Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

| By | | 287 Comments

Seeding Some Bare Dirt Spots To Grow Grass

Back on this hosta post I left a not-so-subtle indication that we were planting some fresh grass ’round these parts.

Mailbox 12 Grass

Though as pretty as superimposed text looks in that area (not), we’ve been working on getting the real thing for a while now and it’s finally (mostly) photo-ready. But let’s head back to the beginning, which is actually one step before the photo above… when it still looked like this:

Grass 1 With Liriope

Yep, we still had some weird liriope lingering to the right of the brick path, so we dug that up (to the point where it was even with the stone border on the other side) and called this area ready for grass seed.

Grass 2 Liriope Gone

Here’s the strip from the other side of the house. If you recall, this is where we used to have a line of boxwoods making the pathway look very, um, boxed in.

Grass 3 Front Porch Before

The area near our front porch wasn’t the only spot in need of grass seed. We also had a stripe of dirt (and ivy) where our “bush fence” once resided at the front of the property.

Grass 4 Street With Ivy

So once we ripped out all of the ivy, this area was also ready for some serious seedification.

Grass 5 Ivy Gone

Because this is not a good look. And we’ve been living with it like this since last fall. And we’re pretty tired of being “the house with the dirt path to nowhere.”

Grass 6 Street Cleared

As for actually spreading the seed, we didn’t use our usual routine of starter fertilizer followed by grass seed in a broadcast spreader (detailed here). Since we were getting towards the end of the grass growing season (once it gets really hot the seed can burn before it begins to grow) impatience got the best of us and we bought this “seeding mixture” that has fertilizer and seed in one. I think it was about $20 per bag (sorry, lost my receipt to double-check).

Grass 7 Seed Bag

I worried my broadcast spreader would waste a lot of seed by tossing it way beyond the bare strips. So instead I just tossed it by hand – kinda using the motion I imagine one might use to feed a bunch of chickens. Not that I’ve ever done that, so maybe I’m way off.

Grass 8 Seed Sown

Once it was all spread, I got my water on. Again, since it was such a small area I skipped our usual sprinkler routine and broke out the hose. So picture me out there once a day (usually in the evening or the early morning, so the sun wouldn’t just burn it off) soaking both areas.

Grass 9 Watering

Now, to force a little bit of delayed gratification in this story (since it there was about two weeks of daily watering that delayed any real life gratification) I’m gonna switch gears momentarily. Let’s talk about these random ferns that pop up under our magnolia tree.

Grass 10 Ferns Before

We both like ferns. Just not in this spot. It just looks messy to us and we have other plans for under this tree someday. So we dug them up.

Grass 11 Digging Up Ferns

They were actually a bit of a pain to get up – and there were lots of them too. I filled two whole wheelbarrows full of them (which I hauled to our naturalized side yard, where I’d be happy for them to take root). I also like how this photo unintentionally looks like our West Elm ceramic speaker-pig is trying to escape up the tree to avoid the wheelbarrow. #PigProblems.

Grass 12 Fern Wheelbarrow

Now it’s a big empty round of dirt – but at least it doesn’t have those gangly ferns creeping all over the place anymore. And someday we’d love to plant some green low-lying groundcover for a more seamless look (that screams big-ring-of-dirt-under-a-tree-where-grass-won’t-grow a little less). Someday.

Grass 13 Ferns After

Okay, now back to grass mode. It took about 10 days for any hint of grass to start showing up. A bit longer than our past experiences (which were usually seven on the dot), but we chalked it up to being late in the season when it was a bit warmer out.

Grass 14 Starting To Come UP

Here’s a farther-away shot of the area just starting to get a subtle green tint to it around ten days in.

Grass 14 Starting To Come Up Far

Fast forward another week or two and things are finally filling in pretty nicely:

Grass 15 After From Driveway

You can still see the distinction between the fresh grass and the mature grass, but once the new stuff starts to grow out of its neon green newness it should be less obvious.

Grass 16 After From Street

We can’t tell you how much this excites us just to see a carpet of grass here, totally unobstructed by bushes, ivy, or dirt. Kinda wish it hadn’t taken 18 months of living here for this to finally get done!

