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How to fix lawn patches


How to Fix Patchy Grass and Bare Spots in Your Lawn

By

Kelly Burke

Kelly Burke

Kelly Burke is a professional turf manager for a manicured corporate campus in New England. He is accredited in organic land care and is a licensed pesticide applicator. He formerly managed the turfgrass as a golf course superintendent and has held several senior management positions at private country clubs overseeing high maintenance lawns.

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Updated on 10/11/22

Reviewed by

Kathleen Miller

Reviewed by Kathleen Miller

Kathleen Miller is a highly-regarded Master Gardener and Horticulturist who shares her knowledge of sustainable living, organic gardening, farming, and landscape design. She founded Gaia's Farm and Gardens, a working sustainable permaculture farm, and writes for Gaia Grows, a local newspaper column.  She has over 30 years of experience in gardening and sustainable farming.

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Project Overview

Bare patches in an otherwise full, healthy lawn may be the result of pet urine, heavy foot or vehicle traffic, infestations by grubs or other pests, or a variety of other causes. There are several ways to effectively patch these areas, but you also need to consider the causes and correct them if you can.

For example, if a bare patch occurs because natural foot traffic continually pounds one area, no fix will be permanent unless you also solve the traffic flow issue. And if the bald spots are caused by a lawn grub problem, new bare patches will crop up as soon as you repair the old ones—unless you address the grubs.

There are two easy methods for restoring bald patches in your lawn: reseeding and patching with sod.

Before You Begin

Examine the bare patch or patches to determine the underlying cause and address the problem. Then, consider the patch method that's best for your situation and the right time of year to do it,

Patching with seed:

Patching with sod:

Lawn Repair: Quick Guide

1. Patch your lawn. Fix bare or thin spots. Note that if you have a St. Augustine lawn, a better option is to pull up dead turf or edge out bare spots.

2. Provide water. Frequent watering is important for new seed and sod. However, make sure not to drown your soil; rather, keep it moist.

3. Feed the lawn. After six to eight weeks, provide the necessary nutrients that your grass needs to thrive.

4. Exterminate pests and remove weeds. Make sure your weed or bug control products can be used on new grass.

Equipment / Tools

Materials

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How to Reseed Bare Patches

A very easy and inexpensive method of patching bare spots is with seed. It only takes about 20 minutes of your time, plus some upkeep until the first or second mowing. The drawback is that it will take several weeks for the patch to be mowable, and as much as six months for it to fully blend into the rest of your lawn.

  1. Rake the Area

    Rake and remove any debris or dead grass from the area, using a garden rake. Now is also the time to examine the area for grub damage. If the damaged patch of lawn pulls up easily, like a rug being lifted, you may have a grub problem that needs correcting.

    The Spruce / Almar Creative

  2. Loosen the Soil

    Break up the soil with a hard-toothed lawn rake or a garden cultivator. If the soil seems heavily compacted, you might consider aerating it with a core aeration tool. This simple manual tool cuts aeration holes in the soil when you drive it into the ground with your foot.

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  3. Amend the Soil

    Sprinkle several inches of compost or loamy soil and mix it into the existing soil with the rake. Turn the rake upside down and use the top edge to even out the surface, spreading some of the topdressing into the adjacent areas.

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  4. Spread the Seeds

    Sprinkle grass seed evenly across the patch area, thick enough to cover the surface but not so thick that the seeds pile up on top of one another. Use an appropriate seed for your region and micro-climate (sun or shade). Perennial ryegrass should be a part of the blend because it will quickly germinate.

    Tip

    Do not fertilize yet. While this step was once recommended, most experts suggest that fertilizers are not useful until after the grasses are well established.

    Some grass seed products marketed as "one step" have a very weak starter fertilizer and compost already mixed in. And some contain a mixture of recycled paper material designed to keep the seeds in place and absorb moisture as they germinate. There is nothing wrong with these products, but you can patch bare areas just as effectively—and more economically—with plain grass seed.

