Over the past 11 years that we’ve owned our home, we’ve made several failed attempts to fill a lot of bald spots in the yard. This year, me and my new 
(green thumb) have finally got it all figured out.
The grass pictured above is seed that I put down Sunday, July 1st. We saw growth in just 4 days, folks. Now that’s fast. This is day 5, and it’s over an inch long. I know you’re all just dying to know my secret, right? Well just pretend you are, because I’m going to tell you anyway.
The dirt in the bare spot needs to be raked over, just a bit – I didn’t go very deep, maybe just 1/4 or 1/2 inch. I spread a nice layer of Miracle-Gro potting soil (the moisture control is good, too) over the area – then put down some generic fast growing grass seed – unless you want the special stuff, that will probably grow quickly too, but you can always seed the good stuff in the fall. Over the grass seed, spread a nice thin layer of Miracle-Gro again, then keep it really well saturated. Water in the morning and at night, and any time you notice the Miracle-Gro has dried out.
We had a torrential rainfall on Tuesday night that washed much of the Miracle-Grow and seed both in a pile at the end of the area that I seeded. I gently raked it, spreading it back to its original spot, and added more soil and a little more seed, then drenched it all again. It’s all filling in and I’m excited to see so many bare patches filling in with bright green grass!
And there you have it. Now go, sow some grass. Your bare summer feet will be very happy, because baby grass is very soft, and it tickles.
UPDATE April 19, 2009
I’d like to show you before and after photos of this area of our yard.
AFTER:
Note: We added a privacy fence, and neighbor cut down all of their trees,
added a room and a door on the side of the garage.
Taken on overcast day.
The first photo was taken in 2004, just after we’d had a room addition put on the house and were left with a huge mound of dirt. We left the mound for several years and planted on it, using it as part of the landscape. In July 2007, we transplanted everything and leveled the mound, and started growing grass. The summer of 2008 it was patchy and young, still filling in. Now, April 2009, you can see it’s thick and lush and very, very green.
Stop back and let me know how well this works for you – and share your before & after photos!
While you’re here, grab one of my amazing photos for your desktop, or visit my shop!
{34 Comments}
I can’t believe you have had almost 10,000 comments on your website (banner at the top of your page). That’s amazing. I’m fairly new, and I thought 50 comments was magnificent. How long have you been blogging?
And I especially love the smell of grass after being freshly mowed. I’ll keep this in mind when I move to a house in future!
i came back to see if the lawn has grown, looks about the same to me…. hehe
Your entry is extremely timely, as I was staring at a couple of bald spots on our lawn today and wondering what I should do about them. Thanks so much!
(And good to e-see you again. I’ve been super-busy because of an insane work schedule – I finally quit my old job last month – and as a result have been a really bad blog reader of late. I’m slowly starting to get back to my fave reads.)
Hi Olivia – You should find out what zone your in and plant as you would any spring seeds. :)
:
your info made it so i could take a 
pill.
Hi Leanne,
I do NOT have a green thumb unfortunately so I’m browsing the website for some tips and wanted to see if you can help me with my problem. :)
I live in an apartment with a dog and in my balcony, there is a small rectangle area in the concrete that has been filled with dirt when I moved in. I thought it’d be perfect to put grass there to make it look nice and allow my dog to use it as well. I’ve tried putting sod in it, but it keeps on dying on me. Should I toss the dirt out (there’s some weird stuff in it) and replace it or what? Should I just put some kind of fertilizer on top of the dirt and plant some seeds or try again with sod? This area also doesn’t get much sun so that may be a problem but I’ve read that you some grasses can thrive in shade. Any advice would be great!
Cool, I’m going to give it a shot this afternoon!
[...] of you who are working on spring landscaping a quick tip on how to grow grass super fast! Read: How To Grow Grass, Fast! Updated with before & after pics of my yard! (No comments [...]
Ok did anyone else notice that these two pictures are not the same. For example the house next door in not the same house. Look at the roof on the house. They are two different shapes. The windows on the house are laid out different. And the picture with the grass has a sliding glass door! HUMMM
Shelly,
That’s my house, and my yard. This is my blog you’re commenting on, and I wrote the post and took the photos – so I’m not sure who you’re talking to when you ask if “anyone else” notices.
My neighbor had a room addition. I’ve obviously made several improvements, as well, including a privacy fence, since my neighbor seems to want to move right on over into my yard.
hello,
i put grass down last year and it has gown in some area’s put not in some.
will i have to start from scrach and dig up the hole area again??
Stacey,
If you’ve only got small bare spots, I would just take a handheld cultivator (the claw) and seed that area.
those pics arent the same place the house next door is different
Kurt, I mentioned that several years have passed between photos. I also mentioned in a previous comment that I’d undergone several improvements, and my neighbor had a room addition.
Seriously. Comparing my before and after pics? It’s my yard. Like I have a reason to be deceptive. Grow grass if you want, or don’t. I’m just sharing how I did it.
