10 Products for Starting a Lawn
What You’ll Need in your Lawn-Guy Starter Pack
When I moved to the suburbs from the city in the early pandemic, I had a lot to learn. How to fit as much as possible in my garbage cans, how to give the “good neighbor nod,” and most importantly, for the first time in my adult life, how to take care of the sizable amount of land surrounding my house. My not so outdoorsy wife suggested paving the whole thing or putting in low-maintenance shrubs, but when I looked at the rocky, scraggly, unmanicured landscape I had a vision: a sprawling, luxurious, richly green lawn.
Going from an unplanned, rocky, and pretty much accidental looking landscape to a starting a lawn wasn’t easy: it’s taken a lot of hands on work, money, and a lot of learning. Here are the 10 products for starting a lawn I’d recommend for any aspiring lawn guy:
1) Tools to clear the brush.
If you’re lucky, the house you move into has a flat or delicately sloping area that just needs a little TLC and lawn management. If you’re less lucky, you have a patch of half-dead shrubs, weeds, and the occasional patch of grass fighting its way through. Digging up all the old brush and backfilling the holes gives you the best immediate result, because decomposing roots take up a lot of the nutrients needed for grass seed. But if you don’t want to do that, cut them down, and as they decompose underground over the next 3 years or so, expect to fill in the dips in your soil that the disappearing roots create.
Here are three products I like. You’ll find you will continue to use these for small projects for years to come, so they’re worth the investment.
(these 3 are all Ryobi - my go-to tool brand. Mostly because the batteries are interchangeable so you can save money by not buying a new battery each time, and I started with them do I just keep going with them. They’ve been very dependable and good to me so far)
2) A pitchfork and shovel to dig up and pry out the visible roots.
You could spend weeks getting rid of every sign of roots from the brush you cleared. But don’t. Just target the visible roots and stumps, go a few inches under the soil level. The rest will decompose, and in the coming years you’ll just backfill the small divots that form as the roots disappear.
I’ve found AMES to be dependable and relatively budget-friendly for tools like these.
3) Weed-control.
Getting rid of the weeds now and developing a thick lawn from the jump will save you years and hundreds of dollars of heartache trying to remove weeds from your finished lawn in seasons to come. You’ll want post-emergent weed control (a product like round-up that kills the weeds that have already popped up) and a pre-emergent weed killer (a product like PRODUCT that stops germinating weed seeds from developing further). Put this in 4-6 weeks before you plan to plant your grass, as pre-emergent will also inhibit new grass growth. I know 4-6 weeks sounds like a lot, but it will fly by.
4) Topsoil and a rake.
A good lawn should have an even surface. It’s easier to mow, looks more aesthetically pleasing, and is better for pets and kids to run on and less likely to invite little twisted ankles. You could spend days and thousands leveling your land with a garden weasel cultivator, leveling rake, roller, topsoil, and then revisit your work every couple years to spruce up any bumps by and finely leveling with sand. If you don’t want to do all that, the easy way is to get some good top soil (garden soil works too), and rake it as evenly as you can, and let it settle with the weather and a little time. Here’s where you can fill those few-inch holes that cmame up in step 2.
5) A good (but cheap) watering system.
You’ll need to water your new lawn 2-3 times a day until the grass establishes itself. Don’t fool yourself and think you’re going to go out there and move a sprinkler around your yard to get that done. Now on the flip side, if you are like I was, you don’t want to spend $20,000 on a sprinkler irrigation system just yet, you want to see if you like it and if it lasts, first. Here is what you need to make the next best thing, for under $500.
I like the smart timers you can control with your phone, and that you can set to pause when it’s going to rain. Here are my favorites that have stood out to me over the last few years:
Faucet timers - you’ll notice the amazon rating isn’t the highest. The complaints tend to be mostly around the app and setup. I’ll have a blog soon that tells you how to do it with the least amount of issues!
Hoses - I like this brand, they last and the price isn’t too awful
These sprinklers - these are by far my favorite - they throw the water a variety of distances, and go quite far if you want them too. They also tuck away in the sides of your yard and are almost as unubstructive as an in-ground sprinkler system.
You don’t want to soak your seed, or have it permanently damp. You want to lightly water it 3x/day. If it’s over 80 degrees Fahrenheit, you might want to go to 4-5x a day, as you also don’t want it to be bone dry.
5a) Why am I calling this 5a? Because you could, and maybe should, do it. But most people don’t and it takes some more time and money. I would skip this unless you’re having a lot of trouble getting your grass seed to grow in the next few steps. If you are, come back to 5a.
Ph tester
Soil dampness meter
Rain gage
6) Grass seed.
Your canvas is ready! You’ll want to see what zone you are in, and what grass grows best in your area. I went with Tall Fescue as it is hearty, good in both cool and warmer climates, and survives heat waves well (if you water it). The best way to plant is to lightly rake the soil, and then plant the grass with a spreader. The key is seed-to-soil contact. You can go over it with a leveler next if you want to help it get stuck in there for when birds start to dig around later. Do you have to? No, I didn’t. Can you just spread it without raking? Sure, but not all will grow and you may have to spend more money and try it a second and third time to get the thick lawn. If you have the time now, it’s good to spend the time raking and save yourself extra rounds later. Some grass seed comes with food and soil improver like this one. Those are great. You can also go with straight seed, especially if you already added a ton of fresh, fertile top soil. If you did, you’ll want to follow up with some new seed fertilizer anyway. (it’s more delicate than normal fertilizer so won’t burn or kill your new grass as easily)
7) Bird deterrents.
Birds will show a keen interest in your lawn at this point. Less for the seed, though - and more because you’ve created a giant fertile buffet of worms, grubs, and other tasty things. Aluminum foil on sticks works great here.
8) Time.
Here’s where you will be staring out your window in wait. About 7-10 days in, your work suddenly makes its dramatic appearance - your brown lawn now has s a beautiful greenish hugh all over! After 10-14 days, take the watering down to 2x/day, then 1x/day. Once it gets to 2 inches, back up to once every two days. At 3 inches, deep water it once every 3 days. You are deep watering, so that as the water soaks into the soil, it gives the roots something to reach for, which will help it to grow deep hearty roots.
9) A good mowing schedule.
Once your grass passes 3 inches, it is ready for its first mow. Keep it at 3 inches in height, which will help its roots to grow deeper, and will help to shade the roots and soil during the hotter months. It will also help to block out opportunities for weeds to grow. Ideally, you’d mow 2x/week, so that you are not shocking your grass by cutting off too much at once. But 1/week is fine.
10) The right maintenance.
I’ll drop an article soon and link it here with my recommended lawn maintenance schedule, including when to overseed, when to think about sand and soil for leveling, how to best feed your lawn and control weeds, and what tools to use including choosing the right lawn mower and leaf blower.
Good luck with starting your lawn!