    The Spruce / Almar Creative

  5. Rake the Seeds

    Lightly rake in the seed to distribute it evenly. This will also cover some of the seed with a thin layer of soil, which can help keep it in place. Until the seeds germinate, you may need to protect the area from birds who love to eat the seed and new shoots. Using reflective tape or pinwheels mounted on short stakes can help deter them.

    The Spruce / Almar Creative

  6. Begin Watering

    Lightly water the area. Keep the seeds moist throughout the day. If hot weather is a problem, you can use a sheet of burlap to cover the patch. This will provide shade and keep the germinating seeds from drying out. Another method is to spread a thin layer of wheat straw over the seeded area to hold the seeds in place and keep them moist.

    Your patch area will require light watering daily—or perhaps even twice daily—for the first 10 days or so, until the seeds germinate and sprout. Keep watering every two days for another month or so; then you can reduce watering to weekly as the new grass becomes mature.

    The Spruce / Almar Creative

  7. Mow When Ready

    Allow the grass to grow slightly longer than the rest of your lawn until the color of the patched area begins to blend in with the rest of your lawn. This may mean mowing around it for two or three mowing cycles. Some seed manufacturers suggest waiting a full seven weeks before mowing new grass.

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How to Patch Bare Patches With Sod

A quicker method than seeding is to fill the bare spot with a patch cut from a roll of grass sod. This is a good method if you have several bare patches to treat. A roll of sod is usually less than $10, and you can cut many patches from a single roll. Within a couple of weeks, you'll have an acceptable patch that has blended in with the surrounding grass.

  1. Cut a Sod Patch

    Use a sharp shovel or garden knife to cut a patch of sod grass that is slightly bigger than the bare area in your lawn. The patch should extend 2 inches or so beyond the edges of the bare spot into the healthy grass area.

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  2. Cut Out the Old Turf

    Place the sod patch over the bare spot. Use a sharp shovel or garden knife to "trace" around the sod patch into the healthy lawn around the bare spot. Remove the sod patch, then remove the dead grass and the ring of healthy grass around the bare patch, using a hand cultivator. Remove a layer of soil below the grass: The goal is to dig down slightly so that the sod patch will sit down at the same level as the rest of your lawn.

    The Spruce / Almar Creative

  3. Prepare the Soil

    Loosen up the soil in your patch area, using a shovel, garden rake, or cultivator. You want the soil nice and loose so that the roots of the sod patch can quickly grow down and anchor in the soil.

    The Spruce / Almar Creative

  4. Plant the Sod Patch

    Place the sod patch into the excavated area, and compress it into the ground by walking on it repeatedly. Water immediately, and repeat watering two or three times a day for several days, until the sod patch is bonded and is beginning to grow actively.

    Within two weeks or so, your sod patch should be seamless and indistinguishable from the rest of your lawn, but it will take as much as six weeks to be fully rooted. Don't be surprised if it is a slightly different color at first; this will disappear soon.

    The Spruce / Almar Creative

Best Sod Installation Services

Article Sources

The Spruce uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

  1. University of Maryland Extension, Lawn Renovation and Overseeding

  2. University of Minnesota Exension, Seeding and sodding home lawns

an expert guide to a flawless lawn |

(Image credit: Alamy)

If you have noticed patches in grass, you may be considering some lawn repair this weekend. Expert gardeners will know that it is possible to prevent and cure patchy grass quickly and fairly easily, however, before you begin, it is worth working out what might be causing them in the first place so that they don't return again quickly.

Some reasons for patches in grass will be easy to identify: wear and tear from the kids' lively football games and the dog are two obvious places to lay them blame, but bare or brown patches in lawns might be down to disease instead, which you will need to deal with differently.

So, if you’re looking to maintain your lush greenery – or you require some emergency lawn patch remedies – these expert tips are for you.