Okay! I was just wondering has it taken 5 years to grow this yard? Would have it been cheaper to just lay down sod? Nice yard though!
Ed, perhaps you missed this part:
So, to answer your question, no. July 2007 is when I first put seed down, summer of 2008 (last year) was really dry so none of our grass really looked well, it was dormant for much of the summer, but looked pretty mature by fall when it cooled off. This spring, April 2009, it emerged thick and lush.
Thank you, we’re quite proud of our yard, definitely more so than if we had just put sod in.
Sorry but the trees are not the same, nore is the house across the street
LOL – Tony, I mentioned that. Sorry you missed it.
(Have a peek right above the “After” photo!)
[...] those of you who ended up here hoping to find out how to grow grass, you can visit my dear friend Leanne over at intricateart.com for that! She has a pretty good method that she’s been using successfully over the years! All [...]
What’s up with the crazies saying this is a different house? Seriously that’s comical. Both pictures were taken from the EXACT same spot (kinda eerily so, I think we need to talk about that). Hey skeptics, check the big tree you can see over the roof of the neighbor’s house even though it has an addition!!! Same tree! Whatever… not worth it, right?
Anyhow, I wanted to ask how long you have to keep baby grass on a watering schedule? Obviously we’re getting plenty of rain at this point, but the hot weather is coming (right? RIGHT?!!) and I don’t want to kill it if it needs to be watered all summer on the first season. You know I have lots of new grass and live in a town with strict watering restrictions.
Thanks much!!
Funny, isn’t it?
It depends on the seed, I think. I would water daily, just moisten the soil really until the grass appears. Then check the soil, make sure it’s shaded, and throw a mist over it every other evening at dusk. In my experience, once the grass has filled in enough that it needs to be cut, I let the rain take care of it (unless there’s a drought, then water on watering days).
Also, I’d ask Brent.
All you naysayers:I saw a similar post on another blog and it showed the same results in two weeks time. Unfortunately, I cannot locate it but glad I happened upon here. I do note one difference…the other blog’s poster mixed the seed with potting soil and then put it down as opposed to a layer of potting soil, a layer of seeds, and then another layer of potting soil. I think I like the sound of this one simply because there seems to be more protection and faster growth although this could be based on the products used, soil condition, weather, etc. I like the idea of the “seed sandwich”. Thank you for posting this. Also, thinking of it as a potting soil/seed sandwich makes it easier to remember the steps. The potting soil is the bread and the seeds are the filling, peanut butter, ham, etc. ….you get my drift. Try it before you say it’s bogus. What’s the worse that can happen? you actually grow some grass? AW MAN!!! THAT’s TERRIBLE!!!!! LOL!!!!!!
My front yard has some grass right along the front of the house, but the rest of the front yard is just chickweek and crab grass. I guess I’ll have to break down and use pesticides on that to kill it before I put the grass in.
My back yard only has a few clumps of grass here and there. Not a pretty site. I’ve been spreading rabbit manure all over my backyard, hoping to make it a nice sandy lome. I really want to make both my front and back yard green with grass. I will try your method on my front yard, and just add grass seed to my back yard and see which does better. I’ll take pictures of before and after and see IF I can even get grass to grow.
Thanks for the information. This I will try!
my whole front lawn is all dead grass and i want to revive it. How should I start ?
Mark — I’d start by dethatching and aerating, then dropping some seed in that’s good for your area. You can hire a lawn company to do this for you – it might be worth it to save you equipment/seed expenses.
Thanks for all the wonderful info!!! I have severe issues with my lawn but I hope you can help me =). I live in Florida and my sprinklers went out for 2 months a few years ago and the majority of my grass turned to weeds. Now, I have killed the bugs and weeds and I’m left with very ugly bald spots. What should I do? Thanks so much!
Hi Tammy,
I have treated spots the same way as large areas with success. Cultivate the ground in the bald spot with miracle grow, sprinkle some seed on, a bit more miracle grow, and keep wet until it starts to grow and fill in.
Good luck!
Hi there. . . I’m so glad I found this. We just had
a very large tree pruned in our front yard – actually
they guy butchered the tree. He left NO leaves, just
a skeleton of a tree. But before that, the ground
underneath was not growing grass. The tree’s roots
are showing. Now that the tree is bare and the yard
is exposed for everyone to see – we live on a corner lot -
our yard looks terrible. Under the tree it is just BARE!
Can I send you a picture?
These instructions do not work, or at the very least; they do not work in Houston.
I bought what you said and followed the plans. One week later, all I have is wet grass seeds in potting soil.
Maybe this works in other areas of the states, but it doesnt work in Houston.
Anyone near Houston, I would advise you to just do a small area like I did and wait before spending any real effort.
Lee – I’m curious – how often did you water? “Wet grass seeds in potting soil” sounds like oversaturation – is that a possibility?
I am in Illinois, so there is a difference as far as humidity goes.
Sorry to hear that it didn’t work for you!