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How to Repair a Lawn with Bare Patches

Seeding
4 min read

Are you wondering how to repair a lawn with bare patches? A healthy soil will produce a healthy, green lawn, and the experts at Jonathan Green will help you build and maintain a beautiful lawn that’s the envy of your neighborhood.

Jonathan Green has been growing beautiful, dark-green lawns since 1881. Six generations of the Green family have worked to perfect our genetically superior grass seed and our family of lawn and soil care products. Jonathan Green products will transform every aspect of your lawn to help it thrive like never before.

We supply genetically superior cool-season grass seed and other lawn and soil care products to commercial sod growers and independent home and garden retailers in all areas of the United States where cool-season lawn grasses – Kentucky Bluegrass, Tall Fescue, Perennial Ryegrass, and Fine Fescues – are grown.

What Causes Bare Patches in Your Lawn?

  • Compacted or hard soil can make it challenging for grass seed to grow because the roots are not able to access the air and soil nutrients they need.
  • Shade from trees and buildings can cause thin grass growth, straggly grass, and bare patches. There may be dead spots in the lawn because those areas don’t get enough sunlight.
  • Fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, and some insect repellants can cause brown spots in the lawn if spilled or applied too heavily. If not applied properly, these products could burn the grass.
  • Lawn diseases and insects, such as soil surface-feeding chinch bugs and sub-soil feeding white grubs, can cause thin, patchy grass.
  • The family dog can also be a culprit for some of the brown spots that appear in your lawn if it urinates on the grass.

How to Fix the Problem

Overseeding the lawn or introducing some fresh seed into the bald areas is the best solution. We recommend either Black Beauty® Ultra Grass Seed or Black Beauty® Fall Magic Grass Seed:

  • Black Beauty® Ultra Grass Seed is most similar to what is grown on sod farms. The seed mixture contains exclusive, elite varieties of tall fescue, Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass.  These cool season grasses grow a naturally dark-green and beautiful lawn with excellent heat and drought tolerance.  Black Beauty® Ultra Grass Seed germinates in about 14 days and will improve any lawn it is overseeded into.
  • Black Beauty® Fall Magic Grass Seed is specially formulated for successful fall seeding after Labor Day. It contains several cool season grass types, including Black Beauty® tall fescues. Use it in sunny and shady lawn areas on established lawns or to start a new lawn from scratch. Black Beauty® Fall Magic Grass Seed germinates in about 14 days and provides an attractive, thicker, greener lawn.

Before overseeding, you should encourage good seed-to-soil contact. Clean out the dead grass, remove weeds, and get rid of rocks, sticks or other debris. Jonathan Green Love Your Soil® will loosen compacted soil and aerate it to give the new roots a better chance to grow. It will also feed the soil microbes, making the soil more alive and porous, and enhance root development.

Discover how to repair bare patches in your lawn by visiting Jonathan Green online, or your nearest independent garden center or hardware store where you will get reliable lawn and garden advice.

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