How to repair patches in grass

(Image credit: Annaick Guitteny)

Before you start to working out whether now is a good time to plant grass seed, you need to work out why you have patches in your lawn. 

Gardening expert Saul Walker explains: ‘Patchy grass is usually caused by a myriad of problems from diseases, such as Red Thread and Snow Mould, pest damage, like Leatherjackets and Chafer Bug Grubs.’  

Bare patches in grass can appear when you dethatch a lawn, too.

Saul Walker goes on to explain, patches in grass can often be caused by constant use, 'poor drainage or a poor top.' The latter is particularly common in newly built properties. 'Identifying which problem you have and remedying it is always the first step in reviving your lawn before either repairing or replacing it,' he says. 

Also investigate when to add lime to lawns, as the pH of the soil could be causing the patches and poor health of the grass.

1. Penetrate grass roots with aeration 

Saul, along with garden expert Noah James , recommends the process of aeration that will ‘increase airflow to the roots, encouraging oxygen for root health. ’ Stronger roots grow deeper and promote a verdant lawn that is more resistant to future patching. The process also eases soil compaction for a versatile lawn for the cooler seasons ahead. 

2. Sow grass seed 

Perhaps the most impactful way to cure your patchy grass begins with a new fast-growing grass seed. Try to buy the same grass seed as you have used in the past as this will give you a consistent-looking lawn.

Before sowing, cut and lift out the bare or brown patch in a square and loosen the soil beneath. Replace the removed sod with top soil or compost, or a mixture of both, then scatter the seeds over the area, following the instructions for distribution on the seed packet.

Saul suggests that planting grass seed is 'best undertaken in the cooler, moister seasons of spring and fall to allow for the best establishment – after which regular scarification and aeration will keep your lawn in its best condition.’

Once you have done this, cover the seed with a little more top soil or compost (or both) so that you're not just providing birds with a lovely snack, and water carefully. If birds are a problem, you could peg a section of polythene over the seeded patch to protect the area and to stimulate germination.

3. Top-dress with nutrient-rich soil  

One way to cure your grass patches and to keep your lawn green and thick is through the process of topdressing; as Noah recommends:

'Top-dressing with nutrient-rich soil can help make air, water, and nutrients available to the grassroots as it breaks down over time.' 

The process encourages the grass to re-root and become thicker – and will not only restore your grass – but promote a healthier plot for the rest of summer.  

4. Regulate your mowing 

While it may seem entirely contradictory, the secret to patch-free grass is in a regular schedule with the lawn mower. 

Founder of Garden’s Whisper , Stephen Webb suggests you should 'frequently mow at least once a week during the growing season, and three times a month in winter.' He adds that grass should be kept 'two inches above the ground'.  

5.  Patch with sod 

Another quick tip that will heal your patchy grass? Founder at Evergreen Seeds , Emma Sophie, recommends laying sod at any point in the season in a way that is similar to how you would patch with seeds. 

As with seeds, try to buy sod from the same supplier as you got it from first time around, or try to ensure you have the same type of grass to ensure an even finish.

You will need to cut out the patchy grass in a square or rectangular shape to match the shape and size of the section of sod, and loosen the soil beneath with a garden fork. 

‘Keep the area an inch below so that it can be leveled up with the ground. Once this is done, cut a piece of sod and fix it on the repair site. Gently press the patch and walk on it, so it gets settled down. Then water the area properly so that it goes down in the soil,’ Emma explains. 

Why are there brown patches in my lawn?

Brown patches in a lawn may be one of two things. Firstly, your grass may just be dormant in areas, which means it will come back. Or, it could be diseased or dead, and of course it's important to know the difference before you repair the lawn. 

Dormant grass should still have healthy roots so won't come away if you grab a handful and gently pull it. However, bear in mind that dormant patches will be large, as grass doesn't become dormant in small, isolated areas. Why does grass become dormant and go brown? These tend to be cold-season grasses that don't like heat, or warm-season grasses that don't like the cold; once the temperature is more favorable, they will grow green again. To avoid this in future, combine warm- and cool-season grass seed when you sow.

