Ok so my husband and I moved into this home a few months ago
The landlord texted him about our front year and it’s not being taken care of.
My husband will never hire anyone to help with this issue or let anyone come over. He is autistic and it’s a big reason this yard looks gross. Major social anxiety so if I could just do it myself , it could get done !
Any advice that can be provided would be appreciated.
Like should I buy something special ? We don’t use the sprinkler system (husband can’t figure it out and refuses to ask for anyone’s help) and I looked and have no idea!
Oh and we live in Reno, NV
by mac979s
27 Comments
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I wouldn’t water grass in Reno. was it in your contract you had to care for the lawn? he owner should replace with rocks. he shouldn’t expect renters to pay to keep his grass green…IN RENO NEVADA.
It’s too dry. One of you should figure out how to use the sprinklers. Although, I’m from the northeast and don’t know the ethics of watering in a desert.
I dont know how autism get pulled into this and social anxiety. This is the smallest lawn for such a layered issue. Order a sprinkler on Amazon and set it up in this area. Depending on where you live, you might want to soak it for 20-25 minutes 3-4 times per week?
And the grass is worse at the edges near the concrete. Im guessing its quite hot in that area. Grab a rake, aerate and let the water do the rest
It’s summer so there’s only so much you can do living in Nevada. Wait until early spring to renovate. You could cut it low right now, rake up all that dead grass (yellow/white stuff) packed on the lawn. Hit with some weed and feed, couple of bags of organic fertilizer and lots of water. If you want help on the sprinkler system DM. (Too much to type)
[Start Here](https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/)
Maybe your soil is contaminated
[source](https://www.dri.edu/new-study-finds-rocky-mountain-snow-contamination/#:~:text=An%20examination%20of%20Rocky%20Mountain,Reno%2C%20and%20Portland%20State%20University.)
Just do whatever your neighbors are doing
That yard is BAKED.
There’s not much you can do to save it now. 75% of it doesn’t even have vegetation. All the water in the world isn’t going to get grass to grow in bare dirt.
The good thing is that a bag of seed for a postage stamp yard that small is only a few bucks. Frankly it’s the landlord’s problem, but whatever. I can’t imagine what it takes to get grass to grow in Reno in August…. but probably a miracle and/or some ritual involving body parts, small animals, or young children. I suspect it’s something you need to wait for whatever ‘cool’ period you guys have is before there’s a realistic chance of success.
Once you and the landlord figure out who and how to get the grass back, keeping it watered is probably about as involved as turning that knob on the sprinkler system one ‘click’ over to the right to “Auto”. Someone before you almost certainly set it up correctly and all you most likely have to do is turn it On.
And, barring that, there’s even instructions on how to use it right on the lid. You can figure it out. I am quite certain.
Grass seed. Wet it down after you spread the seed. Water on your regular watering days. It should grow fine.
Honestly, you live in a desert. Tell your landlord to fuck off and stop trying to grow turf grass lawns unless he thinks this is a golf course.
So that’s the same controller that I have, and it definitely doesn’t make me much sense looking at it.
YouTube is a big help and it’s what I used to get a grasp on how to set it.
https://youtu.be/tH9WGkiIHnQ?si=M-Az34AYuhbR5Tyz
You also need to get some turf type tall fescue seed, as that’s what you have. Don’t worry too much about getting something amazing, but don’t overly cheap out. Ask the landlord to buy the seed that he wants and to help pay for fertilizer.
Edit: this is just a general frustration. But why can’t people Google how to use things if they know the model number? It’s not that hard to just do some basic research.
Maybe talk to your landlord about artificial turf or straight mulch with plants
Landlord here, let your landlord know, that one small section will take at least five years to grow perfect grass. The rock garden, is it’s down fall. You would have to be out there 4-5 times a day in your climate to maintain perfect grass or an irrigation system.
So where is the sprinkler head? It looks like, at a quick glance, it might be located behind that tree, or something is blocking the head somewhere. I don’t work in the desert, but in my experience the clumps of grass left behind like that is extreme drought stress, and not something like chinch bugs because they leave no survivors. I recently had an issue with pressure in my irrigation system, and a broken head or 2. That’s some thirsty dirt.
I would start by looking up an instructional video on your sprinkler system on YouTube. That might make it easier to grow grass.
Looks like all the neighbors can grow grass, even though it’s in Reno Nevada, so I’m guessing as long as you can get your sprinkler system figured out you’ll be fine.
https://youtu.be/AwuO-BTHBqo?feature=shared
I lived in south Reno for 3 years. It has a very specific look. My MIL told me this week that her grass has gone dormant in the heat. You will have to wait until September or October to reseed.
Is lawn lawn without grass?
Grass does not make a lawn
Needs to be aerated, looks very compacted but you’ll need to get it damper first to punch holes in it. Needs a wetting agent, lots of watering and then eventually a high quality fertiliser. Most likely also overseeding.
I work for a lawn care company and managed to bring my lawn back to life after a couple years of learning from them, looked similar to yours. You have to water a lot though so sorting out your sprinklers is a good first step
Under my rental agreement we have to look after the lawn, I’m intrigued by some of these comments
Why is the landlord asking you? Have him turn on the sprinklers.
It’s scared, see how all the ones hiding behind the tree survived. The ones in front died of fright
Have you ever seen the sprinklers come on? If not turn the switch dial from off to auto. At the very least so it will water the grass.
Off means off.
Turn it to auto run
Seems unlikely he couldn’t figure it out. He probably just doesn’t want to do it.
If you want to know when your sprinklers will come on move the dial to start time and use the right and left arrows to cycle through the stations. A good starting time is around 11pm depending on how many stations you have. Without seeing the inside of the box you could have anywhere from 4-8 sprinklers.
If you want to know how long they will run for, move the dial to station run time. Use the right and left arrows to cycle through the stations. 10 minutes per station is a good starting point.
If you want your system to run every other day, move the dial to water days, and use your arrows to move through the days and use the plus and minus buttons to add and subtract days.
If you have any further questions about that box just ask. They’re fairly easy to use
Unrelated but it should be your landlord’s responsibility. Why should you invest your money in beautifying his property? Would you replace the roof or siding? Just my 2 cents.