Renovating a Dead Lawn Inexpensively

Q. I have an interesting, (and possibly complicated) task ahead of me that I'm hoping you can advise me of.  I have just rented a home in McNeil neighborhood.  This is the neighborhood that I grew up in and am very happy to have returned.  Both of my brothers own homes here and at some point I hope to as well. 

          The issue is that the home I have rented has gone at least a year
or two unoccupied.  The owners simply shut off all the water and allowed everything to die.  Now I always remember this home from years back...lawn and shrubs meticulously kept. 

          What I need from you is your advice for getting the lawn back.  Owners have not committed to fixing or replacing it with a new landscape...its up to me.  If I owned this home, yes, I would take out a sizeable portion of it and change it to something more desert friendly.....but I don't. 

          I need to get this lawn redone, but at as little a cost as possible.  I'm not re-sodding it of course.  So now its July and obviously I'm not doing anything now.  When fall comes around, what steps would you do if you were in my position?  I really appreciate it.  I would be happy to send pics if it helps.  Thanks again, Bob!

In head to head coverage the water from a sprinkler should
be thrown all the way to the neighboring sprinklers

A. Sight unseen, I would probably rough up the soil a bit and reseed directly into the old lawn area. I would do start about September 1 and make sure the sprinklers have good coverage. The water from the heads should throw far enough to reach neighboring sprinkler heads.

          This would be head to head coverage and you will need this for a decent lawn. Replace broken heads, straighten any sprinkler heads that are crooked or leaking. Change out all the nozzles so they are the same type if the system was designed well. If you know the distance between heads you can go into any sprinkler shop and get the right nozzles.

Dethatcher or power rake

          Next run the sprinklers a few times and I would spot spray any existing bermudagrass with Roundup and kill it or at least set it back well. Then in about 7 days later I would rent a power rake and power rake the dirt just to loosen it up and get it ready for seeding. I am assuming it was in lawn before so the soil should not be in real bad shape.

          Buy a decent tall fescue seed mix, not K31 or Kentucky 31 seed unless you plan to run cattle on it. It will be expensive but one of the best places to spend money. K31 is coarse textured and you will probably not like it unless you like pasture grasses.

          In about mid-September to Oct 1 seed the lawn area with about 10 to 12 pounds of seed every 1000 square feet. This is a little high but birds may be in and steal some seed. You can go higher than this if you want. Put a starter fertilizer down with the seed that is high in phosphorus. 16-20-0 is fine.

          Apply it at about six pounds of fertilizer for every 1000 sq feet. Cover the seed with topdressing, lightly. The topdressing should just cover the seed and no more. Run the sprinklers three times a day until the topdressing is thoroughly wet but stop before any water starts to puddle or runoff to low spots.

          If birds are a problem get one of those motion sensors attached to a sprinkler and put a hose on it to scare the birds. The seed should be up in 7 to ten days. Mow when it is tall enough to mow and use a recycling mower or a mower with a recycling blade on it.

          Lightly fertilize every two months. That should be it. The major places where you can mess up will be not getting your sprinklers working well and applying water evenly, covering the seed with too much topdressing and buying cheap seed.