Diseased patches may need diagnosis from a lawn repair professional, who can then deal with whatever is afflicting it.

Dead grass will come away in your hand if you grab a handful and gently pull it. With dead brown patches in grass, you will need to replace the sod or reseed the patch. With dormant patches.

Will brown patches in a lawn grow green again?

Provided the grass isn't diseased or dead, grass will grow green again when the temperatures are right for it, and if you water it regularly once the frosts have passed.

What causes bare patches in lawns?

Bare patches in lawns are generally caused by wear – and is easily fixed if you can persuade the kids to play elsewhere, rethink where you position your water slide or take a different route to the garden shed, or lay a path to replace the bare patches.

Bare patches can also be caused by excessive shade. You may be able to turn this around by pruning shrubs and trees, by sowing a shade-tolerant grass seed and by not cutting the grass too short. This area of lawn will also need feeding. 

And, of course, patches may be caused by dog urine.

How to repair dog urine patches in a lawn

Dead grass patches in a lawn or yellow patches in a lawn are often caused by dog urine. It is not easy to stop your dog peeing, but there are actions you can take to minimize the damage. 

Dilute the dog pee: this really only works if you are prepared to follow your dog out into the garden each and every time then turn a hose or watering can on to it immediately after the dog has done his/her business.  

Put on the sprinkler in dry weather: your lawn will have a better chance of being patch-free if you can keep it damp, which means keeping it well-watered in dry spells. 

Keep the lawn long: doing so will help retain moisture in the grass, which will lessen the likelihood of brown patches.

Feed the lawn: a healthy lawn is less likely to suffer from urine burn. 

Lucy Searle has written about interiors, property and gardens since 1990, working her way around the interiors departments of women's magazines before switching to interiors-only titles in the mid-nineties. She was Associate Editor on Ideal Home, and Launch Editor of 4Homes magazine, before moving into digital in 2007, launching Channel 4's flagship website, Channel4.com/4homes. In 2018, Lucy took on the role of Global Editor in Chief for Realhomes.com, taking the site from a small magazine add-on to a global success. She was asked to repeat that success at Homes & Gardens, where she has also taken on the editorship of the magazine.  

How to repair the lawn in the country. Handbook

Sooner or later, all lawn owners face the problem of deterioration in the appearance of their lawn.

What are some of the reasons why you might need to repair your lawn? The main reason for the appearance of bald spots on lawns in the spring is the freezing of such lawn grass as perennial ryegrass in a snowless winter or during prolonged frosts. This grass is a part of almost all lawn mixtures and of course its high (and sometimes predominant) percentage is quite justified, but it does not tolerate frost well.

David Muir / Flickr.com

Another cause of deterioration in the appearance of the lawn is when the life of the grass planted on your lawn comes to an end (for example, perennial ryegrass is active for 3-4 years, meadow fescue is also short-lived). Mechanical damage to the lawn, earthworks, spilled liquids, pet walking, a swimming pool set for the summer are also possible reasons for repairs. When “harmful grasses” (bent bentgrass, white bent grass, meadow timothy grass, hedgehog or foxtail, and others) are populated and (or) grow too much on the lawn, the lawn loses its uniformity. As long as these grasses grow in mixtures with others and are mowed regularly, there seems to be no problem. As soon as someone "noble" weakens, they are right there, and are already conquering space. Manual lawn weeding is also a reason to do minor repairs.

What is lawn repair? What are the lawn repair options? How to properly repair your lawn yourself? When is the best time to repair your lawn? Can you handle the repair yourself?

