NFT: Lawn Experts - Growing Grass From Seed

Unless you're going to be watering throughout the summer, most of the grass you plant now is will likely not grow deep enough roots to to make it's through a hot summer.

You'll want to put a good inch or so of topsoil in the areas you want to plant grass. You can try a bluegrass mix in that area, but will likely need to mix in some tall fescue and perennial rye to keep good ground cover with the limited sun exposure.

Get started around Labor Day as anything you seed now won't survive the summer heat/sun. Maybe some of it would survive but you'll end up redoing a lot if not most again in the fall.

When I redid my front lawn I used a Scotts Turf builder lawn soil to fill in the low spots and then put a layer over the whole yard. I used a really good seed and starter fertilizer, watered 3 times a day for the first 10-14 days and a beautiful lawn came up.

I've kept up on the wed and feed schedule and have had nice think green lawn ever since.

The lawn soil was a big help but I can't emphasize enough how using good seed is paramount. I swear by Scotts but I'm sure there are other good ones but Scotts has great seed for all types of ares and climates.

Good luck

temps are in the 50's over night. Generally that is in the Spring and fall. If you seed during times when temps stay above the 50's, you are just feeding the birds.

when seeding, don't use a pre-emergent fertilizer when you are seeding, or it will also prevent the grass seed from germinating.

but fall is ideal.

grass seed needs about two weeks to germinate, so for your climate it should be fine.

but...as others have said while the grass may germinate this spring and grow in during the summer, if it's a very hot, dry summer, the grass will die and brown up sooner than your established lawn.

still though, if the seed germinates this spring, and you have grass, it's likely the roots will be strong enough to come back next spring with the rest of your lawn.

grass seed is so cheap I'd do it now and then again in the fall, only make it stronger.

if we get long periods without rain you should definitely water though.

put seed down now as long as no weed control has already been applied. I would aerate first but if you skip that you'll need to rake bare spots for the seed to better germinate. Follow instructions on seed bag for watering frequency but new seed generally needs to stay moist for first 2 weeks. You can cover with straw; I've used a light cover of peat moss that helps.

Low spots/puddling can be problematic ongoing. Try adding some topsoil and rake it out to better level off the area.

Don't wait till the fall (yes the fall is best, but you need to start now). I would De-thatch the lawn now (yes the fall is best for this also). Prepare the bare spots, loosen the dirt, remove roots and crap, layer of topsoil, seed, stater fert, more topsoil, cover with peat moss. Put down Crabgrass Killer Now. But Only Scotts has the type that you can Seed & Crabgrass. It's over $40 a bag. Do Not buy Halts (it will kill the seeds). Water the crap out of it. 3 times a day is best. In 2 weeks you will have grass...

for grass covered by alot of shade?

then seed in the fall

In comment 14390058 GMAN4LIFE said:

Quote:

for grass covered by alot of shade?

Generally fine fescues and chewing fescues do best for northern grasses. The cooperative extension website for your state should have recommendations for specific varieties that will grow best in your area.

You’re unlikely to find good shade seed in a big box store. You’re best off going to a quality garden center for seed, particularly for troublesome areas like shade.

Not ideal but you can seed now (actually soil temps are entering ideal area) and apply a fertilizer with pre-emergent for "new lawns". Scotts and a Agway both have starter fert products for this which use Tupersan as the pre-emergent. It won't inhibit the germination of cool season grass types.

At minimum in preparation I'd put down 15 lbs/1k sq ft of lime as well as some compost to enhance to the soil.

I'd also only use perennial rye grass as it germinates very fast and is the only strain that has a chance to establish before the heat sets in.

However there are a ton of drawbacks including the fact that you won't be able to treat existing weeds and if the previous owners didn't care for the lawn at all then it may not be in good shape for seeding. Also if we get a heatwave or excessive rain you may just be flushing $ down the toilet.

If it were me I'd do the following:

- Get a soil test to get the pH of the lawn and add sufficient lime to correct.
- Put down a pre-emergent - ideally something like Dimension at this point as it's also a post-emergent.
- Put down an application of Millorganite now and at least one more in 6-8 weeks. You could even space it 4 weeks and get 3 down before summer. This will revive N levels and get a lot of good organic matter back in the soil.
- Blanket treat existing weeds near the end of May.
- In mid September or whenever daytime highs are projected to stay out of the 80's, mow down to about 2-2.5", core aerate, apply a top dressing of compost and then put down seed. Keep it lightly watered 2-3 times a day for the first 10-14 days when Mother Nature doesn't help out. Try to stay off the lawn for a couple weeks as well as much as possible. When the new grass gets to be 3-4 inches tall you can mow it.
- A couple weeks after seeding put down a starter fertilizer (I like Lesco which you hcan find at Home Depot).