My house was built in 2006 and to save money I thought that I would seed the lawn myself. I used a commercial seed and then put straw over it. I did not put it on real thick but only a thin layer. About a week later I saw green patches starting to come up and was real excited. It looked good for a little while then turned brown during the hot summer months. In the spring of 2007, the grass did not come up that well it was real short and some of it was green and some of it was brown. Turned all brown in the hot summer months. In 2008 I had TruGreen come out and take care of my lawn. Nothing much happened, just gave them $400 or so to take care of lawn for the summer. Now in 2009 neighbors grass is starting to turn green and most of them have mowed for the first time. My grass is not tall enought to mow. It is very short some green, some brown. What do I need to do. Aerate, reseed, fertilize. Please someone help me!

Your local agricultural extension office could be your best friend on this. First of all you need a soil test, which they will do either for free or for a modest price. Once you have the soil test one of their agents should be able to give specific recommendations based upon your soil and the kind of grass you seeded.

Eclectic gardening style, drawing from 40 years of interest and experience. Mostly plant in raised beds and containers primarily using intensive gardening techniques.
Alex