Hey all. So I removed a mulch bed with the intentions of replacing with grass. Here is how it looks 13 days in. Not what I was hoping for coverage wise. Starting to get pretty cold where I’m at. I’m thinking I just keep watering and whatever takes, takes. Then attempt to fill in bare spots in the spring.
by RatcanOinkbag
24 Comments
Would have looked good if you edged the mulch beds and put in some flowers and plants. The curved mulch bed going to the street always adds character to the house.
Salad is coming in nicely
I would not have done it..
Keep it moist and do what you can to keep it alive for now. Watch watering since it’s cooler now so you shouldn’t need as much water. Hopefully it makes it, mow it once it gets tall enough to mow to help it grow. No reason to do anything major now until next year. You can try to add more in the early spring, but spring is tough between timing your preemergent, weeds, and getting it to mature before the heat waves come in.
I’d be pretty happy with that. My understanding is that this time or the year most of the energy is being used to develop roots. So it should take off in the spring
Seed it again. It’s coming in good.
Progressing nicely!
Coverage should get a lot better with time. Especially if there’s any spreading varieties in there. Give it a light dose of starter fertilizer if you haven’t yet. Let it establish as well as possible, then overseed again in spring!
Look a bit dry. Keep it moist for another few weeks
Don’t use rock salt to melt ice this winter. It’ll destroy everything that you’ve done.
Looking good. Starter fertilize it again.
Back fill around your water shut off until it is level with dirt. . You can break a mower blade on it if it sticks up too far. That and it scares the holy hand grenade out of you.
Otherwise looks good. Some starter fertilizer might thicken it up and get you deeper roots. Should be great by spring!! KBG will spread and thicken on its own.
Might need to add more sand to the flower bed. Over time it will settle and may cause difference in depth.
No thoughts, just prayers
I wonder if the previous owner did that because they had trouble growing grass on the edges.
It’ll look great in the spring. Keep watering it. Cut it when it reaches 3 inches.
Looks like you did the before and after in reverse. Never seen anyone unlandscape something lol
Honestly, you’re on the right track — that’s not bad coverage for 13 days, especially this late in the season. Cooler temps slow germination a bit, so what’s there will thicken up more over the next couple of weeks.
A couple light overseedings in early spring will fill those thin spots fast. Just make sure you hit it with a starter fertilizer when you do. Keep watering lightly until temps drop below freezing and then let it ride — the roots that formed now will give you a strong base for next year.
I need to do this to a few of my huge mulch beds from previous owner. Any good links or threads to cover it? Seems straight forward but want to make sure I don’t miss anything
I did something similar this spring. The former garden area soil was all fucked up. Grass came in nice then thinned and now I overseed in the fall again. Hopefully this next spring it will be full
>Thoughts?
I think I would have preferred the gardens.
Grass quality > grass quantity
I’d continue with the 3 times a day watering. There’s more still to pop up.
Has to stay damp, doesn’t look damp from the pic.
Soil temp needs to be 55-60 to germinate
The issues I’ve seen with doing this is the grass varieties will never match, so you may have a section that’s lighter or darker, no matter how much you overseed. If you are looking for consistency, you should probably overhaul it.
Another issue is the buffalo box. Unless you want to spark up the lawnmower you’ll need to dodge it or raise the soil level in that area wider than the wheelbase of your mower.
My recommendation if you have the resources to do so would be to plant pushes over the new green areas to break up the contrast of seed variety, or consider hardscapes to replace the old mulches areas.