MY LAWN IS DYING!

[Sardara]

My lawn has seemed yellow the last few years and i don't know why. I aerate, fertilize, water, and still its dying slowly any ideas on what to do?

[Eeyore]

Hi Sardara. Can you tell me a few things first?

Where do you live?
Have your summers been overly dry?
When you pull on the dry grass do patches of it peel up?
Do you have any dogs? Large trees?

Firstly lawns tend to go into hibernation if the weather gets too hot. They rebound nicely when wetter weather returns.
2ndly - you could be killing your lawn with kindness. ie: over watering and over fertilizing.

A little more info would be helpful.

[Heidi S]

I agree with Eeyore,

My neighbour is lawn obsessive and tinkers with his lawn all year (well except when it is covered in snow), but his lawn is slow to green up in spring in comparison to mine, which gets little attention. I think he is always overdoing it with the endless amount of water he wastes, to the endless applications of assorted fertilizers. Then he chucks his clippings in the garbage (although I don't want them with all those additives). Once he aerated and buzzed around my yard to use up his rental time, which was nice, but didn't make much difference to either lawn in my view.

The only water my lawn gets is the overspray from the flower and veggie beds, I don't care if it goes dormant brown in the heat, and I don't even chase the dandi-lions too often. Besides, my hubby is grateful that I have taken over so much of the yard for gardening that there is only about 1/3 of the original lawn left now.

I think he is wasting time, money and energy keeping his patch of grass that odd shade of green all the time. But then he thinks I am nuts with the whole lot in flowerbeds. At least he has nice flowers to look at.

[orchidguy]

I've done exactly the same as you Heidi, tried to eliminate all the lawns (except over the field bed), and only have grass walkways throughout the flowerbeds. I can now cut the grassy walkways with an old push rotary mower and have no need for the ride on or gas powered manual one anymore. The grass between the beds is nice underfoot, and it tends to show off a garden really well, like when someone places a mat on a picture or painting.
The grassy knoll over the septic system is really gorgeous though. When people come to visit over the summer months, I'll either set up a croquet , bocci ball or badminton game to pass the time.
I think it was a title to Erma Bombecks' book.....The Grass is always greener over the Septic Tank.

Sandra, if you follow up to Lyn's questions and follow her few sage rules, your lawn should be back to being green again