The Bare Patch in My Lawn That Wouldn't Grow Back for Two Years

You know that one spot in your yard that just won’t cooperate? I had a perfect circle of dirt staring back at me for two straight years.

It started innocently enough. The kids’ inflatable pool sat in the same spot all summer—eight feet across, pressed into the grass from June through August. When we finally packed it away in September, the grass underneath was yellow and matted.

No big deal, I thought. Grass bounces back.

Except this patch didn’t. By the following spring, everything around it had greened up beautifully. That circle stayed bare.

I overseeded it that April. Then again in September. I watered religiously, added starter fertilizer, even laid down a thin layer of topsoil the second time around. A few sad blades would pop up, struggle for a week or two, then give up.

Meanwhile, the rest of my lawn—including spots where we’d had furniture, a trampoline, even actual foot traffic—filled in just fine.

What made this one spot so different?

I was about to find out, and it wasn’t what I expected.