off the patch until the roots are established, which can take two to four weeks. Don't mow the patch until the grass is 4 to 5 inches long and set the mower to cut no more than an inch at a time for at least two months. Fertilize the patch lightly after the second mowing.
Option 2: Spread Grass Seed
If laying sod sounds like too much work and you don't mind looking at the bare spots a little while longer, you can patch a lawn with seed.
Sprinkle the prepared soil with grass seed until the dirt is about half covered. Add some starter fertilizer then rake the seed and fertilizer into the soil about 1/2 deep.
Pat the soil gently with your hand or a shovel to ensure good contact between the soil and seed. Don't overdo it — if the soil is packed too tight, the seeds won't germinate. Apply a thin layer of straw over the patched area to help keep the soil damp. Water the seeds daily, making sure the soil remains wet but not soggy.
Hold off on mowing the patched area until it's as high as the surrounding grass, usually two to four weeks.
Option 3: Use a Lawn Patch Mix
A third option combines the ease of seed with the immediate cover-up attribute of sod. All-in-one lawn patch mixes have the seed, fertilizer and green-colored paper mulch ready to use straight out of the bag.
Spread a 1-inch layer of the mix over the bare spot. Water daily, making sure the mulch stays wet until seedlings appear (usually three days to a week). Water every two days thereafter, decreasing as the grass grows. Wait to mow until the new grass is 4-5 inches long; then mow only an inch.
Mike Morris has so much creeping Charlie and so many bare spots in his lawn, he'd like to kill the entire lawn and start over.
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