Grass 17 After From Street Angle

It’s also much easier to mow now that I don’t have to weave around a bunch of bushes (these pics were taken right after mowing, which is why you can see some fresh wheel lines in some of the shots).

Grass 18 After Close Up

The stripe closer to the house is having a bit of a rougher go at filling in. The area by the street is lower, so water runoff seems to go there – which makes all of the grass down there a little lusher. We might end up overseeding this path area another time this fall, just to help it fill in more evenly.

Grass 19 After Front Porch Angle

Here it is from the other side. Again, not perfect…

Grass 10 After Front Porch Liriope

…but definitely an improvement!

Path2

And while we’re looking at old before photos, let’s take a peek at how the view from the front has improved. Here’s a before shot taken about a week after we bought this house (even before Sherry trimmed up the magnolia).

Magnolia Before1

And here we are today.

Grass 16 After From Street

It’s pretty grass-tastic if you ask me. And thankfully since it’s only a three-foot strip of grass out front and next to the path that we added in place of all those bushes, it only takes a few more runs of the mower to get ‘er done (five more mowing minutes are definitely worth the curb appeal that we gained).

Has anyone else played the grass seed game yet this year? Or have you had any past triumphs (or trials) with planting grass around your home? Are you slowly inching along with outdoor improvements? It used to make us so sad that outside things seem to take forever, but we learned with our first house that a lot of little updates over a few years can definitely make for some dramatic results. So keep the faith. And make sure your ceramic pig isn’t trying to run off…

Comments

  2. Jenn @therebelchick says

    Don’t you just love brand new grass? :) We tried planting new grass seed in our backyard last year…it turned out to be mostly weeds! We are hoping to lay sod next year – we have a big yard so it’s taking a while to save up!

    Reply

    • Kelly {the Centsible Life} says

      We’ve found that sometimes you need to amend the soil first when you plant new grass seed. Maybe you could try that?

      Love the changes, and glad to see we aren’t the only ones who take awhile to do gardening projects. ;)

  4. Amy says

    It looks amazing! Wish we were having as much luck with our grass seed as you are! Do any of your neighbors ever stop you and tell you how great it looks compared to the overgrown mess that was there before?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Every once in a while someone will just say something really sweet, like “looking good!” as they walk by. It’s heartwarming, I tell ya. But most of the time we’re self conscious about something else (like after we got those bushes out but then had that strip of dirt and ivy for months! Haha.

      xo,
      s

    • Sarah says

      Wow! That before and after is amazing!! I’m sure your neighbors are happy that, even when you leave strips of dirt, you’re making progress! I rent a house with friends, and we are in charge of keeping the bushes in the front yard looking pretty. We were going to cut our azalea bush back right after it bloomed, but our overzealous retired neighbors took a saw to it one day while we were at work and cut it so far back that it’s practically dead. They are crazy. And now the rest of the neighbors give us dirty looks because they think we did it!

  9. Amy Knisely says

    We had 4 pine trees between our front and back yards that we pulled up and needed to seed. We first had to shovel the fallen pine needles off the ground (there were YEARS of them caked into the ground) and lime the area because they ground was so acidic from the pine needles. We did the same method you described for the front yard and had good results after 2 weeks as well (we did the front yard in the fall). We overseeded our backyard and will probably need to hand-seed those specific areas in order to get those spots growing – as of right now it’s sparse at best.
    The funny thing is – the grass we bought is a little darker than what is currently growing there, so instead of a big brown patch in our yard it’s a slightly darker green one. Oh well.

    Reply

  11. Allyn says

    Run away, pig!
    We’ve got a lot of weeds. But well trimmed weeds are still green and totally fake it as grass, right?! right?!
    SUCH a huge improvement to the front of your house since you guys moved in! Hooray for curb appeal!

    Reply

  12. Amanda says

    The before and after/progress of your front yard is really awesome! What a huge difference! Looks so bright and inviting! Can’t wait to see what else you have planned!

