How to Grow a Lawn From Scratch (DIY Guide + Lessons Learned)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ย. 2022
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Learn How to Grow a Lawn from Scratch (Using Grass Seed) with this DIY Step-by-Step Video! I will also go over my "lessons learned" so that you can learn from my mistakes.
For a vibrant, green lawn, Check out Ironite: bit.ly/3L6zMbd
🌱 To grow a lawn from scratch using grass seed, you will want to follow these steps:
1. Remove existing weeds, sticks, and debris from your lawn.
2. Test the Soil for pH and Nutrient Deficiencies
3. Till or Aerate the Soil
4. Apply Top Soil and Level the Lawn
5. Apply Grass Seed
6. Rake the Grass Seed Into the Soil
7. Water the Grass Seed
8. Overseed (if necessary)
For additional information on growing grass seed from scratch, check out my blog article: atimprovements.com/how-to-gro...
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My take on your approach after having grown successful lawns using similar techniques:
0. If tilling existing soil, you MUST kill the weeds in it or remove the entire top layer of existing growth with a shovel (back-breaking work)
1. Remove as many of those surface rocks from your soil by raking them into a pile and shoveling into a sieve.
2. After tilling the subsoil, use a lawn level and give it a very light compaction (half filled roller or gentle footsteps), then rough the surface with a rake.
3. Add topsoil and allow it to lightly mix with the raked loose subsoil (but keep the surface mostly the rich topsoil)
4. Use a lawn level to get a mostly smooth result
5. Spread lawn seed and starter fertilizer onto the topsoil and 'tap' in with a rake head (rather than bury it)
6. Final gentle compaction with footsteps or roller
7. Water lightly 2-3 times per day.
8. Mow at 3 weeks, add weed control after 3rd mow onwards as required.
Is this in order?
Did you start with … step 0? 😂
BRO! THANK YOU SO MUCH! Hard to find a real step by step DIY grass growing process in a video. Most videos are just people standing and talking without going through the process.
Couple things -- I would have put the top soil down THEN tilled. It would have saved you an extra step. There are weed killers that don’t harm grass. WeedBGone is a good one. Sparrows and other birds can be a problem for grass seed. If need be, a cover of straw can help plus it holds moisture. Good job on the result!!!
Hi Joyce! You raise a good point with the tilling after applying top soil. Lesson Learned. I will for sure give those weed killers consideration on the next lawn. Thanks for watching!
@@AndrewThronImprovements You are welcome! I learned a few things myself!
?
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Thats what im going to do next. Till again cause i need to then add top soil then til again to mix it all.
What do you do with the straw when the grass starts to grow? Or do you just let it be
I just purchased my first home and the yard completely BALD!!! I love your video. It was very beginner friendly!!!
I just brought a home and the sight of dirt is killing my eyes. I will definitely be doing this.
😂 that made me laugh. Sorry!
Same
I’m making over my back yard this year and I have watched tons of videos about growing grass. Yours is the first that doesn’t require tons of expensive treatments and machinery. Very easy to follow and great tips! Can’t wait to seed in CO!
Be sure to use a starter fertilizer with your seed, this will help immensely with weeds. also use erosion mating to control seed loss
Same boat as you in Colorado springs 😂 excited to see if this works
@@cps45314 I’m in co springs as well. Have you started yet? Thinking of starting to lay seed end of May since we could still get snow
@@joshuasadlon5200im also in Colorado, and wondering if anyone came to a conclusion for the best time of year to do this
Worked?😅
This is one of the honest videos I have seen about lawn improvements. Keep up the good work.
Thank you dude. Every lawn care channel overcomplicates and gate keeps everything that you’ve made simple. Thank you 🙏🏾 I will give this a shot
Excellent Advice! I'm glad I once planted grass back in the Spring of 2014 on the side of our yard; then it almost got dried again perhaps after many years. so now I planted new grass in our front yard back in the fall of 2022 and hope to plant more to make our front yard look absolutely green again!
About a month before you plant your grass. Lay plastic over your whole yard. Plastic sheeting is cheap. Weight it down with some bricks or dirt. The sun will bake and sterilize your yard. Remove the plastic. If you take your time you can easily fold it for reuse. Then rake up all the grass and weeds. Or weeds and grass. Put them in your compost pile. All weed seeds will be dead.
Then prepare your yard and plant.
