12 Late-Summer Yard and Garden Upgrades

Don't spend the rest of summer lamenting your tattered yard or wishing that your patch of dirt were a blanket of soft blades, you can stop. It won't get any better, at least not this year. But next spring could be a whole other story if you seed this fall—the perfect time to start a new lawn.

"Seeding is the easiest thing for a homeowner to do," says This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook. "It just takes a little soil preparation, the right mix of seed, and lots of watering."

See How to Seed a Lawn for full step-by-step instructions.

Here are a few how-to videos to help you along:
• How to Seed a Lawn
• How to Revitalize a Lawn