Sirhornsalot
**The Official Horn Sports Landscaper and Landscap
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2013
- Messages
- 33,305
What to do with that impossible bare space in the lawn!
Welcome to February, the month where we start to see Spring coming on!
One of the most common situations I am presented with when I meet with prospective customers is the dreaded “dead space.” This is usually in the back yard but is also common on side yards and sometimes the front yards.
When I say “dead space,” I am referring to spaces in the lawn that seemingly do not support turf growth despite the best efforts of the home owner. Most often, these spaces are in the midst of tall trees with thick canopies. Side yards, particularly between a pair of two-story homes, can be a very difficult place to grow grass successfully due to limited sunlight.
Instead of continuing to install sod to the area only to see it die off, perhaps we should take a harder look at what can be done instead to make the area more attractive.
First, we have to decide what we’re going to do and what you desire the space to be. If you’re just determined to have turf in the area, then we would start by finding out if there’s a soil issue that’s causing the bad results of the past.
Option 1 – Soil Rejuvenation/Rehab
In most cases, an issue with soil comes down to the soil pH being out of kilter. If the soil is too acidic or too alkaline, you’ll have problems growing grass there. Another issue would be the home’s history. Has there ever been a chemical spill in that area?
It really helps to know the history of the property and its past owners and what they may have done.
I once had a customer invite me out to create a sod bid. We talked about the job for a while before he hit me up with the question – Is there any reason why we can’t grow turf here? This was the front yard in a Dallas property that faced south, getting all day sun exposure. With those conditions, you should not have any issues growing turf.
So we installed the turf and after a few weeks, problems started occurring. We replaced dead sod pieces with new sod pieces during this time only to then see other sections of sod dying off. We looked at the sprinkler settings which were as we had set it up weeks before. That was not the problem.
After all of the sod replacement we did, the owner ended up selling the home and moving out. He later reconnected with me to do landscaping at his new home. It was then that I fully understood why the sod never worked at his previous home.
He said, “you remember all the trouble we had with that lawn? Well, the lady who owned it before us had 34 cats and they roamed freely there.”
I almost died. I couldn’t believe he had not told me this before sodding the yard. Lol. The amount of ammonia in that soil turned out to be the culprit. Ammonia will pretty efficiently kill just about any grass or plant.
What could have been done to alleviate that problem though? My answer is always Cotton Bur Compost (other composts will work as well). But I choose Cotton Bur Compost because it’s the most nutritional composts we know of and is a natural clay softener.
I recommend, in this situation, to break up the soil in the bare space and work in the compost. The enzymes in the compost will restore the health of the soil and straighten out any soil pH problem there is. Give it several weeks to do its thing, then you can plant or sod.
Option 2 – Change of Direction
Another answer to the bare space problem might be rethinking what you could enjoy there. Rather than repeating another sod job, we could go a totally different direction.
One idea would be to create a large bed in the space. Just create a border for this bed, plant some appropriate plants (shade plants for shade, sun plants for sun) according to the conditions of the space in question. Once you have those plants in the ground, go over the space with any one of several types of rock. Some suggestions would be a native river rock, decomposed granite or even the black tejas rock. If you intend to walk in the area, then go with a smaller size of rock. Large river rock is very difficult to walk on. Decomposed granite, or crushed granite, is a popular choice.
Mulch is another material that can be used, but know that with mulch, there will be future work with removing old mulch and installing new mulch once or twice each year. With the rock, that is not the case. One install and it’s done.
Both much and rock serve the same functions for the bed. They both conceal moisture.
I do recommend that you use a landscape cloth or weed cloth before installing. Just make sure you cut large holes in the cloth around any trees, shrubs, etc. so that they may receive unrestricted water via the sprinkler or rainfall.
Another “change of direction” could be going with artificial turf. It’s a solution that provides a nice, neat look every day of the year. There are many different varieties, looks and purposes with artificial turf. There is even a “pet turf” for those homeowners who have pets.
The beauty of artificial turf is not only its look, but also how little you have to do with it down the road. You may need to blow leaves off of it from time to time. But there’s no mowing. No watering. No fertilizing.
Husbands and wives are often golf players. You can take that bare space and turn it into a putting green to sharpen your skills in your spare time or fun time. You can have friends over and have them enjoy it with you. Depending on the size of the space, you can have multiple holes on the green.
You can even create challenging angles, uneven terrain, whatever you think you might like. And you can change it up every few years if you like. I had one customer gift a putting green to her husband for his birthday, complete with a nice sitting area right next to it.
And lastly, another idea for that space could be a patio/grilling area. This can be done with concrete, flagstone, or with the same rock I described above. Most folks like an even, level patio space so concrete and flagstone (set in concrete) will provide you with that. If the area is shaded, you can include a nice water feature right next to it, such as a Koi pond. A lot of people find it very relaxing to have the sounds of a water feature or water fall nearby.
If you might be interested in such a project, contact us at greenthumbtx@verizon.net.
Don’t wait, start your new project now!
Every Spring, we naturally see a big jump in the number of landscape projects people want to do. It is best to contact your landscaper in February to avoid the rush and get your project to the front of the line.
Things to do this month:
1. If you haven’t already, get your pre-emergent application done early this month. Pre-emergent helps prevent weeds by sterilizing the soil. But to win the battle, you need to have good timing. Weed seeds will start germinating by mid-February. Once you’ve applied, get it watered in well so that it can go to work.
2. Again, if you haven’t already, have your lawn aerated and apply a compost topdressing over it. Each time your sprinklers turn on or a rainfall event happens, the water runs through the compost and while doing so, it creates a “compost tea” which is able to penetrate down to the root zone, sending valuable nutrients and enzymes right where it needs to be. It is truly a difference maker for the growing season.
3. For gardeners, you should have planted your onions on Jan 15, but you can still plant them now. The recent winter storm may have killed what onions you did plant since it got down to 10 degrees here in North Texas. So you may need to replant anyway.
Make sure your potatoes are planted on Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day is also when you should trim your roses.