If the repair area is small . It may be just a few bald spots or pits. For such cases, it is always a good idea to have in stock the grass mixture that was sown on your lawn. If the repaired surface of the lawn is without depressions and notches, loosen the soil surface with a chopper or rake, sow some grass (30-40 grams per 1 sq.m. ), walk again with a rake or ripper (no deeper than 1-2 cm), plant the seeds in the soil , and tamp the seeded places. You can just walk on them with your feet. If there are small pits on the lawn, then it is necessary to add soil before sowing, level the surface, compact it with your hands or feet to the level of the rest of the lawn, loosen it to a depth of 1-2 cm, sow the seeds, close up with a rake and compact. If the soil in the places of bald spots is depleted, covered with a layer of green moss, or is too compacted, it is recommended to use nutrient soil in order to cover the sown seeds with a thin (1 cm) layer. If soils are poor, use humus-based soil. If the soil does not pass moisture well, is "fat" or clayey, use a mixture of peat and sand in a ratio of 3: 1.

Krystyn Wukitsch Foran / Flickr.com

Can you handle the repair yourself? If the repair area is small, then it is quite possible to handle it yourself, if there is such a desire. Well, if the repair is serious, and you need to repair the entire area of ​​​​the lawn, in this case it is better to resort to the help of specialists. They have all the necessary equipment, technique, knowledge and experience.

When can I repair my lawn? Minor lawn repairs can be done all season long. If you want to repair your entire lawn, then the best time to do this is from early April to mid-May, or from late August to early September. It is better not to experiment with other terms. After sowing the lawn in the spring, you will have a good appearance in a month due to grasses with fast germination and growth. If you sow grass in the summer, especially if it is dry and you do not have automatic watering, you may encounter the problem of poor seed germination. They will simply lie down on your lawn and wait for enough moisture to come up. If you sow grass in the fall, and suddenly frosts break out, then you will lose a significant part of the seedlings that have just hatched. Only experienced specialists will dare to sow the lawn in the fall, guessing the right time so that the seeds do not germinate before frost and snow. Then they will successfully pass hardening (stratification) during the winter, and the percentage of germination in the spring will be very high.

Sheri / Flickr.com

Don't forget some important points:

Remember that a beautiful lawn is a set of care measures. Don't be impulsive about the lawn. A systematic and regular approach is important here.

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How to Restore and Repair a Damaged Lawn: Options

Your lawn may need repairs throughout the year. As a rule, it comes down to three operations:

Taking into account the frequent need to seed the lawn with the initial mixture, it is always bought with a margin of 1-1.5 kg for each hundred square meters (it is perfectly stored for several years without losing its germination), and when buying a rolled lawn, usually 1-2 plates are bought in reserve and planted in a recreational area. Constant monitoring of the lawn - the growth rate, color, density and elasticity of the grass will help to notice the disease or deficiency (excess) of some substances in time and quickly take action, sometimes allowing you to completely eliminate the need for repair work.

Reseeding

The resown area is essentially a young lawn and requires increased attention

a depth of 10-15 cm and sow this place again (40-50 g of seeds per 1 sq. M). You can compact the crop using a plywood sheet or a roller. Then the area is watered. The reseeded area is essentially a young lawn and requires increased attention.

If the reseeding area is large, then its care will be separate. For example, an adult lawn around it is mowed, but a young one is not. If the plot is small, then already 3 weeks after sowing, when cutting, it is not bypassed, since the mower passes over it without particularly damaging the undergrowth.

Reseeding of a part of the lawn is always done with the same mixture that was used for the initial sowing of the lawn, otherwise the new area will always be very different from the old one.

Seeding

Grass must be trained to be cut. The first few haircuts are adaptive

A sparse lawn is cut short (to give young grass a chance to grow), loosen the soil to a depth of 3-4 cm, sow with reserve seeds, sprinkle the surface of the lawn with loosened soil (mulch) and water. Such seeded lawns will have to be mowed later than usual, after the new grass has grown, as the young grass is mixed with the old on them.