    Reply

  14. Jessica says

    So jealous of your pig speaker!! lol We ordered one twice awhile ago when it first came out and both had their speakers fall out and got sooo damaged that it was amazingly bad sound…

    And holy crap to your before and afters!!! It looks so different! Do you ever go back and compare the before pics during all your processes, or is it just when you go to write a blog, you look at the pics and get just as amazed as we are?

    Reply

  15. April says

    My husband has been trying his hand at growing grass in our yard this year to cut down on dust in the house from where our dogs run in circles then come tearing into the house. So far so good- he’s a great grass farmer, but the water bill has been a bit shocking! Worth it so far!

    Reply

  16. Emily says

    You inspired us! In the past month, my husband and I trimmed all the bushes in our front yard; pulled up two dying ones and replaced them with fresher, deer-resistant, flowering bushes; seeded and watered all the bare spots in our front and back yards; and replaced the sparse, aged red mulch in our garden beds with a thick, fresh layer of dark mulch. We were pleased with the results, but even more pleased when guests came over and remarked with surprise “Wow! You guys have done some landscaping lately! It looks wonderful.”

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw, it’s amazing when people notice! Some of our relatives still don’t seem to notice our changes but when we remind them they didn’t used to be able to see the house they’re like “ohhhh yeah!” – haha.

      xo,
      s

  17. Heidi S. says

    Wow that looks great! I imagine it is much nicer to pull up to the house now! I always love it when I drive by my house and see the yard looking nice. Of course we have a 6-8′ tall hedge that my husband has to trim a couple of times a year (totally different condition than yours).

    Glad to hear that you moved the ferns to your naturalized area, since unlike monkey grass, they are native (aka good for the bugs and wildlife).

    Reply

  18. Gina says

    Why does growing grass seem like such an accomplishment? Every time I plant seeds, I walk out every morning in my pjs to check the progress. It’s so exciting! I’ve also been known to chase birds, squirrels and rabbits out of the yard… Yeah, I’m practically an old woman!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha- seriously! Clara and I used to sit in the window waiting for it to grow. That didn’t work very well, and someone got a little impatient (well, both of us did, haha). This grass totally made us nervous when it didn’t pop up seven days later like it usually does. Ten days is really an exercise in patience! Haha.

      xo,
      s

  19. Lauren@FilingJointly says

    I had to feed chickens once (a lot of my family grew up on farms.) I was picturing myself as Cinderella in the Disney moving, gracefully scattering corn whilst humming a beautiful melody. What actually happened was that all the chickens charged me and I screamed and ran and they chased me because I had their food. Not one of my finer moments.

    Anyway, the grass looks great! The when-you-bought-your-home and Today comparison is awesome. I love big lawns, so much fun as a child.

    Reply

  20. Ashley says

    That grass looks fantastic! My husband & I are currently in the short sale process to purchase our first home. We live in Florida where it’s hot all year. The backyard is a decent size blank slate, but the grass is anything but actual grass but just sporadic blades and clumps and basically dirt in between. You both always have a way of making us soon to be home owners have hope in our homes and inspiration for renovations! Loved this post!

    Reply

  21. Pamela @ Pink Hammers & Sippy Cups says

    Wow that looks sooo much better than the before! Great job! Our entire yard is basically all weed and super super bumpy so next year we’ll be hiring a bobcat and tearing it all up and then getting our grass seed on, fingers crossed it turns out!

    Reply

  22. Emily says

    Oh my word! The yard looks so much better than it did when you guys first moved in! Nice! I love that you can see your yellow door from the street now.

    Speaking of painting… remember when you guys selected paint samples to decide what color to paint the rest of the house? What’s going on with that? (I know, I know. Like you guys don’t have enough to do :-)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It got to cold to tackle that last fall/winter and sure enough with book stuff/kitchen stuff it got put on the backburner. Now we’re doing the deck, but the porch is definitely on the hopefully-soon list!

      xo,
      s

  23. Julie says

    Wow, I have to say that last before and after shot is pretty amazing, especially considering all the work that’s gone on indoors! You guys are awesome!