I think the light raking you did was what caused the initial patchiness.
A bit similar to a previous comment someone else said...
You need to kill the weeds prior to planting your new seeds. After tilling, and if in a hot area, cover it in a thick, black, plastic tarp for 3 weeks. This will kill anything in there. Then add some nice fertilizer, like some smelly manure or compost and till that in (I strongly recommend waterproof boots during this process as it will be moist and clumpy from the manure. After that, lightly water everything and allow to settle for about a day. After a day of settling, seed and water. Water according to the need of the grass. Some grass seeds can be drowned, and some need it virtually swampy. The schedule you followed is the most common, and you did well. Then, after some good growth has come in, there are some additional steps you could take to greatly improve the quality of your yard.
1, add earth worms.
2, aerate and fertilize your lawn (with manure or compost) every spring and fall.
3, water regularly, but not between 10am and 4pm (if in a hot area) or you can literally burn your grass and kill patches.
Your efforts are not in vein. Thanks for chronicling the process. Grass looks great!
I like how this guy keeps saying, "We" when it's just him doing it 🤣🤣
💯
You got the weeds because of the tilling. You basically woke them up.
Love the process. I’m doing my lawn as well. It’s pretty patchy and I didn’t overseed it.
Great video with some very helpful tips from the other commenters. Thank you all.
Wow. That looked so easy. Thanks brodie. Will keep the weeds in mind
I was about go balls deep into this lawn but thank God you were realistic enough to add the timing details of when to start . Middle of Californian summer yeah that would be a mistake 😕
Do you mind if I borrow the phrase “going balls deep in my lawn “ when I’m buying grass seed down at the Depot ?
Great tutorial, love how the grass came out!
Great video... my front lawn is very sandy and full of clay.. I thought I was going to have grass grow easily but not so much.. This will be a project for next year but looking forward to it..
I was thinking about just buying sod for my small yard.but that is a much more expensive solution. I may give your technique a try. Thanks!
Great video. It helps to see that things don't always go well after the first planting.
Appreciate it! Thanks for watching!
Thank you. This is a better alternative to buying sod.
Great video. I just did a similar project. I found it helpful to see the end result as I used the same seed and spreader too, though I bumped the setting up to 10 instead of 9.5 for good measure.
Your end result looks great. I hope mine turn out as well as yours!
Appreciate it! I hope your project turns out great!
Your yard is beautiful, love it all!
Thanks Sheree! Appreciate you watching!
This Andrew guy is cuuuute
Recently, a lawn expert told me "mow every day, water every week, feed every month." I haven't tried it on my lawn yet cus I'm busy with other projects, but I bet that'll help maintain your lawn!
mow everyday ? :D aint no body got time for that :P but that is true, it will kill the weeds, and make ur grass stronger
Mowing every week* that’s better. Make sure you don’t have dull blades either cause that’ll harm your grass
Wow huge project and great explanations
Here the steps i personally follow
1 - mow and scarifying (if you already have a lawn)
1 - if you start from scratch you can till but you need to wait couple of weeks before seeding, during that time you water the weeds so you can remove as they grow up (fake seeding)
2 - add starter fertilizer
3 - seeding no rake
4 - add top soil
5 - roll
6 - keep humid until germination then water if required or rely on the rains depending on your region.
7 - some people will roll again after 1 inch
You put the seed on before the topsoil?
Please do a video on keeping a lawn green-ish while relying on natural rain only! I need to save some money and get decent rain in my region.
Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the video!
Thank you! This was awesome.
Superb knowledge video
I know it’s months later but box store grass seed usually has tons of weeds in it. If you look at the tag, I try tondo ace or a local coop grass seed. I just got done with my yard and learned that.
Thanks for sharing
Thank you for the easy to follow video that does not suggest loads of expensive products that are ineffective anyway. I am in my second week after seeding and I might be too early to judge but it appears patchy on day 12 and I am seeing some weeds popping up in a few spots even though I removed all the the weeds I saw with a shovel. How did you get rid of the weeds on your lawn that grew with the new grass? I am reluctant to use Roundup because I don't want it to impact the new grass at this point.
Really great video, informative and enjoyable to watch. big up
I appreciate the support!!
Thanks for the video. Just a note about weed killers. Roundup is a vegetation killer. It kills everything green - weeds AND grass. There are weed killers that kill weeds but not grasses.
