No grass at all? Or nearly so? If you water will anything come back? Often easier to salvage a half ...

1. Lawn maintenance?
No grass at all? Or nearly so? If you water will anything come back? Often easier to salvage a half
dead lawn than to start over. If you are getting stuff coming back, fertilize, mow and irrigate. Once
your grass (what there is) is healthy you can start using herbicides (weed killers). You can then go
back and reseed the bare spots.
If totally shot, then time to totally redo! First ID those weeds! If some are perennial, then they need
to be killed or else they will appear in the new lawn. So consider killing off the rest of the lawn with
Round-up so as to get those weeds.
Then your choices are: sod, seed or sprig depending on the type lawn you want. Sod is expensive,
but instant. Seeding is cheaper but it does take time to grow in. Sprigging is for warm season
grasses. It's where you plant little pieces of the grass type and let it spread to fill in.
First you need to redo the soil. Compaction is a big problem, where the soil compacts and little
oxygen is left for root development. Rototilling will fluff the soil again. Also you may need to add
organic matter such as compost, peat moss, well rotted manure. It depends on your soil whether you
need the extra OM.
Once the ground is prepped, make sure the drainage is correct....like away from the house!!! Correct
any irregularities or add a lower area for drainage, etc.
Before sodding or seeding, you'll probably want to add a starter fertilizer containing a slow release
nitrogen and a higher % of phosphorus and maybe potassium. (I'd suggest have a soil test done by
your Extension Service to see if other items might need to be added as well.)
Then sod or seed........that's a whole new chapter.