Lawn maintenance

[Michael San Filippo]

Sorry if this is too off-topic, but I thought some of you might have thoughts on this.

Our bungalow is in decent shape, but our lawn (front and back) is a wreck. I've never had to deal with lawn care before, so I'm clueless. I was wondering if anyone had any advice for (cheaply) bringing a Chicago lawn back to life: Grass seed variety, planting/fertilizing/watering schedules, etc.

Or should I just cover it all in concrete? Kidding (mostly).

Michael

[Hermosa Gal]

I am no expert but I think it really depends on what you want to use your yard for. Do you want to grow veggies at any point, have kids or a dog? If so, your top soil should probably be scraped off because of who-knows-what can be in it like flecks of years gone by lead paint.

Not worried about growing edibles? I was suggested to roto till the entire backyard and put in sod. You can rent one from home depot for a day. I don't know the price of sod but usually it's reasonable compared to the pain of growing from seed. I've done patches and it's such a pain. 

I'm a novice, so someone probably has other advice.

Perfect time to get started and good luck!

[ccjac...@yahoo.com]

Michael - wondering what you decided to do....I'm in the same situation.  Our front yard is beyond patch work repair.  Hoping you found a reasonably priced solution you can share!  Thanks - Christine