My Grass Is Thin in Some Places

Appearance

• Thinning lawns look lackluster, with fewer blades of grass than their healthy counterparts. Grass can thin in some areas and be normal in others. If you see dirt poking through your lawn, you've got patchy or thin grass. While it's easy to diagnose a thinning lawn visually, figuring out the cause is trickier.

Causes

• Human and animal traffic across the lawn causes grass thinning. If you have no kids or animals running over your grass, some missing element of lawn care generally causes thinning. Lawns that get too little or too much water or fertilizer, as well as those that have been mowed improperly, turn thin. Giving your grass the right care instigates a turnaround.

Best Practices

• In general, grass should be mowed by one-third when it reaches 2 to 3 inches in height. Fertilize your lawn with nitrogen from spring to fall, applying the right dose range for your size lawn. Your grass needs more water in hot, windy conditions and less in cool, overcast weather. If you see wilting, it's time to water. Give 1 to 1-1/2 inches of water to grass grown on clay soils, and one-half inch of water to grass grown on sandy soils. Use a sprinkler to disperse the liquid, and move the sprinkler around the lawn so that half the water can soak in. Do a second pass so the rest of the water can soak in.

Overseeding

• Overseeding sows new grass seeds over the bare patches, giving you control of your lawn. Seed in either the spring or the fall, and mow your lawn before you begin. To seed, scratch the soil in the bare patches with a rake to loosen it, so the grass seed takes root. Scatter seed over the thin parts. Water the seed to wet it and maintain a moist soil until the grass germinates.