Now is the time to re seed your lawn. Grass seed will germinate even in cool weather and isn't harmed by frost. The cooler temperatures of spring mean less work watering and more time for it to grow into a lush green carpet before the stressful heat of summer. Let's get started!
Preparing the soil
Good lawns start with a good foundation. Your goal is to create a soft, even bed of soil high in organic matter like peat moss. The first step is to remove the old lawn. That usually means mean renting a sod cutter. This is an especially good idea if you have lots of difficult weeds like creeping Charlie. You can skip this step if the old lawn is nothing but dirt and a few weeds. After that, you'll need a rear tine rototiller. Rear tine rototillers are easier to use than front tine. This will make softening the soil easier. After giving the lawn a once over
with the tiller, put down a couple inches of peat moss or other compost. Work that into the top 6 inches of soil with another pass from the rototiller and rake the bed smooth. Be sure to even out high and low spots so you don't end up with a lumpy lawn.
Seeding Strategy
Most people will use too much seed. A grass plant isn't one blade of grass that comes from a single seed. A grass plant is a tuft of blades the size of a quarter. A single pound of seed is enough to cover 750 square feet! A couple of seeds for every quarter inch is more than enough. Using a spreader will give you more even coverage and help your grass seed go further. Grass seed germinates best on the soil surface, don't bury it. For extra insurance, you can cover your seed with seeding mulch if you like. This will help keep everything moist and prevent erosion.
3 Rules For Watering Grass Seed
1. Keep it wet.
2. Keep it wet.
3. Keep it wet.
Grass seed will even germinate on a concrete slab if it's kept constantly wet. The bed you so lovingly prepared is soft and full of water holding peat moss. You put down seeding mulch which also holds water. You were smart and started your seed in the spring when the weather was cool and the soil dries slowly. This is gonna work great. Check on your lawn daily. We need the surface to stay constantly wet for 14 to 21 days for the seed to germinate. Water as often as needed to keep things moist. Most people will find they're watering less than once a day. Easy peasy, lemon squeazy.
Once the seed is up you can start backing off on the water until you are watering it like a regular lawn (Heavily, but only once a week).
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