I moved into this house 14 years ago. The soil is sandy and the lawn has never been lush but there's always been a cover of grass. Around five years ago I noticed bare patches developing -- just dirt, not even weeds. The patches have spread extensively and ruts have appeared. I made two changes in 2020: Started mulching leaves in place and replaced my old John Deere with a Cub Cadet XT1. The bare spots do not correlate with heavy leaves but do concentrate in narrow spots that the tractor crosses more often. Possibly relevant facts:
- The tires on the Cub Cadet are a couple inches narrower than on the JD
- The front tires wore pretty quickly and started skidding more, so I replaced them with some better quality ones. Haven't seen much difference.
- Sections where there's new soil and grass have fared better.
- I try to avoid sharp turns and don't circle around trees.
