Mosaic lawn with multiple grass types, what to do??

last year

Help!! I inherited a lawn 3 yrs ago that had a few grass varieties, and then my husband (who is not super lawn savvy) threw down grass seed last year with even more varieties mixed in -- did not make note of which -- and now we have a hodgepodge lawn. The biggest eyesore for me are the tall, stiff, stalky grasses that grow 10x faster than the rest of the lawn. Rye grass, maybe? I have no clue what I'm dealing with. Can anyone help identify the grasses and advise on what this lawn needs? Is there a way to choke out that tall stalky grass? Is all that brown grass thatch that needs to be removed? Hubs thatched with a manual thatching rake in early spring and was mowing the lawn with a Ryobi mower until recently. I've now hired someone to mow our lawns regularly so that it doesn't look so terrible, but would really appreciate tips on what steps to take to help this lawn look better.

Location: Essex county, NJ / Zone 7a

Thanks in advance!!

Pics show lawn pre-mowing (grass is green but you can see the uneven grass heights and the tall meadow-like grass) and post mowing (now you can see more of the brown grass peeking through)

Featured Answer

KR Nuttle

last year

Accept that you have multiple types of grasses. This will prevent a complete kill of your yard in case of disease. Different grasses hold up better to drought and extreme heat.

So your yard will look better in any conditions that your yard may be hit with. so mow it and enjoy that fact that some of it will always be green

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Comments (7)

jerzeehomeowner
Original Author
last year
Help, anyone??
Sherry8aNorthAL
last year
Embrace it. Add some clover and small flowers.
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
last year
Most cool season lawn grasses are blends. And I am assuming you are in NJ so 99% of the lawn seed you will purchase or is available will be blends as well. The tall, stalky grasses are most likely weed grasses and those can blow in seeds from anywhere. You can try a preemergent in spring to control weed grasses like couch, crab or Johnson grass. Otherwise, just supply adequate water (cool season grasses want to be summer dormant), fertilize appropriately and mow often but high.
kitasei2
last year
Tastes in lawn have changed. A perfect monoculture lawn is a sure sign you’re dousing it with chemicals. I recommend increasing its diversity - by overseeding with Dutch white clover (order separately from Outside Pride), and planting with esrly spring bulbs. Anything really ugly like crab grass you can manually dig out.
dchall_san_antonio
last year
The uneven color may just be a lack of fertilizer. When were the last 2 times you fertilized and what did you use?
charles kidder
last year
Doesn't look bad to me. If you absolutely only want one grass cultivar, you'll have to kill the entire lawn and start over. Best to do it in September so the grass has time to establish before winter and not have to deal with summer until next year. Since your lawn is kind of small, I would probably put down sod. Probably Zoysia sod since Zoysia is better for keeping other grasses and weeds out. But it turns brown over the winter. Make sure whatever you put down is hardy to zone 7. Not all Zoysia is.