Great video Andrew. I can't accept that you can't grow stuff! Your beard is full and no longer patchy, nice color, fullness just like the final lawn you showed. I never got good lawn under the spread of a tree; they just suck up all the water and leave the grass begging. Try extra water on areas 'neath green trees. When I lived in MD and first bought a home, I plowed in almost fully composted material. And added more on top then some straw or hay and in the spring the seed went down with all its' goodies recommended and eventually all was well. Top dressing with compost on clay soil is the very best. Hope that tip works for you, if you need it. Great s being you again. Keep 'em coming. Pat
Appreciate it, Pat! Yea the area under the trees is definitely my "trouble spot" - still to this day. I have the same issue in the front yard. Definitely some great feedback for next grass growing season. Thanks for watching!
Always add top soil before tilling, then instead of raking of your seeds and ruining the entire purpose of a spreader you can just put top soil in the spreader and add a light coat over it. Never use wheat grass as this causes nasty wheat weeds that only die from heat (Georgia)
Yep. I stopped watching after he said to evenly distribute the seeds, then raked it unevenly.
@@dch.projects Hi. I read your comment and it sounds like you know what you’re talking about. My soil test said I need nitrogen and potassium. Do I till those in or do I water them in? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Georgia here to 🙂
This was a great video man! Thanks for sharing. Bout to give it a shot
Thanks and good luck!
I did this when I was 13 and I am watching this as a 32 year old... Gonna do this again.
Good video 👍
I'm considering starting my lawn from scratch since it's mostly weeds. I wasn't sure if I should till or apply with existing lawn.
Scott’s has a weed suppressor that you can apply with seeding.
I know this is an old video but just curious how much top soil did you put down before seeding?
Any tips on growing Clovers in place of grass?? Thank you!
Great video. I’m doing my first lawn ever. I did a soil test and it said I need to add nitrogen and potash to my soil. I’m going to till my soil before laying the fertilizer, but can I water in the nitrogen and potash or is tilling it in that much better? I’m just a little confused. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I have a small ugly front yard. About 120sq ft. Do I still need to til it? Or can I just put top soil and mix with existing dirt?
Did you remove the rocks from the native dirt before adding the top soils?
I swear I just saw this as a review on Amazon for the Scott blue mix seeds lol.
I’ve done this before and it’s about the most back breaking work ever
Question, I've been trying to know what's the brown, sometimes beige on top of lawn, is that some type of cover to keep humid down? I've seen it on dry places I think, not sure because are places with no indication of which state is the one where the yardman is doing, thanks I would appreciate the info, I haven't found anything related for about 3 months.
thank you :-)
How or when do we test our soil ph level before/after aerating?
What did you use for the weeds? Or how would you of controlled it from beginning?
What brand of grass seeds did u use? Is it not recommended to spread the seed 1st before adding top soil?
You keep saying "we" but I see you doing all the work. You better tell the other "we" to get their ass in gear! Haha great video.
I'll curious on how you tackled the weeds. After spreading the seeds I'd run a roller to make sure they are stuck down and make it harder for birds to pick them. But after all your yard looks great
Nice video... just did this without knowing what the time frame would look like and learned w/ your video it's going to be about a month lol but I'm ready for any reasult (any!) and it's just fun so far. Wish me luck! 😂
I learned Mostly what NOT to do :) thanks !
While the raking immediately post seed application is great in theory, the reality was the uncontrolled disruption of properly applied seed. I know the raking is widely recommended, but I believe it causes your experience. Personally, I prefer the more PIA method of separating straw to cover the seed to keep it undisturbed, and protected from birds and water induced run-off, and most of all, the drying out via the sun during the critical germination and beginning growth cycle. Peace
I love this video, you just have a regular yard that has all sorts of issues and looks like crap, just like mine, but you make improvements slowly and solve problems and get it looking really nice. Not some pro, who's yard germinated perfectly without once square inch missing. keep it up bro.
What about tarping area for 4-5 weeks to kill weeds etc ???
Do you not suggest round up? If noy what would you suggest?
Roughly how much did it cost to do this so I can budget my new grass? My yard seems about same size as yours
If using fertilizer should I drop it before tilling?
