New Yard(to me)

[Moon Lake Refuge]

Moving into a new house in a little over a week.  In the pictures from last fall, they yard looks great, trying to get an idea of what or when to fertilize without knowing when they did last.  Should I just go with a normal spring feed?  Not looking to have the ground assessed.  Also, there is an area in the back yard with pine trees that has about a 30 foot circle of very little grass and lots of pine needles.  The low branches are a good 10-15 foot up but still enough shade make growing difficult.  Any chance I can get grass to come in back there short of cutting 1 or all three of the pine trees down(which may be an option in the future)?

[smurfy]

pine needles has a lot of acid in them so growing grass may be difficult.

[highlife4me]

I had the same problem with no grass growing under a couple pine trees.   I raked up about a truck load of pine needles and seeded some grass in, after 2 years there was grass growing up to the trunk and it remained that way for quite a few years until I removed the trees for an addition to the house last year.

[Moon Lake Refuge]

I'm thinking I may just try and pull down all but one of them to try and open it up a little back there.  May be a project for next summer.

[Tom7227]

As for your first question it isn't hard to get a soil test done and relatively cheap.  I think you can go to the U Extension Service and find a link on how to do it and what it costs.  I think it is around $20.  Some local feed mills or garden stores can probably help with that.

Are you close to a stream or lake?  It is crucial that you only apply what is needed and take care to avoid getting material onto hard surfaces.  Put down too much and you're wasting money and just contributing to problems in lakes and streams.

It is important to know what type of soil you have and what the lighting conditions are.  What works for seed in a shady area won't work in a well lite area.

As for the area under the pine trees, you'll have to remove as much of the pine needle duff as you can and then treat the area with hydrated lime to bring the Ph of the soil down from what is probably high acid.  Again a good garden store or feed mill can help you figure out what all needs to be done.

As for the rest of the lawn my guess is that if you rented an aerator and gave the grass a good going over it would make a lot of difference.  The about three applications of the appropriate fertilizer will bring it around this summer.  Again a good garden store will tell you what you need.  Stay away from the services that spray the liquid.  Buy a spreader and put an hour into it and you'll be rewarded with a good result.

[delcecchi]

And then you can spend time mowing instead of fishing.  

[Moon Lake Refuge]

I'll look into the lime.  As note, the rest of the lawn is golf course green and looks great so I dont need to rehab anything, I have a spreader and typically just go with three treatments a year, so may just try that.  Anyone have experience with pine needles and a bagger?  Will it pick them up or do they get to embedded in the ground?  By the way there are no lakes or streams anywhere near me.  Living in suburban america again so closest we would have would be man made ponds which get pretty dank in the summer anyhow.

 

[Tom7227]

http://www.startribune.com/what-pollutes-the-urban-mississipp-lawns-dogs-and-lots-of-pavement/417995413/