    Reply

  24. Linda says

    I am incredibly jealous of how good your grass looks! Seriously. We moved into our place last October, so we just started on our backyard for the first time a few months ago. Considering we’ve been out there every single day (weed removal, weed killer, grass seed, fertilizer, more weed removal, more weed killer, more grass seed, more fertilizer – rinse & repeat!), it’s not bad, but whew! Time consuming!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Totally! That was one thing when we learned when we moved into our first house – we had no idea outside stuff took so much work and time!! Good luck with everything!

      xo,
      s

  27. bridget b. @623 Designs says

    What kind of grass do you have in your yard? Was it easy to find matching seed at the home improvement store? It looks good and I’m glad to know it only took a couple of weeks to fill in.

    We recently limbed up a tree that was creating a dead spot in the grass on our front lawn and now it’s time to plant.

    Reply

  28. Ashley Reid says

    Sorry guys but I totally disagree with yanking up all those ferns. They don’t look messy – they look natural and native to the area. Mulch the area, clip them back a bit and add in some colorful annuals – that would be beautiful. Sometimes you need to just let things be and not try to force something to look perfect and balanced all the time, or to work somewhere it wasn’t intended to. Kinda like those poor hostas you planted in full sun. Loosen up a bit!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We just plant things wherever we like them! We’re loose! Haha. We put the ferns in our naturalized side yard because we prefer them there (yay for native plants!) and have plans for a low-lying green groundcover to obscure that giant brown ring of dirt under the magnolia since it’s just not our cup of tea). As for the hostas, if you check that post many VA experts/gardeners mentioned that in our region those green variagated ones are super happy in full sun, which explains why they did so well where they were initially growing (which was also full sun) and why they’re still rocking out by the mailbox (whew!).

      xo,
      s

    • Sara says

      I was thinking the same thing! I love ferns, but they looked kind of… RANDOM. Good call, youngsters. :)

  30. Megan says

    Great job! I love how nice a lush, green yard looks.

    My great grandmother had those ferns. They are really great when piled next to each other in one area instead of randomly placed over a large area. I can see why you removed them, but they are a nice touch of green that could contrast with surrounding plants. Good luck with the grass! We’re removing grass around our yard… well, to replace with giant flower beds, and our dog is doing his fair share too. But he’s replacing it with big, giant holes…

    Reply

  31. Megan says

    Why does it seem like yard work is never ending? We planted all new plants in our front beds last year and we had the intention of doing the back yard this year but instead we catch ourselves still working on the front beds. We have a few plants that have really taken off and others that seem to be dying and for the life of us we don’t know what the problem is.Every other bush being dead is not a good look.

    Reply

  32. Chrissie says

    The overall before and after is amazing! It must feel really good to have those photos to look back on, since when you’re doing work little by little it can be hard to see how much progress you’ve made.

    It also gives me very real hope that we can improve our curb appeal quite a bit more than we already have – but we’re going into winter now, so that may have to wait a bit.

    Reply

  33. Kat says

    Amazing! After ripping up the ivy, it did not come back? I’ve been fighting with that terribly invasive beast in my yard since I moved in.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Amazingly not! We dug it as deep as we could to try to get the root (if you tear out just the “legs” of it, it’ll definitely spring back up).

      xo,
      s

  34. alex says

    I love my ceramic pig speaker but we have tried using it outside and even turning it on its back it just does seem as good of a sound…..so we got one for outside. Do you guys have that issue at all? I feel bad turning the poor thing on its back…I don’t want PETCA calling me (people for the ethical treatment of ceramic animals.)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, we haven’t had that issue, but I have a feeling some of those speakers have fared better than others. Ours has great sound inside and out, but we have heard from folks who had no luck (terrible sound, etc) so maybe it varies by batch?

      xo,
      s

    • alex says

      It sounds amazing inside….but outside its just not as loud…could also be the fact that our friends are loud. Ha, we just went with a more powerful set up for outdoorsy things and my pig can be safe and sound in the livingroom.

  35. Jessica says

    Wow your front lawn is looking beautiful! I live in Central Florida and the ferns you removed are pretty popular and hardy over here. Will you be transplanting them to another location on your property? You could make a couple beautiful hanging fern baskets.