So I dug up old dried dirt, weeds etc. and removed it from my yard and placed fresh top soil down. Am I supposed to put grass seed down and/or fertilizer?? Bc I put down fertilizer bc that’s what a Home Depot gardener employee told me… I’m new to this, no professional, just trying to get the yard healthy and green! Any tips would be appreciated
You don’t want to use round up on a lawn that will kill grass and weeds. It’s used more for like flower beds or driveways and walk paths. You can use Trimec which is great for getting weeds like that out of a yard and doesn’t harm the grass.
I heard an amusing story a few years ago about a guy who had to use Roundup on a small area to wipe out everything that was growing there. Unfortunately he also had to walk through it at some point. Then he walked across his lawn... You can imagine what the shape of the dead spots looked like. LOL
@@RobDucharme I have heard that too lol
next time you do this it is better to skip the raking part and just lay a thin layer of topsoil over the seeds, then there would be so much patches
is peatmoss good for protecting seeds?
What depth of topsoil did you use?
5:40 any idea what caused it to be patchy?
dude dont worry. i did the same thing. i used too much peat moss to cover. any tips for the future for pp. 1 till 2 topsoil 3 seed 4 RAKE IN 5 starter fertilizer 6 reseed 2 weeks 7 water
what did you do to get rid of the weeds?
Andrew, darn you!!! You make it look so easy...lol what are your thoughts about adding sand plus top soil for the ground to be more aired. I've got clay type dirty and thinking of tilling in some sand, plus mulch. I need to read up on when to apply weed killer (weed be gone)... clay dirty is ugly, but darn if the weeds do great in it.
How much would you say this project cost in total? I have a very similar backyard that is all dirt
Sweet
What state are you? My lawn is struggling here in South Texas right now.
i believe they sold you dirt filling instead of top soil..overall great video, for the weeds, spray tenacity.
7:14 how did you resolve your weed issue if you didnt want to use harsh chemicals?
How often did you water the new seeds?
Dont feel bad dude im doing the exact same thing. Not an expert here either. I live in Vegas and it’s challenging here for grass but i dont care im doing my thing to get grass in my backyard. Ive also gotta get some better soil and mix into the earth. Ive got some succes with patches of course but im getting there. Slowly but surely.
How did you get rid of the weeds?
How did you end up handling this weeds
Sponsored by ironite.... but did you use it for this process? Or do you use it AFTER the lawn is established?
So how did you deal with the weeds that popped up? Would be nice to know, and the lawn looks good to me.
As you mow the grass, the weeds get choked out eventually
How long do I have to keep my dogs of the yard when I start growing?
I have about .32 acres that my 1300 sq ft house sits on. We moved to Southern Alabama for my wife's schooling and the soil here is honestly garbage. I don't know where to start with this. It is very sandy with some clay to it. I am unsure if this video will work where I am, but I feel like with the amount of ground we would need covered and the type of soil this is going to be an extremely expensive endeavor. I am not scared of some hard work and determination, but we just bought this house, then had to take down 5 trees that turned out to be dead or just a liability, etc. Any suggestions?
I noticed u didn’t spread peat moss over the seeds that stuff works wonders!
How often did you water? I'm thinking of watering a 6am and again at 6pm... would that be ideal? Or should I go for 3 times a day with 6am 12pm and 6pm? Starting a lawn from scratch
I work for an irrigation company… 6am and 6pm is a good schedule.
Step 1: Live in a place that doesn’t rain nearly every day 🤣
My yard would be a total mud pit forever! It rains too much to completely start from scratch.
But oh your finished result 😍😍 I just wanna frolic through it barefoot ❤
At least watering won’t be a prob lol
It’s raining here and I plan to do this and let rain do all the work…. More grass less mud 👌👌👌
What type of grass seed would you use
Curious as to why you didn’t put in irrigation? I respect the effort though
How much is it to rent a tiller.?
The top soil you brought in may also have brought in the weeds into the picture.
good morning
i fixed my lawen without any help . :)
My property is getting daily wind blowing from the bare (weeded) acres to the west, weed seed laden wind has me exhausted fighting weeds
Great video man! Wish the rest of the 400k people who watched this video would leave a like! It's free people! Reward this guy for this great video by leaving a like!
Appreciate you!
One word I never heard was fertilizer I would add starter fertilizers…
Good point! I used a fertilizer after the fact and some topsoil with fertilizer in it, but I should have mentioned that. Thanks for watching!
I understand that…I trying topsoil compost. Topdress and water 3 x a day.🤞🏻