Anyone have experience with having a good spot in your lawn go bare because of shading from something you parked there? I find that in my lawn, these spots are uber slow to come back, even with plenty water. Any ideas what to do? My lawn is not babied, lol. I don't fertilize. Has been several decades since that! In these spots, it's San Augustine or Centipede, mostly. The runners grow throughout the growing season. Wondering about just poking holes with something sharp to aerate it. Or fertilize. Could wait until fall to fertilize. It's so slow to grow back, the thing to do is don't park something in a spot for long! I'm actually surprised it doesn't grow back any faster than it does with our long growing season and (usually) plenty rain.
I have the same issue...the only way I have had good success growing new is the tried and true method of re-seeding it, making sure there is either really good contact with the ground (roll it, walk on it, drive on it, etc) or probably even better is raking a very light layer of loose topsoil over the seed, and then spreading some straw over it to hold the moisture in...the straw seems to be the perfect combination of holding moisture in, but not blocking all the sunlight.
Unless you want wild grass and weeds you pretty much have to plant seed. Scarify, seed, water so the baby seedlings don't dry out (good luck with that now , best wait until Fall) . Rhizome/stolon grasses will fill back in damaged spots, but large spots is an eventual process. Before they have a chance, which can take many months if not years the weed seeds usually beat the rhizomes/stolons and have a field day with the big open spot. Unless the grass went dormant from heat/dry it's likely dead. Buy just enough seed to do the spot as most seed doesn't keep (and the mice find it) and find out when the best time to plant seed is. Baby seedlings need constantly damp soil until they can push roots down into parched soil.
My experience has been - if it is a place I want grass to grow, it won't (where I had a pallet of retaining wall stone for 1 year). If it is in a spot that I don't want it to grow (like where my tent garage was for 3 years so very compacted), then it will. Yeah, not helpful for you, but allowed me to vent a little about something that has bugged me
I have a spot that needs some seed. I plan to crack the area with a pitchfork then rake it, to loosen. I'll then introduce some compost and topsoil, fo.lowed by more heavy raking. Then seed and starter fertilizer, tamping it all down, gently. Multiple "mistings" daily. Hoping to see green in a few weeks.
Grass seed germinates best in cooler temperatures. If trying to establish in summer heat it might take a bit of shade or cool water
