Taming Wild Yards: How To Restore Overgrown Lawns

Overgrown Yellow Grass Yard
overgrown lawn
(Image credit: Simplyphotos)

Fixing an overgrown lawn is not the work of a moment. It took months or maybe even years for the yard to get that messy, so expect to invest time and energy when taming wild yards. While you can take out the weeds with herbicides, chemicals have many downsides for your neighborhood and the planet.

If you are hoping for tips on how to restore overgrown lawns without chemicals, you’ve come to the right place. Read on for an overview of how to embark on overgrown lawn care.

Fixing an Overgrown Lawn

You might have purchased a property with an overgrown backyard and need to deal with it. Or you might have simply failed to do lawn maintenance in your own yard for a spell and are dismayed with the results.

In either case, take heart. Taming wild yards is entirely possible as long as you are prepared to put in the time and effort required.

When you are considering overgrown lawn care, the first step is taking a walk through. As you survey the area, carry a few garbage bags and a spool of red ribbon. Toss out junk you find in the backyard and mark woody plants you want to remove with the ribbon.

Removing woody plants is the next step to fixing an overgrown lawn. You may need more than your bare hands, so collect the appropriate tools and go to work. Once the area is cleared, you are ready to do an initial mow.

How to Restore Overgrown Lawns

Begin the next stage of overgrown lawn care by mowing the lawn area, adjusting the mower to the highest setting. It’ll be easier to get through this task if you walk in half lines rather than full ones. Wait a day or two before you mow a second time, making this go-round on a lower setting.

Immediately after the second mow, it’s time to rake up all the grass clippings. Don’t leave them on the grass as mulch if you are fixing an overgrown lawn; there will be way too much detritus to allow new grass to grow. Instead, get the cuttings out of there and give the lawn a good watering.

Teo Spengler
Writer

Teo Spengler is a master gardener and a docent at the San Francisco Botanical Garden, where she hosts public tours. She has studied horticulture and written about nature, trees, plants, and gardening for more than two decades. Her extended family includes some 30 houseplants and hundreds of outdoor plants, including 250 trees, which are her main passion. Spengler currently splits her life between San Francisco and the French Basque Country, though she was raised in Alaska, giving her experience of gardening in a range of climates.