They also observe the principle of gradually accustoming grass to cutting, the first few cuttings are adaptive (that is, the blades of grass are shortened by 1-2 cm). Mandatory lawn treatment with growth stimulants. If the entire lawn is evenly seeded, you can purchase a new seed mixture - from fast-growing grasses. One of the reasons for the sparseness could be the poor adaptation of some of the seeds of the previous mixture to local conditions or initially slow growth (there are slow-growing mixtures of lawn grasses). Sometimes "earthing" can help, that is, mulching the entire surface of the lawn with fertile soil.

Both seeding and reseeding can be done during the entire growth period of the lawn, except for the end of September-October. The grass sown at this time does not have time to get stronger before frost and almost always freezes. If the time for sowing at the beginning of September is missed, it is better to postpone sowing until spring or do winter seeding in November, when the ground begins to freeze and the daytime temperature is no higher than 1-2 degrees Celsius. Winter seeding is done by simply scattering seeds over a frozen lawn. They hibernate "dormant" and hatch only in spring.

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Patches

If there is no turf you need color, you can order a rolled turf and make a patch from it

is) or by transplanting turf from a less critical part of the lawn. For example, you can cut a strip of lawn 30 cm along the path (by temporarily arranging a backfill, a curb flower garden or laying a decorative stone, placing a flowerpot, a statue, etc.) at this place, and put the resulting turf as patches in place of the bald spots. If the patches are made from turf from the same lawn, they will usually grow in quickly and will not differ in color afterwards.

If there is no identical turf, you can order turf from any company. A new lawn will almost always be a different color from the old lawn, simply because it has been planted with a different composition of grass. Therefore, it is better to turn a disadvantage into a dignity and make decorative patches - in the form of stars, crescents, complex figures. Even if they later differ in color, such an original lawn can only arouse envy with its creativity.

To make a patch, you need:

  1. Use pegs and cord to mark the area to be removed. Let it be, say, a square of 30*30 cm. In its center there is an uneven spot-baldness, but we will cut out an even square and insert in its place the same exact square of dense turf.
  2. To perfectly fit the size of the patch, make a template. First, a recess is cut out on it in the repaired lawn, then, using the same template, a patch from the purchased turf, strictly corresponding to the recess. A sheet of paper is placed under the cords stretched between the pegs, the cords are lowered to the paper itself and the contour of the area to be removed is accurately traced on the paper with a marker. The paper is pulled out, cut along the lines - this is a template for a patch.
  3. With a sharp knife or a shovel, make cuts in the sod strictly under the marking cords , remove the cut sod, loosen the soil, water a little and cover with a film (so that the roots do not dry out).
  4. Patch is cut out from the reserve turf with a knife according to the template (it should be slightly larger than the template, by 0.3-0.5 cm) and placed in a slot on the lawn: the patch is carefully driven in, checking by level. Ideally, the seams are almost invisible, they are filled with mulch if necessary - further engraftment will go on, as when laying a rolled lawn.
  5. If a patch is made in the form of a star, sometimes it is worth first cutting out a star of the right size from thick cardboard, putting it on a bald spot, driving in pegs in the corners, pulling the cord and cutting out the figure, then finish the work as usual. A curly recess can be sown - in this case it also does not matter if it differs in color, since its very complex shape will benefit the decorative effect.

Making a reserve

If the turf is cut, it can be used as a patch. If not, it will bloom and the lawn can be re-sown

If for some reason there is no possibility of seeding or buying a rolled lawn, and the original mixture of seeds has not been preserved, you can restore the lawn with temporary flower beds or a rose garden, and try to engraft and propagate the cut pieces of grass on a recreational garden bed. Sod cuttings are laid tightly on the prepared “lawn” bed, the seams are covered with fertile soil and looked after like a regular lawn.

With careful and careful cultivation, plants start to grow and quickly form a replacement turf, which can usually be returned to the main lawn as early as next year. If the sod is cut, it will return to the lawn as a patch, if it is allowed to bloom, it is possible to collect seeds for seeding by autumn.

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