    Reply

  36. Krystle @ ColorTransformedFamily says

    Y’all have made a bunch of headway on your yard. I love that all the plants you are digging up you get to transplant to your natural area. Talk about killing two birds with one stone. I bet your neighbors are loving what oh have done with the place already… It’s a big improvement. Oh, and Sherry that yellow door is really growing on me.

    Reply

  38. Lauren says

    The before and after pictures are amazing! It gives me hope for our yard that has so many problems it covers a front and back of a “to-do” list! Thanks for getting me motivated to tackle the list!

    Reply

  40. Amanda says

    We just seeded our front yard earlier this week and are now faithfully watering it (with our fingers crossed!). We got a great tip from our neighbor that the key to a weed-free lawn is to continually seed. Apparently that is why golf courses look so great!

    Reply

  41. Rachel says

    I’ve been fighting the battle of the ferns this spring too. My strip of landscaping was completely overgrown with ferns when I moved in. I chopped everything down in the fall, and this spring I started digging. I thought I had the fern problem under control until I went to plant new plants, and I found several new growths under the top soil just waiting to emerge. Keep your eyes peeled for new sprouts. Those little boogers are sneaky!

    Before
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/58775681@N02/7314457006/in/photostream

    During
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/58775681@N02/7314458368/in/photostream

    Currently!
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/58775681@N02/7314459524/in/photostream

    Reply

  42. teresa says

    Great job! Such a nice improvement!!

    We did the grass seed thing… over 10,000 SF of the grass seed thing. Then those helicopter seed thingymabobs did their thing… and grew into our grass. It’s been a fun spring, lol. After lots of weed pulling, things are starting to look up :)

    Reply

  43. Jenn says

    Wow, that looks awesome!! So impressed that you guys are able to grow grass … we inherited much more yard with our new house than we know how to manage, and at this point are satisfied with weeds, as long as the yard looks green from a distance, ha!

    Reply

  44. Alison says

    Wow! What a difference! Good work as always!! One note- Are you slowly inching along with ourdoor improvements? I think you meant outdoor. :-)

    Reply

  45. Nicole Puckett says

    So.. after following you guys for a while I just realized that tree in your front yard is a magnolia…. I have two in my yard and we are completely submerged in leaves twice a year… You guys have that problem? Any advice or solution that doesn’t involve hours of work every week?

    Grass and entire yard looks great. Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yes, it’s a total leaf dumper! Limbing it up seemed to help (fewer branches = fewer leaves to drop) but we keep hearing from landscapers that they’re no ideal for yards since they’re so “messy” and drop leaves all the time. For now we just mow the grass which seems to chip up the leaves so they’re not as much of an issue. Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  46. Marie says

    We’ve been playing the grass game this year (we moved in a year ago). I love that ours is finally starting to fill in as well. So fresh so green! Your yard really looks amazing, I love the before and after.

    Reply

  48. Crystal @ 29 Rue House says

    It is looking pretty awesome guys! We’ve got some grass planting to do but we’re saving it for the fall now. We also need to treat our yard for grubs :(. I’m going to start with the Milk Spore Powder – going to try to avoid using Grub Ex but I’ll probably still go that route since Milk Spore takes so long to really make a difference.

    And I wish I had real pigs running around :)…someday when I have a farm.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      My friend’s mom tried to pet a pig that escaped from a farm and onto her yard once because she thought it would be soft and she told me they’re so hard and wiry. Just makes me want to pet a pig even more now. Haha.

      xo,
      s

    • Crystal @ 29 Rue House says

      Haha their hair is really wiry (except the babies are so soft and adorable)…awww you’re making me want to pet one now! I haven’t been that close to one since I left my Dad’s house after high school twelve years ago.

  50. Julia Kent says

    I am so sad. I planted a bunch of grass seed over a huge ant hill I got rid of and the grass was growing wonderfully at the end of April… but we were to Europe on vacation and came home and it was ALL DEAD! I have to start all over. Not fun! I guess Ottawa, Canada had super hot weather while we were away and there was no one around to water the grass :(

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh no! Maybe if you water it it’ll come back? Sometimes burned looking grass is just “dormant” to conserve water, and once you water it, it can magically come back to life!

      xo,
      s

Stuff We Love

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *